<incom> CFP - 3rd GigaNet Annual Symposium - Hyderabad, 2 December 2008

[Meryem Marzouki]

Dear all,

I would like to announce another activity that GigaNet is organizing  
this year: its 3rd annual symposium, which will be held in Hyderabad,  
India, on 2 December 2008.
Like previous venues (Athens, 2006 and Rio de Janeiro, 2007), the 2008  
symposium will be held the day prior the UN Internet Governance Forum  
(IGF), and in the same premises.
Below is the full text of the CFP. A PDF version, suitable for  
redistribution, is available from the 3rd annual symposium website:  
http://tinyurl.com/ynsuuf
Deadline for submission of proposals: 15 July 2008.

Best,
Meryem Marzouki (2008 GigaNet Program Committee Chair)
LIP6/PolyTIC-CNRS Lab.
104 avenue du Président Kennedy
75016 Paris - France
http://www-polytic.lip6.fr

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Third Annual GigaNet Symposium
2 December 2008 - Hyderabad, India
Hyderabad International Conference Center (HICC)
Call for Papers

The Global Internet Governance Academic Network (GigaNet) is a  
scholarly community that promotes the development of Internet  
governance as a recognized, interdisciplinary field of study and  
facilitates informed dialogue on policy issues and related matters  
between scholars and governments, international organizations, the  
private sector, and civil society.

Each year, GigaNet organizes a one-day research symposium in  
conjunction with the United Nations Internet Governance Forum (IGF)  
and in the same premises. After the first two editions in Athens,  
Greece (October 2006) and Rio de Janeiro, Brazil (November 2007), the  
third GigaNet Annual Symposium will be held on December 2, 2008, in  
Hyderabad, India, the day before the 3rd IGF meeting. Attendance at  
the Symposium will be open to all and free of charge. The Symposium  
will be at the same location as the IGF and registration with the UN  
as an IGF participant may be necessary to gain entry to the building.

This is a call for papers from scholars interested in presenting an  
original research paper at the conference.

Submission topics
In addition to papers on methodological aspects of Internet  
governance-related studies, this year's Symposium particularly  
encourages submissions on the following themes, which are described in  
more detail below:
1. Comparing Internet Governance to other Global Governance Domains
2. Networked Governance Theories and the Institutionalization of  
Internet Governance
3. The Role of NGOs, Social Movements and Civil Society in Internet Governance
4. Year 3 of the UN Internet Governance Forum: Assessing its  
Structure, Process and Impact
5. Law and Jurisdictions in Internet Governance
6. Copyright Protection, Internet Service Providers and Technical  
Mechanisms of Control
7. Internationalized Domain Names: Expanding Access or Tower of Babel?

Submission requirements
Applicants should submit: 1) an abstract of 800-1000 words, in  
English, of the proposed paper that describes the main research  
question(s), methods employed, and the paper’s relevance and value to  
the thematic area; and 2) a one page summary curriculum vitae listing  
in particular the applicant’s current institutional affiliation(s),  
advanced degrees, scholarly publications relevant to Internet  
governance, and web sites, if available.

Submission materials should be emailed directly to the chairperson of  
the 2008 Program Committee, Dr. Meryem Marzouki, at  
Meryem.Marzouki at lip6.fr by no later than July 15, 2008, midnight GMT.

Members of the 2008 program committee will review submissions  
according to the same criteria. In order to ensure fairness of the  
evaluation process, submissions that do not conform to the requested  
format will not be considered.

The Program Committee will notify applicants of its decisions via  
email by September 15, 2008.

A full paper upon which oral or poster presentation will be based must  
be delivered to the same address by October 10, 2008, midnight GMT in  
order for the author(s) to be included in the program.

While GigaNet asserts no copyright to authors’ work, it is expected  
that the version of the paper presented orally or as poster will be  
made available for posting on the GigaNet website.

Travel scholarships for a few outstanding accepted papers may be  
available for scholars who would otherwise be unable to attend.  
Applicants who are accepted will be informed of these opportunities  
after September 15.

2008 GigaNet Symposium Program Committee:
- Ana Abreu, Labeurb/Unicamp and Paulista University, Campinas (SP), Brazil
- Slavka Antonova, Massey University, Auckland, New Zealand
- Meryem Marzouki, LIP6/PolyTIC-CNRS Laboratory, Paris, France (Chair)
- John Mathiason, Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs,  
Syracuse University, Syracuse (NY), USA
- Milton Mueller, Syracuse University School of Information Studies,  
Syracuse (NY), USA
- Max Senges, Universitat Oberta de Catalunya, Barcelona, Spain
- Rolf H. Weber, University of Zürich, Zürich, Switzerland

Important dates:
- 15 July 2008: abstract submission deadline (to be sent to:  
Meryem.Marzouki at lip6.fr)
- 15 September 2008: notification to applicants
- 10 October 2008: full papers due
- 15 October 2008: 2008 GigaNet symposium program finalized
- 2 December 2008: 2008 GigaNet symposium, HICC, Hyderabad, India

Topics Description

1. Comparing Internet Governance to other Global Governance Domains
The concept of global governance has flourished in a number of fields:  
trade, security, environment, development -- as well as Internet.  
However, most general analyses of global governance ignore global  
Internet governance. Conversely, very few Internet governance analyses  
are conducted through comparative frameworks. Submissions are invited  
to help frame Internet governance in a broader, global governance  
perspective. What could be learnt from experiences of global  
governance in other fields? Are there any general instruments and  
methods of global governance, irrespective of the domain area it  
addresses? Could some similarities or invariants of a global  
governance process be identified?

