IAMCR - International Association for Media and Communication Research

International Association for Media and Communication Research
27th Annual Research Conference, July 21-24, 2009
National Autonomous University Of Mexico (Unam), Mexico-City, Mexico
Theme: Human Rights And Communication

The Communication Policy and Technology (CP&T) Section of the IAMCR invites the submission of abstracts bearing on the Conference theme as well as on the Section sub-theme ‘Human Rights, ICT Use & Technology Policy: Challenges, Options and the Way Forward’.

At the heart of the development, usages and policies of information and communication technologies are human beings, whose rights and interests should be paramount in the development process.

Is there an inalienable right to information and communication as a basic survival tool within the emerging knowledge economy? How can we conceive internal and external media pluralism in the information age? Should access to the Internet and broadband technologies be a privilege or a right of citizens the world over? Are emerging social and citizen media entitled to the rights of traditional media in terms of press freedom? To what extent are the human rights and interests of children, elderly, disabled, poor and other socially disadvantaged people accounted for in strategic approaches and policy-making in the pre and post WSIS eras? And, with the focus on ‘Rights’, what importance do we accord to ‘Responsibility’ as part of the strategic thinking and policy objectives in the design, implementation and use of ICTs in the national and global communication spheres? What are the best methods to identify human concerns and to involve people’s practices in the design and social shaping of media technologies? How do people within different social-cultural settings experience and give meaning to new media in relation to the challenges of everyday life? How do people deal with hybridization and convergence in the new media ecosystem? Is there a new regulatory paradigm emerging?

Empirical and analytical work on these and other related issues will form the central thrust of presentations in the CP&T Section at the 2009 Mexico conference. Your carefully researched, analytical papers and well-crafted presentations could be part of the engaging series of sessions at the Conference.

The CP& T Section welcomes abstracts of between 300 and 500 words from scholars of any academic discipline bearing on these and related issues. Topics of particular interest in abstract submissions to the Section include:

• Communication Rights in national and local contexts
• Human Rights, Internet Access and Sovereignty
• Internet Governance, Stakeholderism and Human Rights
• Open Access, Human Rights and ICT Policy-making
• Policy Challenges of the two IPs –Intellectual Property rights and Internet Protocol networks
• Open Source movement and creative commons
• Human Rights, Technology Designs and the Market
• Human Rights and Global Connectivity in the pre- and post-WSIS era
• Next Generation Networks & Net Neutrality
• Citizen Rights, Web 2.0 and beyond
• Convergence and Cross Media Use
• The Rights and Wrongs of the Digital Divide
• ICTs Role in Urban and Rural Everyday Life
• Cultural and indigenous innovations – the challenge of rights
• Technology and Human Rights in communicating wars, conflicts and crises
• Telecommunications Networks, Interconnection and Human Rights
• Social Innovation and User Involvement in ICT Design
• Disability, ICTs and Human Rights
• Human Rights and Virtual Communities
• ICTs to Support Social Bounding and Social Bridging
• Social Inclusion and Social Network Sites and Communities
• Youth and Elderly, ICT technologies and the right to communicate
• Digital Gaming and Citizen Rights
• The Impacts of National or Regional Communications Policies on Minorities
• Mobile Broadband, Telephony Usage Patterns and e-Exclusion
• Digital television, Switch-over Policies and Digital Divide
• Interdisciplinary Methods for Research on User Participation in ICT
• Community radio regulation

Abstracts (of no more than 500 words) addressing one or more of the above topics should be submitted via the official conference abstracts and registration site: http://www.iamcr2009mexico.unam.mx/english/form.html

Also send a copy in Word-format to Bart Cammaerts (B.Cammaerts[AT]lse.ac.uk) and Maria Michalis (M.Michalis[AT]Westminster.ac.uk). All abstracts must be submitted before February 16, 2009.

Abstracts should state the title as well as the methods or approaches used and introduce the empirical and theoretical material on which the paper is based. Also include the relevance of the paper for the CP&T section.

Each abstract may be submitted to only one Section or Working Group of the IAMCR Conference. Offering duplicates of the same paper to different Sections of the Association is likely to result in elimination of the abstract.

Each abstract must include paper title, presenter’s name(s), institutional affiliation(s) and email address(es) of author(s). Applicants will be advised by March 29, 2009 of the outcome of their submissions. The full text of accepted papers (with a maximum of 8000 words) will be required no later than July 1, 2009, in order to ensure that the authors' names and papers' titles are included in the final conference program.

For further information on the 2009 Mexico City Conference visit the Conference Website.

For more information on CP&T visit the IAMCR section site: http://www.iamcr.org/content/blogcategory/53/144

Key submission information:

• Abstract length: Maximum 500 words
• Abstracts to be sent via: http://www.iamcr2009mexico.unam.mx/english/form.html with copy sent to Bart Cammaerts (B.Cammaerts[AT]lse.ac.uk) and Maria Michalis (M.Michalis[AT]Westminster.ac.uk)
• Deadline for abstracts: February 16, 2009
• Notification of acceptance: March 29, 2009
• Full papers due (max. 8000 words): July 1, 2009