[Infowarrior] - 5th Annual Chinese Internet Research conference

[Richard Forno]

The 5th Annual Chinese Internet Research conference will be held at the
Annenberg Presidential Conference Center at Texas A&M University from May
21-22, 2007.  The conference website is at
http://international.tamu.edu/ipa/projects/conference.asp

Conference Description:
Many have seen within the Internet and related digital media the potential
for the widespread transformation of political control and participation, or
the foundations for new grassroots movements, or even more simply, a
tremendously large market for telecommunication and digital media services.
As the Internet and related technologies have grown exponentially in the
last several years, this interest has not been limited just to Chinese, but
has been equally important in many other nations, either those that hope to
facilitate rapid political evolution, or simply to provide markets for
national telecommunications infrastructure providers.
There are several important facets to China's relationship with information
technologies, including governmental priorities and policies, a fear of
political and social instability, the creation of a high tech industry, an
education infrastructure to support that industry, and the social and
political issues that accompany high tech innovation. In addition, the
social consequences of information technologies, through phenomenon such as
online dating, gambling, and interactive games have been the subject of
innumerable press reports, raising the suspicions of political leaders,
educators, and community leaders, as well as countless numbers of parents.
Previous academic analysis of the Internet in China has focused primarily on
governmental control of the internet and the use of the Net by dissident
movements and actors. However, as the Internet and related technologies are
becoming more fully integrated into a wide spectrum of social life, there is
need for a fresh look at digital media in China. Thus, the theme of the
Fifth Annual Chinese Internet Conference is "New perspectives on the
Internet in China." Participants will seek to move beyond the simplistic
portrayals, as well as the "cyberutopianism" of much of the early research.
We will reassess first-generation analyses and develop more subtle, grounded
theory and empirical research examining the wide range of issues associated
with digital media in China. We invite participation from diverse voices,
including both younger and senior scholars from Mainland China, Taiwan, and
Hong Kong, so as to understand the role of digital media in China in a more
realistic perspective.
Potential paper topics include a wide variety of issues that examine the
role and use of the internet in the Greater Chinese cultural area, including
Mainland China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, and the overseas Chinese diaspora. Some
potential areas might include:
* Rethinking China and the Internet
* Bridging the political divide: the Internet and Cross-Straits Relations
* "Internet pollution" and social impacts
* "Let a billion voices bloom" - e-government, e-democracy
* The impact of wireless technologies and the "mobile Internet"
* The Internet in Chinese International Relations
* Digital media and social identity
* The Chinese diaspora and the Internet
* China and global Internet governance (ICANN, WSIS etc)
* China's role in Asia's Digital Future
* Information and Communications Technology for development (ICT4D) in China
Submissions:
We invite individuals to submit papers that are relevant to the conference
themes, and relate to Internet use, policy, and impacts in China, Taiwan,
Hong Kong, or elsewhere in the Chinese cultural world. Abstracts should be
at least 1500 words in length and references must be in APA style. Abstracts
may be in English or Chinese. All abstracts received will be peer reviewed
and selected on the basis of quality of submission and relevance to the
conference themes.
Submissions must be sent via email to Carmen Suen at csuen at ipomail.tamu.edu
by February 15, 2007. Authors will be notified of acceptance by March 15,
2007. 
After acceptance, full and complete papers, written in English, must be
submitted by May 1, 2007.
Selected papers from the conference may be published in an edited volume or
a special symposium issue of an academic journal.
Participation in the conference will neither guarantee nor compel
publication of a paper. In order to be considered for publication, the full
paper must be received by the conference organizers before May 1, 2007.
For more information, contact Carmen Suen at csuen at ipomail.tamu.edu, or see
the conference webpage at
http://international.tamu.edu/ipa/projects/conference.asp


Randy Kluver, Ph.D.
Director, Institute for Pacific Asia
Texas A&M University
204 Coke 3371 TAMU
College Station, TX 77843-3371
Phone: (979) 845-3099
Fax: (979) 845-3085
http://international.tamu.edu/ipa/