[Air-L] Call for Contributions - Fourth International Conference on Online Deliberation (OD2010)

[Stephen Coleman]

Call for Contributions
Fourth International Conference on 
Online Deliberation (OD2010)

30 June – 2 July, 2010
Leeds, UK
Sponsored by: The Institute of Communications Studies at the University of Leeds, Dipartimento di Informatica e Comunicazione Università degli Studi di Milano and the Public Sphere Project.
The widespread diffusion of the Internet and a growing trend towards democratisation worldwide have encouraged new modes, projects and visions of citizen participation in decision making and governance. 
OD2010 aims to bring together researchers, developers and practitioners from a wide range of academic and applied backgrounds to provide a unique opportunity to better understand the notion of deliberation in a virtual environment and to discuss specific advances in online deliberation from a number of different disciplinary perspectives. 
The conference is aimed at those who wish to update themselves on recent developments in online deliberation, understand how other groups are applying the tools and techniques and exchange ideas with leading international experts.
OD2010 follows the traditions of previous high-level scientific conferences. It is organized by key experts in the field and is supported by a multidisciplinary programme committee. This is the first time the conference has been held outside the USA. 
The fourth OD conference focuses on, but is not limited to, the following topics:
current research on online deliberation; 
research challenges which deliberation, and in particular online deliberation, pose for researchers, governments, communities and citizens; 
socio-technical design of online deliberative spaces; 
links between theories of deliberative democracy with experience with online deliberation; 
descriptions of tools and techniques that are already being tested or fielded; 
deliberative platforms using novel or unusual settings, technology or approaches; 
experiences and findings related to relevant technological theories (such as Web 2.0) and/or relevant social theories of deliberation and governance (such as public sphere, government 2.0 and civic intelligence); and 
case studies in applying and evaluating online deliberation in various formal and informal engagement domains. 

Guidelines for papers and other submissions
The conference allows for four distinct types of submissions:
Research papers 
Exploratory papers on ongoing research and innovative projects 
Technology demonstrators 
Panels on pertinent issues 
Research papers 
These papers should have a strong focus on scientific rigour and may be a maximum of 10 pages. Papers in this track will be peer reviewed for rigour, relevance, originality and clarity of presentation. Abstracts or incomplete papers will not be accepted. 

Exploratory papers
These papers describe novel concepts, works-in-progress, reflections, manifestos or other ideas and issues that are not currently suitable for a complete research paper. They may be a maximum of 5 pages. Papers in this section will also be peer reviewed, but the focus is on relevance more than scientific rigour.
Technology Demonstrators 
Proposals for technology demonstrators (two pages) should include a description, objectives, examples of testing and application and, if possible, a URL where the technology can be viewed.
Panels 
Proposals for panels (two pages) should include motivation, objectives, expected outcomes, approach to audience interaction and panel members. Panels are currently planned to be 1.5 hours long.
All submissions must be made via the conference submission system web site. Submissions should be written in English and foreign speakers are encouraged to have their submissions reviewed for language prior to submission. Submissions should be formatted using 11 point Times-Roman font on A4 sized paper. Accepted research and exploratory papers should be revised according to reviewer comments and resubmitted by the deadline.
Important Dates
January 1 2010                       Submission system available 
January 1, 2010                      Early registration begins
February 14, 2010                   Research paper submissions due
February 21, 2010                   Exploratory papers due
March1, 2010                          Technology Demonstrators & Panel proposals due
March 14, 2010                       Notices of paper acceptances
April 12, 2010                           Completed research and exploratory papers due
May 1, 2010                             Late registration begins
June 30 – July 2                      OD 2010

Conference Chairs:
Stephen Coleman and Ann Macintosh, Centre for Digital Citizenship, University of Leeds, UK.
Fiorella De Cindio, Dipartimento di Informatica e Comunicazione Università degli Studi di Milano, Italy

Organising Chairs: 
Giles Moss, Deputy Director Centre for Digital Citizenship, University of Leeds
Cristian Peraboni, Dipartimento di Informatica e Comunicazione Università degli Studi di Milano

Previous Conference Chairs and on-going supporters:
Robert Cavalier, Department of Philosophy and Digital Media Lab, Carnegie Mellon University
Todd Davies, Symbolic Systems Program, Stanford University, USA 
Douglas Schuler, The Evergreen State College, and The Public Sphere Project
Peter Shane, Moritz College of Law, The Ohio State University and Knight Commission on the Internet Needs of Communities in a Democracy,

Contact Details
For further information please visit the conference website at: www.dico.unimi.it/OD2010
Or email: ics-conferences at leeds.ac.uk