[WSIS CS-Plenary] Call for Papers (deadline extended) -- International Colloquium on Communication and Democracy

[Emem Okon]

Hi Bill,
I am a Nigerian and I want to send in my abstract as
required. Just want to find out, will I be offered
travel grant to cover flights from Nigeria and
accommodation and feeding during the conference? I
really want to participate in this conference. 

Emem J. Okon
Niger Delta Women for Justice


--- "Bill McIver, University at Albany"
<mciver at albany.edu> wrote:
> 
> Please be advised that the deadline for submitting
> abstracts to the 
> Communication & Democracy: Technology & Citizen
> Engagement colloquium 
> has been extended from April 1 to April 19.
> 
> The revised Call for Papers is attached, and it
> would be greatly 
> appreciated if you would re-circulate it widely.
> 
> Many thanks,
> 
> Mary C. Milliken, BA, MA
> 
> Research Assistant
> 
> e-Government/e-Citizen
> 
> NRC IIT - CNRC ITI
> 46 Dineen Drive/ 46 Promenade Dineen
> Fredericton, NB
> Canada
> E3B 9W4
> Tel: 506-444-0378
> 
> Fax: 506-444-6114
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Call for Papers
> 
> International Colloquium
> Communication and Democracy: Technology and Citizen
> Engagement
> Wednesday, August 4 – Friday, August 6, 2004
> Fredericton, New Brunswick, Canada
> 
> Host: University of New Brunswick, Department of
> Sociology
> 
> Sponsor: University of New Brunswick, Office of
> Research Services
> School of Communications and Multimedia, Edith Cowan
> University,
> Perth, Australia
> 
> Partner: National Research Council Institute for
> Information Technology
> e-Business, Canada
> 
> Since the early 1990s, governments, industry and
> commercial 
> organizations, public agencies, non-governmental
> organizations, 
> communities and individual citizens have embraced
> the Internet and other 
> information and communication technologies (ICT),
> expending extensive 
> resources on their deployment and adoption.
> 
> Along this digital journey, on one end of a
> continuum, claims have been 
> made about the revolutionary and emancipatory
> potential of ICT. 
> Promoters exhort the urgency of its adoption to
> realize citizen 
> empowerment, institutional transformation and
> transparency, direct 
> democracy, and the erasure of time and space to
> create an electronic 
> global village.
> 
> At the other end of this continuum of debate,
> critics argue that the 
> potential benefits of ICT are being outweighed by a
> growing digital 
> impotence for citizens, who are increasingly bound
> by new forms of 
> regulation, institutional electronic rigidities,
> market regulation, the 
> extension of commercial practices deeper into social
> life, and technical 
> design myopic of human needs.
> 
> The broad themes of citizen engagement, democratic
> inclusion, and 
> socio-economic betterment for citizens, communities
> and nations have 
> emerged as key research concerns that cut across
> issues such as the 
> digital divide, convergence, e-commerce and the dot
> com bomb, 
> e-learning, e-health, gaming, virtual communities,
> community 
> informatics, connectivity, broadband, and government
> online.
> 
> Now, ten years into the popular development of the
> Internet, it is 
> opportune to critically reflect on where we have
> been, where we are 
> supposed to be, what we have learned, or what we
> should have learned, 
> where we should be going, and what questions we
> should be asking as we 
> continue further on this journey.
> The purpose of this colloquium is to reflect on the
> core issues of 
> communications, democracy and citizen engagement and
> to push the margins 
> of thinking and debate around entry points such as
> methodologies, social 
> practices, theoretical frameworks, technical design,
> institutional 
> relations and citizen needs. It will bring together
> up-and-coming 
> researchers and established experts to exchange
> ideas about current 
> research and theories - and rethink the ways
> forward. Presentations can 
> be based on local, national or international
> research.
> 
> To facilitate open discussion and full involvement
> all sessions will be 
> plenary.
> 
> Central themes for panels (papers) include, but are
> not restricted to:
> 
> Technology R&D and Citizen Needs
> 
> This panel focuses on user needs and applications
> research and 
> development. Featuring social scientists and
> computer science 
> researchers, half the presenters discuss
> communication from a user needs 
> perspective, and other presenters discuss the
> process behind the design 
> of community informatics and other applications. One
> goal of the panel 
> is to encourage debate among social and computer
> scientists about 
> citizen needs and technology research and
> development. Needs assessment, 
> the socio-economic aspects of the communication
> relationship, and 
> technology designed to meet user needs are possible
> theme areas.
> 
> Research Methodologies
> 
> Various qualitative and quantitative methods offer a
> number of 
> possibilities for research on citizen needs,
> democratic communications, 
> community communications, human/technology
> interface, and community 
> informatics, among others. This panel discusses such
> questions as: what 
> are the ‘right’ research questions that should be
> asked, and why? What 
> are different methodologies that should be employed?
> Empirical examples, 
> theoretical and methodological examples or
> possibilities could be explored.
> 
> Citizen Engagement and E-Democracy
> 
> Panelists will discuss findings of research on ICT
> used to facilitate 
> citizen engagement in communities and between
> citizens, in relation to 
> community organizations, government agencies and the
> state. What do 
> "engagement" and "e-Democracy" mean to citizens,
> governments and 
> communities, and what should they mean? What are the
> best means, 
> channels or practices to attain them?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Organizers
> 
> Andrew Reddick, Ph.D. Group Leader,
> e-Government/e-Citizen Group, NRC 
> Institute for Information Technology - e-Business,
> Fredericton, NB, 
> Canada andrew.reddick at nrc-cnrc.gc.ca
> Vanda Rideout, Ph.D. Associate Professor, Department
> of Sociology, 
> University of New Brunswick, Fredericton, NB, Canada
> vrideout at unb.ca
> Mary C. Milliken, MA, Ph.D. candidate, UNB,
> Conference Organizer, NRC 
> 
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