CfP: Ethnographies of the Internet: Grounding Regulation in Lived Experience

[David Goldstein <goldstein_david@yahoo.com.au>]

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Programme in Comparative Media Law & Policy, Oxford University
  

Ethnographies of the Internet: Grounding Regulation in Lived
Experience
Friday, 8 March 2002
Call for Papers

Researchers studying Internet use are invited to submit work with
policy implications for a one-day research conference to be held at
Oxford University. This conference will bring together grounded
research that produces deep ethnographic accounts of the way that the
Internet is formed or negotiated by particular actors in a specific
context, and open a discussion about the lessons social science holds
hold for law and policy debates affecting the Internet. These debates
include: freedom of expression, protection of minors, privacy,
consumer protection, social exclusion/the "digital divide",
intellectual property protection, globalisation, industrial and
economic development, political participation, access to public
services, and others.

Rationale

Governments and content developers for on-line media are now acting
to
influence the development of the Internet on a number of fronts. At
the same time, scholars from many disciplines have applied social
scientific methods to the study of those who use and create the
Internet. This conference seeks to deepen our understanding of the
confluence of use, policy, and content production by confronting the
interventions of private and public actors with the scholarship on
Internet use. Specifically, we hope to open a dialogue between
policymakers, leaders in the on-line media, and specialists in law
and
policy - and those who are developing rich and detailed knowledge
about the use of the Internet in everyday situations through
empirical
research. 

Research Topics

For the purposes of this conference, terms such as Internet "policy"
and "regulation" are meant to be as inclusive as possible. Internet
policy might include other policy initiatives not mentioned above,
and
regulation might involve public agencies, private groups, and NGOs;
regulation might consist of state action, but also industry codes of
conduct that preempt state action, or even informal agreements
between
actors. 

Suggested topics include:

Ideal policies and products. What are the implications of current
empirical research for public policy and Internet industries? How can
deep qualitative accounts which celebrate the particular provide
lessons for public policies and media products that by necessity must
apply to the general? 

Macro initiatives/micro contexts. How do macro policy initiatives
translate to the micro contexts of daily experience? How do users
respond to, challenge, promote or subvert regulatory action? But
also,
how do producers, carriers, and media industries respond to,
challenge, promote, or subvert regulatory action? On the Internet, to
what extent is the distinction between users and producers useful? 

The Internet as disjunct. In what ways is the Internet different from
and similar to other communication media? Are there sound rationales
for differential regulation? Are there ways to leverage the existing
knowledge about media and policy into Internet policy?

Most relevant will be broadly qualitative, rich methodologies in the
tradition of cultural anthropology, but now found in anthropology,
sociology, psychology, communication, socio-legal studies, media
studies, geography, cultural studies, and other fields. This meeting
will be the 4th CSLS conference on the theme of law and anthropology
(relevant papers are solicited from any discipline, however).

To Participate

To present research that addresses the topic: "Ethnographies of the
Internet: Grounding Regulation in Lived Experience," please submit an
abstract via e-mail to Dr. Christian Sandvig
(christian.sandvig@csls.ox.ac.uk). Abstracts should be under 1500
words and are due no later than January 7, 2002. Abstracts should be
in a common format (plain text, RTF, MS Word, PDF).

The key dates for the conference are:

Jan 21 - Deadline for abstracts 
Feb 4 - Notification of acceptance 
Mar 1 - Completed papers due via e-mail 
Mar 8 - Conference held at Oxford University 

As it may not be possible to accommodate all papers within the
constraints of a brief conference, selection may be necessary. 

Accepted papers will be considered for publication in a special issue
of a peer-reviewed academic journal and/or an edited book. In order
to
provide lunch and refreshments at the workshop, a small fee may be
charged. 

 http://pcmlp.socleg.ox.ac.uk/conf08022002.htm


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