[COMM-ORG] conference: empowering communities

[Discussion list for COMM-ORG]

From:     larry stillman <larryjhs at fastmail.fm>
 
CONFERENCE ANNOUNCEMENT & CALL FOR PAPERS
 
CIRN 2009: Empowering communities: learning from community informatics 
practice. 4-6 November 2009 Monash University Prato Centre, Italy
www.ccnr.net/prato2009
 
We are seeking abstracts and proposals from academics, practitioners and 
PhD students for a conference and workshop event at the Monash 
University Centre, Prato Italy (near Florence). We are also seeking 
proposals for workshops of up to 90 minutes. The Centre for Community 
Networking Research, Monash , in conjunction with the Community 
Informatics Research Network, has held highly successful events in 2003, 
2004, 2006, and 2007 and 2008 in Prato, as well as associated workshops 
over the years, in the UK, France, and Portugal. The conference has an 
increasing representation of delegates from Francophone and 
Spanish-speaking countries, and we welcome your attendance. While the 
official conference language is English, if there are sufficient papers 
for either language, specific sessions will be arranged...
 
The Prato campus is an exceptional environment in which to exchange 
ideas for academics, students, practitioners or policymakers. We 
emphasize participatory processes in the conference. The Centre is just 
off the main piazza of a small Tuscan town. It is close to Italian 
transport hubs.
 
MAJOR THEME
 
The idea of 'empowerment' has a number of special connotations in the 
Community Informatics space. Community Informatics is an approach to 
empowering communities with information and communication technologies. 
There is a widespread expectation that Community Informatics will 
enhance democracy, develop social capital, build communities, develop 
economies and empower individuals and groups, and result in many 
different forms of social change. Community Informatics, in bringing 
together communities and technologies, works across at least three 
dimensions, though there may be others which are relevant
 
* The Context and Values held by different stakeholders in Community 
Informatics
* The Processes and Methodologies which are brought to bear in Community 
Informatics
* The Systems (both technical and human) which are brought to bear in 
Community Informatics
 
We use cases or examples of projects and programs to consider the 
intersection between these three dimensions. The different 
interpretations that can be given to the concept of 'empowerment' gives 
rise to a number key questions about the relationships between the 
different dimensions of community informatics and how we describe and 
analyze the cases we work with:
 
* How do communities and technologies interact in providing an 
expression of empowerment for change?
 
* What are the opportunities and obstacles for those who take a 
community orientation and those with a systems perspective to developing 
shared creative understandings that come from working with communities?
 
* How do communities themselves perceive the interaction?
 
* What evidence and experiences of empowerment can be shard between 
communities, designers and community specialists and other stakeholders?
* Is the gulf too great or difficult?
* Are the missions too contradictory or do they need to be framed in an 
entirely different way?
 
Hence this conference will review the relationship of CI to empowerment.
 
* What are the processes that contribute to empowerment relationships 
among community members?
* What are community or technical factors that empower or disempower?
Other important discussion points include:
* How to design for a validate empowerment.
* Giving CI empowerment a systems vocabulary.
" The differences between technical and social empowerment.
* Meaningful measures of empowerment.
 
The Conference Committee calls for academic and practitioner papers or 
presentations that can address topics such as:
 
* Does empowerment apply to all communities?
* Does every community need 'empowerment'?
* Why should communities be empowered with CI?
* What are the objectives of empowering communities? What are the ends?
* What are the means and instruments of CI empowerment?
 
* Satisfying community needs with ICT.
* What CI cannot achieve; its limitations in practice.
* The range of changing economic models for empowering communities with CI.
* What are the special CI issues for marginalised communities?
* Giving voices via CI; the necessity of advocacy.
* The relevance of CI planning and policies.
* Can social empowerment be matched technologically?
 
* What are the technical issues, networking problems, and relevant CI 
devices?
* Do small communities benefit from CI, or is it only applicable on a 
large (regional, national) scale?
* Does the household small business use ICT for empowerment?
* Evaluating separate and integrated business, government and civil 
society CI solutions.
* Modelling empowerment in systems design for communities
* Business filling the gap in the absence of government co-ordination of 
CI practice.
* When business practice and community expectation collide in CI; who 
suffers?
* Differences between individual access (such as mobile phones) and 
public access (tele-centres).
* Comparative studies of CI for empowerment.
 
* Skills and literacy training, and professional development, as part of 
CI and community empowerment
* Eliciting expressions of local concern and building them into CI 
empowerment programs.
* Ensuring that external CI solutions meet local needs.
* Balancing short-term and long-term CI solutions.
* Which community development principles best assist with CI empowerment?
* Measures of the effectiveness of CI for empowerment.
 
This conference is also being run in conjunction with the IDIA2009 
Conference 28-30 October 2009 Kruger National Park, South Africa, 
Digitally Empowering Communities: Learning from Development Informatics 
Practice
OTHER THEMES
 
Papers on other topics within the community informatics realm are also 
most welcome, including topics including contributions on all aspects of 
community informatics, including information theory or the relationship 
between the body, technology, and community.
 
