[Ecommerce] CFP for Athens GigaNet Conference, Oct. 29

[William Drake]

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>
> Please distribute as appropriate
>
>
> Call for Proposals
>
> Global Internet Governance Academic Network (GigaNet)
> First Annual Conference
> Divani Apollon Palace & Spa Hotel
> Athens, Greece
> 29 October 2006
>
>
> The Global Internet Governance Academic Network (GigaNet) is an emerging
> scholarly community initiated in Spring 2006.  Its four principal objecti=
ves
> are to: support the establishment of a global cohort of scholars speciali=
zing
> on Internet governance issues; promote the development of Internet govern=
ance
> as a recognized, interdisciplinary field of study; advance theoretical an=
d
> applied research on Internet governance, broadly defined; and facilitate
> informed dialogue on policy issues and related matters between scholars a=
nd
> Internet governance stakeholders (governments, international organization=
s,
> the private sector, and civil society).
>
> In this context, the GigaNet plans to organize conferences to be held on =
site
> prior to the annual meetings of the new Internet Governance Forum (IGF). =
The
> first such conference will be held on 29 October 2006 in Athens, Greece p=
rior
> to the inaugural IGF meeting  <www.igfgreece2006.gr>.  The final program,=
 when
> available, will be posted on the IGF website <www.intgovforum.org> and on=
 the
> websites of relevant academic organizations.  Attendance at the conferenc=
e
> will be free of charge and open to all registered IGF participants.
>
> This is a call for proposals from scholars interested in speaking on one =
of
> the three round table panels to be held at the conference.  The panels ar=
e
> described in the preliminary program below.  The Program Committee will s=
elect
> four to five speakers per panel drawing on the following materials to be
> provided by applicants: 1) a one page maximum description of the proposed
> presentation indicating its specific relevance and value-added to the pan=
el in
> question=92s thematic focus; and 2) a one page summary curriculum vitae l=
isting
> in particular the applicant=92s current institutional affiliation(s), adv=
anced
> degrees, scholarly publications relevant to Internet governance, and web
> sites, if available.
>
> These materials should be emailed directly to the respective panel chairs
> listed below by no later than Monday, 25 September, midnight GMT. The Pro=
gram
> Committee will notify applicants of its decisions via email by 4 October.=
 The
> selected speakers will give ten-minute presentations, after which there w=
ill
> be open discussion with audience members. While this is not required, spe=
akers
> are welcome to provide a written text or Power Point presentation to be l=
inked
> off of the conference web page.
>
>
> ----------
>
> Preliminary Program and Roundtable Panel Descriptions
>
>
> 9:30-9:45       Welcome and Overview
>                        Wolfgang Kleinw=E4chter, University of Aarhus, Den=
mark
>
>
> 9:45-11:15      Theorizing Internet Governance: The State of the Art
> Chair:              Peng Hwa Ang, Singapore Internet Research Center
>                         Email: tphang [at] ntu.edu.sg
>
> In recent years, scholars have begun to analyze Internet governance issue=
s
> using the theoretical tools of their respective academic disciplines.  Wh=
ile
> issues surrounding ICANN have attracted particular attention, there also =
has
> been significant work done on the international governance of digital
> international trade and intellectual property, privacy, security, speech,=
 and
> other topics.  Such research often has been rather specialized and geared
> toward the distinct audiences interested in each issue-area, which limite=
d
> intellectual cross-fertilization. These topics are related, and Internet
> governance should be seen as a broad but coherent field of study that mer=
its
> elaboration and support.  Mapping the landscape of relevant theoretical
> perspectives is an important first step toward this end.
>
> The purpose of this panel is to consider questions such as: What aspects =
of
> Internet governance are uniquely interesting and worthy of scholarly anal=
ysis?
> How has Internet governance been addressed by scholars in the social scie=
nces,
> humanities, law, and other disciplines, and which theoretical approaches =
seem
> to be the most promising for which issues and dynamics?  Do these efforts
> point to the emergence of a coherent research agenda and the cumulative
> development of new knowledge? Are there barriers---intellectual,
> institutional, and other---that might have to be overcome to advance that
> agenda? How can Internet governance develop into an interdisciplinary
> scholarly field that is taken seriously by academics and also capable of
> providing useful inputs to the Internet Governance Forum and other policy
> development institutions?  What lessons can be learned, if any, from othe=
r
> fields defined by the object of inquiry/dependent variables rather than b=
y
> shared theories and independent variables, e.g., "communication studies,"
> "information studies," and "women's studies"? Are there national or cultu=
ral
