[Air-L] CFP Broadband Policy and" New Democracy"

[Richard Taylor]

Dear Colleagues,

With apologies for cross-postings:

Call for Paper Proposals 

New ICTs + New Media = New Democracy?
Communications policy and public life in the age of broadband

A by-invitation experts' workshop
New America Foundation
September 20-22, 2011

Are "new media" fundamentally changing the practice of democracy? Recent
years have seen a significant 
transition in the role computer mediated communications play in the
political sphere. A technological 
revolution driven by economic and market forces is undermining settled
practices, established 
institutions, and traditional communications norms. As a result, public
policies governing the 
telecommunications and media infrastructure need to be re-examined, and
their theoretical foundations 
and paradigmatic assumptions reformulated. 

Technological developments and broadband communications have forced the
rules of political discourse 
to change: contemporary new media are circumventing and displacing old
media; political candidates 
and public officials are finding new ways of communicating with the public;
fundraising and 
advertising in political campaigns are being reshaped; and voiceless
organizations and communities 
around the world are making themselves heard -- both within their national
boundaries and around the 
world. 

The Institute for Information Policy at Penn State University and the New
America Foundation's Open 
Technology Initiative are pleased to announce this call for paper proposals,
which focuses on the role 
broadband policies play in the promotion and preservation of democracy and
human rights. Authors of 
the selected papers will be invited to present and discuss them during a
three day by-invitation-only 
experts workshop designed to bring together American and international
experts and to be held at the 
New America Foundation in Washington, DC, between September 20-22, 2011.
This workshop is part 
of a series of events focused on "Making Policy Research Accessible,"
organized by the IIP, with the 
support of the Ford Foundation. Presenters at the workshop will be invited
to submit their completed 
papers for review by the Journal of Information Policy (www.jip-online.org).


Paper topics may include, but are not limited to: 

. Freedom, democracy and justice: Changing concepts of democracy in the 21st
century 
. Campaign financing policies in the age of broadband communications 
. Viability of existing telecommunications/media policies in light of
technological change 
. Preservation of freedom of expression and the public sphere in the new
media environment 
. Human rights and policy implications of recent popular uprisings around
the world 
. Allocation of resources allowing broadband communication to fulfill their
role in democracy 
. Private and public ownership of communication networks and their
implications for democracy 

Abstracts of up to 500 words and a short bio of the author(s) should be
submitted to 
pennstateiip at psu.edu by June 30, 2011. Please write IIPOTIWS: YOUR NAME in
the subject 
line. Abstracts not sent according to the above instructions will not be
reviewed. Accepted presenters 
will be notified by July 15, 2011.


Prof. Richard Taylor
Co-Director, Institute for Information Policy
The Pennsylvania State University