PHD COLLOQUIUM
 
PhD students are encouraged to submit a short paper (1000-2000 words) in 
the PhD colloquium for discussion with academics and other students. The 
paper should be about your PhD research and is NOT limited to the 
conference themes. This is an excellent opportunity for feedback about 
your research and an opportunity to meet other students, researchers, 
and practitioners.
 
SUBMISSION OF ABSTRACTS & PAPERS.
 
1) You must submit an abstract--not a paper-- via the administrative 
website to establish a conference account. Abstracts must be in English. 
Please do not send submissions to us directly. Abstracts or papers that 
are sent via email to the organisers will not be processed or acknowledged .
 
2) You will be contacted if your abstract is accepted or rejected.
 
3) Submit a paper of up to 5000 words by the deadline (see below), and 
it will be blind peer reviewed by at least two reviewers. Conference 
papers can be in English, French, Spanish, or Italian but if you wish to 
submit a paper for consideration in the post-conference publication, it 
must be in English. The major language of communication at the 
conference is English.
 
KEY DATES
 
* 1 April 2009: all abstracts due for consideration - the earlier the 
better  (as this date is nearly here, please get abstracts in as soon as 
you can!!).
* 1 May 2009 : acceptance/rejection of abstracts. Refereed papers are 
blind peer reviewed.
* 1 July 2009 : papers due
* 1 September 2009: final version of papers after blind peer review (for 
academic papers) for publication in the official conference proceedings.
 
DRAFT CONFERENCE PROGRAM (SUBJECT TO ALTERATION)
 
* Keynote address/es and plenaries. Keynotes include the community 
informatics and newtork systems theorist and practitioner Aldo de Moor, 
CommunitySense, the Netherlands & the Italian feminist theorist & ICT 
researcher Leopoldina Fortunati, Univ. of Udine, Italy
* Ph.D. colloquium with feedback from academics and students. Students 
make a short presentation and submit a 1000-2000 word position paper or 
report.
* Integrated refereed & practitioner streams
* Social program.
CONFERENCE PUBLICATION
 
There will be an official publication with an ISBN.
FACEBOOK
 
There is a community informatics group on Facebook--as it's an open 
group, please join, and let people know who you are!
REGISTRATION/ACCOMMODATION
 
We anticipate that full registrations will be in the region of €310 and 
a moderately priced conference banquet in Prato. The catering is first 
class and covers all lunches, coffee breaks and drinks on the first 
night. Registration concessions will be available for students. 
Registrations will be taken from mid-year, and is separate from your 
accommodation booking. You will be able to also register for social 
events and tours. We are also asking that all delegates contribute to a 
fund to assist the attendance of delegates from developing countries 
though a modest additional donation.
 
We are unable to offer any bursaries or scholarships for attendance. 
Delegates must seek their own funds, and secure appropriate visas to attend.
 
Hotel space in Prato is limited, and your early reservation is strongly 
encouraged. Reservations are your responsibility. See this site for 
accommodation information. Student accommodation can also be found on 
this site.
TRAVEL/SOCIAL
 
Prato is close to Italian rail, air, and other transport hubs via 
Florence. If you are thinking of bringing a spouse, partner, family or 
friend, Prato is an excellent base from which to explore Tuscany without 
the crowds. There are cheap airline tickets if you book in advance to 
Pisa airport which is about 90 minutes away.
TOURISM INFORMATION, MAPS, ETC
 
See tourism information
 
CONFERENCE ADVISORY COMMITTEE (INTERIM)
 
Don Schauder, Monash University (Chair)
Mike Arnold, University of Melbourne, Australia
Ann Bishop, Univ. of Illinois, USA
Gunilla Bradley, Royal Institute of Tech., Sweden
Fiorella de Cindio, Univ. of Milan, Italy
Barbara Craig, Victoria Univ. of Wellington, NZ
Peter Day, Univ. of Brighton, UK
Tom Denison, Monash University
Leopoldina Fortunati, University of Udine, Italy
Ricardo Gomez, Univ. of Washington, USA
Graeme Johanson, Monash Univ, Australia
Sarai Lastra, Turabo Univ., Puerto Rico
Dario Maggiorini, University of Milano, Italy
William McIver, Jr, National Research Council Canada
Eduardo Villanueva Mansilla,Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú
Aldo de Moor, CommunitySense, the Netherlands
Marie Ouvrard, Laboratoire des Sciences d'Information et des Systèmes, 
Marseilles, France
Laura Ripamonti, Univ. of Milan, Italy
Doug Schuler, Evergreen State College, USA
Gilson Schwartz, Univ. São Paulo, Brazil
Jacques Steyn, Monash Univ., South Africa
Andy Williamson, Hansard Society, UK
 
Larry Stillman, Monash University, Organiser
SPONSORS
 
Monash University
CIS University of Washington
Turabo University
GSLIS University of Illinois-Champaign
Laboratoire des Sciences de l'Information et des Systèmes(LSIS), Marseilles
DISCLAIMER
 
All travel, visa, and insurance arrangements are you own responsibility. 
We also reserve the right to modify the program in any way.
 
Further information email: prato2009 AT fastmail.fm

**********************
Larry Stillman, PhD
Centre for Community Networking Research, Monash University  
www.ccnr.net    www.webstylus.net
 03 9903 1801  
fax 61 3 9903 1077
Not of the Academy of Lagado