> differences in the ways scholars approach these matters, and if so how mi=
ght
> these be reconciled?
>
>
> 11:15-11:30     Coffee break
>
>
> 11:30-13:00     =93Enhanced Cooperation=94 and Interaction among Stakehol=
ders
>                             in Internet Governance
> Chair:              Milton Mueller, Syracuse University, USA
>                         Email: info [at] internetgovernance.org
>
> In addition to creating the Internet Governance Forum, the Tunis Agenda c=
alls
> for "enhanced cooperation" among governments. This language originated wi=
th
> the European Union's June 2005 criticism of US unilateral control of ICAN=
N.
> The EU claimed that the WSIS statement constituted, "a worldwide politica=
l
> agreement providing for further internationalization of Internet governan=
ce,
> and enhanced intergovernmental cooperation to this end" and that, "Such
> cooperation should include the development of globally applicable princip=
les
> on public policy issues associated with the coordination and management o=
f
> critical Internet resources."
>
> The purpose of this panel is to consider questions such as: What are the
> causes of US-EU tensions over Internet governance? What institutional for=
m
> might such a "new cooperation model" for deliberations among governments =
take?
> How viable is the distinction between "day-to-day management of the Inter=
net
> and "public policy?" What, more generally, is the role of national govern=
ments
> in Internet governance in relation to other stakeholder groups? What
> implications might =93enhanced cooperation=94 have for civil society and
> multistakeholder participation? How might such a philosophy lead to chang=
es in
> the structure or processes of ICANN? Proposals outlining any other approa=
ch
> that provides insight into this aspect of the political battles over Inte=
rnet
> governance are welcome.
>
>
> 13:00-14:30     Lunch break
>
>
> 14:30-16:00     The Distributed Architecture of Internet Governance
> Chair:              William J. Drake, Graduate Institute of International
> Studies,
>                         Geneva, Switzerland
>                         Email: drake [at] hei.unige.ch
>
> As the WSIS agreements recognized, Internet governance involves much more=
 than
> ICANN or the collective management of naming and numbering. Internet
> governance also includes the development and application of international=
ly
> shared principles, norms, rules, decision-making procedures, and programs=
 in a
> variety of other issue-areas, e.g. technical standardization, cybercrime =
and
> network security, international interconnection, e-commerce, e-contractin=
g,
> networked trade in digital goods and services, digital intellectual prope=
rty,
> jurisdiction and choice of law, human rights, speech and social conduct,
> cultural and linguistic diversity, privacy and consumer protection, dispu=
te
> resolution, and so on. These activities take a variety of forms and are
> pursued in a heterogeneous array of settings, including governmental,
> intergovernmental, private sector, and multistakeholder organizations and
> collaborations. In parallel, the international regimes and related framew=
orks
> they establish vary widely in their institutional attributes, e.g. the
> collective action problems addressed, functions performed, participants
> involved, organizational setting and decision making procedures, agreemen=
t
> type, strength and scope of prescriptions, compliance mechanisms, power
> dynamics and distributional biases, etc.  But while there is now broad
> recognition that the architecture of Internet governance is highly
> distributed, there has been little systematic scholarly analysis or polic=
y
> dialogue about its precise nature and implications.
>
> The purpose of this panel is to explore and clarify some of the lingering
> ambiguities, including questions such as: Which governance mechanisms are
> relatively more or less important in shaping the Internet=B9s evolution a=
nd use?
> How well do these mechanisms cohere, and are there tensions and gaps betw=
een
> them? Are there crosscutting issues that merit consideration from analyti=
cal
> and programmatic standpoints?  Are there generalizable lessons to be lear=
ned
> by the distinct communities of expertise involved in different issue-area=
s
> with regard to best practices and institutional design?  Does the distrib=
uted
> architecture pose any challenges with respect to the effective participat=
ion
> of less powerful stakeholders and the global community=B9s ability to gov=
ern in
> an effective and equitable manner?  Looking beyond formalized collective
> frameworks, under what circumstances, if any, may private market power or
> spontaneously harmonized practices constitute forms of Internet governanc=
e?
> What is the current role of governance mechanisms for international
> telecommunications, and what might that role become in a future marked by
> convergence and potentially non-neutral next generation networks?
>
>
> 16:00-16:15     Coffee break
>
>
> 16:15-17:45     GigaNet Business Meeting
> Moderator:      Avri Doria, Lule=E2 University of Technology, Sweden
>
>
> 17:45-18:00     Closing
>


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