GLOBAL COMMUNITY AND THE INTERNET
Erasmus University Rotterdam, Forumzaal
24 and 25 January 2013
Call for Papers
The
Conference will consist of a two-day Seminar with keynotes that bring
together scholars from different domains, hoping to raise new insights
across disciplinary borders.
We
invite scholars from all relevant fields to present a paper at the
conference, ‘The Shape of Diversity to Come’. Proposals for papers in
one of the 4 conference tracks listed below will be taken into
consideration.
1.
Deadline for the submission of paper proposals in the form of an
extended abstract (max. 1500 words): September 30th 2012. Please send to
been@law.eur.nl.
2. Acceptance or rejection of the proposals by: October 15th 2012.
3. The deadline for the written papers (6000 to 8000 words) is December 30th 2012.
We aim to publish the keynotes and a selection of the papers in an edited volume.
THE SHAPE OF DIVERSITY TO COME
Conference Themes
Information Technology and Identity
Does
the way in which new forms of communication bolster immigrant and
minority communities call into question classical liberal and
communitarian views of the multicultural society? Information and
conversation flows freely in and out of the national space. What does
this mean for the habituation of new citizens? Dutch expats in New York,
London, or Singapore can remain intimately connected and attached to
their country of origin in a range of new ways. Should their hybrid
identity be recognized in dual citizenship?
Of
course, critical questions can also be asked about the real substance
of these new forms of association that the communication and information
revolution has brought forth. Are the ties of these communities strong
enough to substitute the traditional organizations of civil society? Or,
is it a mistake to equate the weak internet communities with real-life
social, cultural and political organizations (Morozov 2011)?
Techno-Determinism and Choice
Some
of the analysis presents the development of information and
communication technology as an unstoppable force that reshapes the way
people relate. Yet, there is a great deal of man-made code at the basis
of this reconstitution of social life (Lessig 1996, 2006). Should we
simply accept the design choices and algorithms that rule our social
lives in cyberspace?
This
raises normative questions about the technical choices in the
architectural design of cyberspace. What sort of place do we want
cyberspace to be? “We must take responsibility for the politics we are
building into this architecture,” Lessig claims, “for this architecture
is a sovereign governing the community that lives in that space.
Media and Public Discourse
The
nationally organized media organizations once played a pivotal role in
creating and informing a mass public, in facilitating a national debate
on national issues. It created Benedict Anderson’s famous “imagined
community” of the nation by making people feel they were all part of a
developing story, that they were all experiencing the same events as
part of an encompassing nation (1983).
Email: rosa.alves-ferreira@shu.edu
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