2. Networked Governance Theories and the Institutionalization of  
Internet Governance
The global policy discourse on Internet governance involves more  
diverse actors and newly created institutions. There is a need to  
explore the dynamics of this changing institutionalization process  
through theoretical and empirical analysis. Recent work explores  
network forms of organization in political and governance contexts, at  
national and international levels, most notably with the concept of  
“transgovernmental networks” to solve sector-specific problems. We  
call for papers that apply, test and criticize ideas of “networked  
governance” in the context of global Internet governance. We encourage  
submissions that analyze collaborative policy-making in related  
institutions and interactions between them. We are especially  
interested in papers that critically analyze these forms of governance  
in terms of fairness and accountability and their relationship to  
democratic principles. Can presently excluded or minority communities  
enhance their participation? Beyond the expert discourse and the  
interplay amongst dedicated stakeholders, can networked governance  
represent people, rather than just established interests and agencies?  
What are the available tools and practices to facilitate their  
participation and deliberation, in terms of discourse, collaboration  
and decision-making?

3. Role of NGOs, Social Movements and Civil Society in Internet Governance
Important but subtle transformations have occurred in the role and  
participation of non-governmental and non-business actors in the 6  
years since the World Summit on Information Society (WSIS). WSIS  
witnessed a somewhat usual situation, where organized social actors  
participated from inside the process through structured  
non-governmental organizations, and social movements exercised some  
more radical pressure from the outside. Since the creation of the UN  
Internet Governance Forum (IGF), this mode of participation has turned  
into a “consensus-based cooperation”, where civil society actors are  
supposed to contribute on equal footing with governments and business  
actors, in most cases in their individual capacity and rather  
disconnected from social movements. We seek papers that analyze the  
evolution of involved social actors and their structuring, especially  
with regards to the historical evolution of the concept of civil  
society, and to explore in which ways and to what extent these  
transformations may be related to the move from government to  
governance.

4. Year 3 of the UN Internet Governance Forum: Assessing its  
Structure, Process and Impact
The WSIS created and mandated the IGF to address critical,  
value-adding global Internet governance functions that cannot be  
entirely performed by any existing institution. This includes:  
highlighting emerging issues, assessing the embodiment of WSIS  
principles, and strengthening the participation of stakeholders in  
Internet governance mechanisms. Furthermore, the IGF was defined as  
“multilateral, multi-stakeholder, democratic and transparent” body; it  
has been structured through a Secretariat, a multi-stakeholder  
advisory group (MAG), and a special advisory group to the MAG’s chair;  
and for 3 years, it has been operating as an open discursive space,  
prepared through open consultation sessions. Submissions are invited  
to explore whether the IGF has fulfilled its mandate at this step,  
which difficulties can be identified and how they could be solved. Has  
the IGF structure, management and advisory mechanisms proven to be  
adequate and compliant with the WSIS Tunis Agenda requirements? What  
strengths could be reinforced and weaknesses overcome?

5. Law and Jurisdictions in Internet Governance
The Internet must now be considered a major factor when elaborating  
regulatory principles to deal with the circulation of content and data  
and with the protection of the general communications infrastructure.  
This is not an easy task because of its implications on the respect  
for universal human rights, fundamental freedoms and the rule of law,  
where States differ widely on their implementation of these  
international standards, even among coherent regional entities. The  
task becomes even more complex due to conflicts of competences among  
overlapping jurisdictions. We seek papers that identify and explore  
conflicts among national laws and attempts to harmonize them. We also  
seek papers that explore the relevance to the global Internet of  
public and private international law currently in force or being  
considered in ongoing international negotiations. Submissions  
analyzing the role and positions of various players in these processes  
are also encouraged.

6. Copyright Protection, Internet Service Providers and Technical  
Mechanisms of Control
We encourage papers that examine attempts to impose copyright  
protection on the Internet through the intermediary of Internet  
service providers. This theme bridges the topics of network neutrality  
and intellectual property, inspired by recent incidents, such as a  
Belgian ISP’s order by a court to use deep packet inspection to catch  
copyright infringement in transit, and Comcast's notorious  
interference with BitTorrent, which also was probably stimulated in  
part by copyright protection concerns. Papers can explore the  
feasibility and “state of the art” of packet inspection and other  
relevant techniques, analyze copyright industry and ISP industry  
interactions from a political economy standpoint, or examine  
appropriate policy responses to new and powerful packet inspection  
techniques.

7. Internationalized Domain Names: Expanding Access or Tower of Babel?
We encourage papers on the economic, cultural and compatibility issues  
raised by the migration to a new standard for Internet domain names  
that allows them to reflect non-Roman scripts such as Chinese or  
Cyrillic. Internationalized domain names (IDNs) have a double-edged  
effect: they widen access for non-English or ASCII readers by making  
domain names easier to use, but they also introduce compatibility  
problems among people communicating across language boundaries, as one  
party may not know how to read or input the address of the other  
party. There are also interesting questions of competition policy, as  
the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) must  
decide whether to give new generic top level domains (TLDs) in IDN  
scripts to incumbents operating ASCII TLDs with similar meanings, or  
to new competitors. Issues of consumer confusion and cross-linguistic  
disputes can also arise.