FYI -- pls contact organizers directly if interested. Thanks.
> We invite your participation in --
>
> Many Voices, Many Places - Electronically Enabling Communities for An
> Information Society: A Colloquium Research Results, Lessons Learned,
Policy Recommendations
>
> Please circulate this invitation widely to colleagues.
>
> Prato, Italy 15-16 September, 2003 www.ccnr.net/prato2003/. Second Call
for Papers and Participation
>
> The Centre for Community Networking Research, Monash University, Australia
and the Community Informatics Research Group at New Jersey Institute of
Technology, USA , cordially invite researchers, practitioners and policy
makers to participate in Many Voices Many Places - Electronically Enabling
Communities for An Information Society Colloquium to be held 15-16
September, at the Monash University Centre, Prato (Florence/Firenze), Italy.
>
> Many Voices, Many Places: Electronically Enabling Communities for An
> Information Society is meant as a complement to provide an opportunity for
practitioners, researchers and policy makers from research centres,
universities, cultural institutions, and agencies involved in governance to
discuss and reflect on the role and opportunities for emergent communities
as constrained by physical, distance, resource, political, and gender
barriers for effective participation in an Information Society.
>
> The format of the session will be reflective and deliberative. Position
papers are invited and more formal papers will be reviewed but presentation
will be as introductions to discussion. For reasons of space we are
constrained to no more than 40 participants as appropriate participation
will be by invitation or by anticipated contribution. 50EU will be charged
to cover immediate operating expenses. Please see the website
www.ccnr.net/prato2003/ for registration & accommodation details.
>
> Mid-September 2003 sees a conjunction of several conferences where the
role and impact of electronically-enabled communities will be discussed,
including: Next 5 MINUTES 4, Amsterdam, 12-14 September Information,
Communication, Society: A Research Symposium, Oxford 17th-20th September;
and Communities and Technologies (C&T 2003), Amsterdam, 19 - 21 September.
>
>
> We aim to identify the structures and processes which enable collective
memory, minority knowledge creation, and oral culture inclusive of all parts
of societies and how these may be empowered to enhance effective social
participation. The intersection of the discipline of community informatics
with these dimensions of societal knowledge production (and the
consequential empowerment and development of social capital) will also be
explored.
>
> We are looking to provide a forum where those involved can
> discuss/summarize/theorize/and draw conclusions or lessons learned from
some ten years of practical work and research experience in applying
Information and Communications Technologies to enabling (and empowering)
emergent communities (virtual and physical) framed as a contribution to the
World Summit on the Information Society which will be held in Geneva in
December of 2003.
>
>
> Some Possible Topic Areas for Discussion
>
> What are the "many voices" in the Information Society
> What are their barriers to participation and what opportunities do they
present to themselves and to others as communities?
> How are these many voices "sustainable"?
> Many voices as communities of interest (and of place)
> Sustaining these communities
> Strategies for Innovation: What Do We Know and How Can it Be Promoted
> ICTs and Local Economic Development at the margins: What Do We Know and
Where Do We Go From Here
> Do ICTs contribute to Poverty Alleviation and if so, how can this be
> replicated?
> What is the role of institutions of cultural memory in developed and
> developing countries?
> Oral to electronically documented -- what is the process and what are the
ethical and other issues?
> Telecentres-best practices; cost-benefit assessment; are they a solution
for "universal access"
> What contribution can ICTs make to building Civil Society?
> Communities, ICTs and Emergent Democracy
> What is the (appropriate) role of the private sector?
>
> Colloquium Publication
>
> Proceedings, including refereed papers, position statements and related
documents will be made available at the colloquium and for broader
distribution in the context of the World Summit on the Information Society
(WSIS).
>
> Full Papers (up to 5000 words, including references) are due 1 August for
refereeing and inclusion in the publication. Abstracts should be sent as
soon as possible. This deadline is final if you wish to be included in the
publication.
>
> Please submit abstracts for full papers and short position papers to
> Professor Michael Gurstein (gurstein@njit.edu) or Larry Stillman
> (larrys@vicnet.net.au) as soon as possible.
>
> Please register your expression of interest to as either a speaker or
> attendee as soon as possible.
>
> Colloquium committee
>
> Michael Bieber, Associate Professor, College of Information Science, New
Jersey Institute of Technology
> Michael Gurstein, (Visiting) Professor, School of Management New Jersey
Institute of Technology
> Prof Don Schauder, School of Information Management and Systems, Monash
University
> Dr Graham Johanson, School of Information Management and Systems/Centre
for Community Networking Research, Monash University
> Larry Stillman, School of Information Management and Systems/Centre for
Community Networking Research, Monash University
>
> Colloquium Sponsors
>
> The Centre for Community Networking Research, Monash University, Australia
> New Jersey Institute of Technology, USA
> National Science Foundation
>
> Please circulate this invitation widely!
>
> ______________________
>
>
> --
> ************************
> Larry Stillman
> Centre for Community Networking Research, Monash University, www.ccnr.net
> 61 3 9903 1801 fax 9903 2564
>