Scope and theme

National, regional and international policy plays a major role in the advancement of ICT in various sectors and the shaping ICT-mediated socio-economic practice. Moreover, it provides mechanisms for addressing potentially undesirable effects of ICT innovation and influences ethical conduct in modern society. This conference is intended to explore the theoretical justification of policy action concerning ICT and socio-economic change and to discuss particular policies through which various institutions of contemporary governance have sought to promote ICT, to achieve specific socio-economic changes, or to address undesirable effects of ICT diffusion in contemporary society.

The conference is structured in the following tracks:

A. Theoretical papers on policy action regarding ICT and socio-economic change, such as on globalization, the post-industrial society, the information society, etc. We are interested in papers examining w hy information and communication technologies require policy making by national and international institutions and necessitate the active involvement of the civil society. This includes the following:

• Theoretical perspectives on the significance of new ICTs for the society and economy;
• Major socio-economic changes, as well as ethical and political dilemmas associated with the concepts of information economy, information society, knowledge society, and globalization;
• The expectations, anxieties and hopes national governments, international development organizations, civil society organizations, and societies at large associate with the new information and communication technologies.
• Undesirable and/or unexpected effects of ICT-mediated practices, including risk assessment and possible mechanisms of control.

B. Analyses of the social consequences of specific areas of ICT policy, such as diffusion of ICT innovation and economic change, various aspects of ‘information society' policies. In other words, we are interested in papers examining what courses of policy action are undertaken and with what social effects. This includes papers dealing with the following:

• The social, political and ethical consequences of m ajor areas of action and government intervention that have so far comprised ICT policy in various countries and regions - such as the promotion of competitive national ICT industries, or telecommunications regulation;
• Potential risks posed in civil life by the spread of new technologies and the legal measures available for protection against these risks;
• Privacy;
• Security;
• Intellectual property rights,
• Governance of the internet,
• Policies for digital inclusion
• e-democracy
• ICTs and socio-economic issues within specific policy action-areas of various governance institutions (e.g. government ministries, NGOs' focal activities), such as education, health, labour, security, defence, and finance).

C. Assessment of specific cases of ICT-related policy. We are interested in papers that examine the effects of particular policy initiatives, including the following:

• Case studies of national and regional ICT policy initiatives and their social effects
• Industrial and institutional change policies
• National systems of innovation
• International collaborative policies, such as the EU R&D programmes
• Comparisons of national or regional ICT polices and their effects
• Analyses of WSIS proposals
• The debate on the internet governance
• Legal measures for addressing undesirable effects; codes of ethics
• Human resources and capability building policies
• Mechanisms for professionalism, such as certification, accreditation, continuing education, licensing.
• Mechanisms for coping with the complexity and dubious quality of circulated ‘information'

Types of Submissions

We welcome contributions such as:

• Traditional research papers (5000 – 8000 words ),
• Work in progress paper (2000 – 3000 words) reporting on ongoing research;
• Panels (3-5 members).