PlatformGovernance1: ICA Pre-Conference: Sovereignty and the Return of Governance for Digital Platforms Virtual conference France, May 25, 2022 |
Conference website | https://www.icahdq.org/page/ICA22PrePostconf |
Submission link | https://easychair.org/conferences/?conf=platformgovernance1 |
Sovereignty and the Return of Governance for Digital Platforms
Endorsed by the Following ICA Divisions: Communications Law & Policy; Global Communications & Social Change.
Deadline for Abstracts: February 28, 2022.
Theme
In an era that has been termed one of post-globalization (Flew, 2018; O’Sullivan, 2019) there is considerable debate around governance of the global Internet. In particular, multistakeholder approaches which seek to bypass nation-state governments in the name of global "netizens" have been critiqued as lacking real regulatory capacity to transform the behaviour of digital platforms towards public interest goals. At the same time, there has been a ‘regulatory turn’ (Schlesinger, 2020) in internet governance, with national governments – as well as the European Union – proposing an array of laws, policies, regulations and co-regulatory codes to address issues that include monopoly power, content regulation, data and privacy, and the uses of AI.
This one-day symposium will explore questions of sovereignty in the digital environment from international and comparative perspectives. We are particularly interested in papers which address:
- The ‘regulatory turn’ towards digital platforms and comparative insights.
- How digital platforms with an international footprint navigate competing jurisdictional rules and regulations;
- The rise of “tech nationalism” and the promotion of digital “national champions”;
- New forms of regulation being developed by national governments and the European Union;
- The role of quasi-self-regulatory entities developed by companies themselves (e.g. Facebook Oversight Board);
- Proposals for reform of international internet governance institutions;
- The relationship between global digital platforms and questions of sovereignty and accountable governance;
- The impact of COVID-19 on digital platform governance.
A selection of papers will appear in a Special Issue of the SAGE journal Global Media and China to be published in early 2023.
Invited participants include:
- Jiang Fei (Beijing Foreign Studies University, China);
- Terry Flew (The University of Sydney, Australia);
- Anthony Fung (Chinese University of Hong Kong);
- Shin Dong Kim (Hallym University, South Korea);
- Philip Schlesinger (University of Glasgow);
- Daya Kishan Thussu (Hong Kong Baptist University).
Submission and Selection Process
Authors should submit an extended abstract of 300-500 words to chunmeizi.su@sydney.edu.au by February 28, 2022.
The extended abstracts should include the main idea/argument, research questions, a short literature review and/or theoretical perspectives, information on methodology and empirical findings (if relevant). We welcome different approaches, including discussions of literature, concepts and theories, historical perspectives, and empirical analyses.
All submitted abstracts must be anonymous with no reference to author(s). Include name, affiliation and contact details either in the email or in a separate attachment.
The extended abstracts will go through a double-blind peer review process.
Decisions on acceptance will be made by March 7, 2022.
Subject to final rules re. travel and COVID, we expect to be offering a mix of in-person and online presentations.
Date: Wednesday, May 25th, 2022
Start Time: 9:30am
End Time: 5:00pm
Location/Venue: We expect the pre-conference to be fully online. This will be confirmed with participants shortly.
Registration Fee
$US40 (waged)/$20 (student)
The preconference is open to both ICA and non-ICA members. Attendees will need to create a profile to register.
Sponsors
Global Media and China journal (published by SAGE)
Chinese University of Hong Kong
Department of Media and Communication, The University of Sydney