INFO: Berlin Early Stage Researchers Colloquium 2015

By: Sonny Zulhuda

If you are a PhD student or otherwise a post-doc researcher on Internet studies, here is a piece of information from my network in the Global Internet Governance Academic Network (GigaNet):

Hereby the Alexander von Humboldt Institute for Internet and Society announces the annual colloquium held in Berlin, 24 September 2015. We wish to gather early stage researchers (Ph.D. candidates and post-docs) from all disciplines in order to drive forward the discussion on topics in the field of Internet research. The colloquium provides a stage for new perspectives on current issues of Internet and society.

======================= BERLIN EARLY STAGE RESEARCHERS COLLOQUIUM 2015 =======================

Early stage researchers (Ph.D. candidates and post-docs) from all disciplines are invited to push ahead with the discussion revolving around Internet research.

Conference: 24 September 2015 in Berlin

Submission Deadline: 15 June 2015
Online submission via: http://colloquium.hiig.de/index.php/esrc/esrc2015/schedConf/cfp

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TOPICS 2015
This year’s colloquium will consist of 5 thematically focused tracks. We cordially invite you to submit your research projects on one of the following topics:

RESEARCH AND KNOWLEDGE IN A DIGITAL AGE

The Internet offers fundamentally new premises for how knowledge is created and disseminated. Research in particular is facing massive changes in the way it produces and conveys knowledge. Scientific blogs allow communicating at a faster pace, data sharing platforms enable collaboration at an intermediate stage in the research process, and new models of participation, as for example citizen science, allow volunteers to take part in the discovery process. » MORE

INTERNET AND PUBLIC GOVERNANCE

The use of the Internet in public services is gaining more and more attention. We therefore want to discuss structural repercussions the Internet has on fundamental ordering principles as well as on the general functions of public administrations and state institutions as regards the provision of public goods, tasks and outreach. The focus of this workshop lies less on how these technologies are rolled-out but rather on the impact and challenges these developments have on state actors and specific public governance areas.» MORE

INTERDISCIPLINARY RESEARCH ON INFORMATION PRIVACY, SURVEILLANCE, AND DATA PROTECTION

Facing the inherent complexity of information privacy and the growing interdependence between social, legal, economic, and technological aspects of privacy in the Internet age, research on information privacy, surveillance, and data protection is depending more and more on interdisciplinary cooperation. But interdisciplinarity is posing major scientific challenges in itself. How can we create a mutual understanding between social, legal, economic, and technical sciences? What are the assumptions, scopes, and limits of theories of information privacy, surveillance and data protection, and how can we make them transparent to researchers from different disciplines? » MORE

ALGORITHMIC GOVERNANCE

Data and algorithms seem to organise and structure our communications, our purchases and financial trades, our mobility and our risk evaluations – in short: our lives in a digital society. While this governance by algorithms is increasingly getting public attention, rigorous empirical research is still scarce and fragmented. What happens when existing rules and practices are translated into computable decisions systems? What are the normative evaluations and business interests that shape the creation of these algorithms? » MORE

DIGITAL COMMUNICATION AND VALUE CREATION BETWEEN COMPANIES AND THE CROWD

Given the need to become more malleable and meet the demands of the business environment of the so-called network information economy companies seek renewed organisation models particularly in the relationship with internet users. Companies are no longer players that have a linear and unidirectional dialogue with the consumer, but are part of a decentralised and complex information ecosystem with multiple players. The connected consumer requires other marketing and communication strategies. » MORE