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Shaping the Network Society



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                 Shaping the Network Society
         The Future of the Public Sphere in Cyberspace
                          DIAC-00

 A Directions and Implications of Advanced Computing (DIAC) Symposium

   Sponsored by Computer Professionals for Social Responsibility
                First Call for Abstracts / Papers

                      May 20 - May 23, 2000
                    Seattle, Washington, USA
________________________________________________________________

Cyberspace may become the dominant medium through which people create
and share information and ideas. How their conversations about the
environment, culture, leisure, and political decisions, are conducted
and how they are resolved are likely to have major social implications
in the future. What directions and implications does cyberspace
foretell for community, democracy, education and culture? 
Addressing those questions may be among the most urgent tasks facing 
humankind today.

The objective of DIAC-00 is to integrate many perspectives,
conversations, and people from around the world on the topic of
public space in cyberspace: What is it? What should it be? 
What would we do with it? What can we do about it?

While DIAC-00 will present "best practices" and other lessons learned
"from the field" there is an urgent need for theoretical work (or
"condensed practice") as well. For that reason, DIAC-00 is strongly
encouraging reflective work on strategic and policy levels. There is
enormous energy found at the grassroots level and it is growing. The
big problem today is framing the idea of public space in cyberspace
in a way that engages intellectuals, decision-makers, artists, and
citizens. This can only be done by combining "best practice" stories
with strong provocative conceptualizations of what is happening in
our world and how public cyberspace can play a role. We need theories,
concepts that can help us discuss, reflect, and take action on these
critical matters. As an integral part of the DIAC-00 conference
social scientists, engineers, computer scientists, artists, 
journalists, and other members of the research community will 
contribute their thinking on these pressing issues:

      * Community Informatics
      * Civic Knowledge, Civic Infrastructure
      * New Tools, Applications, Services, and Institutions
      * Theoretical Frameworks
      * Methodological Frameworks
      * Critical Theory
      * Social Economy of the Internet
      * Computers, Work, and Cyberspace
      * New -- and Retooled -- Media
      * Participatory and Community-Centered Design
      * Community Initiatives
      * Public Access and Community Networks
      * Practitioner and Researcher Co-Learning
      * Bridging the Digital Divide
      * Cyberspace Policy -- Social Policy -- Cultural Policy
      * Computer-Supported Community Work
      * Localism and Globalism
      * International Perspectives and Partnerships
      * Social Movements and Collaborations

DIAC-00 will be a multifaceted event. This call for abstracts /
papers addresses the research or academic component of the 
symposium. There are other opportunities for participation within 
this framework. The guidelines for workshop proposals will be 
released soon.

DIAC-00 will be the seventh symposium sponsored by Computer
Professionals for Social Responsibility in the "Directions and
Implications of Advanced Computing" series. DIAC-00 is intended to
broaden the discussion and awareness about the future of cyberspace
both in terms of topics and in terms of participation. It is also our
intent to provide visibility to topics and perspectives that are
often neglected by the media.

Each extended abstract should contain a description and outline of
the work, supporting evidence and data, and references. Abstracts 
and papers should be written in English. All extended abstracts 
should be submitted (in plain text only!) electronically to Peter 
Day (p.day@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx). Abstracts should be fewer than 2,000 words.
Authors should remember that they will be addressing non-academics as
well as academics at this conference and avoid jargon whenever
possible. Citations should follow the Harvard Citation guidelines.

Academic Program Committee: Phil Agre (US), Amy Bruckman (US),
Natasha Bulashova (Russia), Gary Chapman (US), Steve Cisler (US),
Greg Cole (US), Peter Day (co-chair; UK), Fiorella de Cindio
(Italy), Susana Finquelievich (Argentina), Michael Gurstein
(Canada), Toru Ishida (Japan), Peter Mambrey (Germany), Kate
ODubhchair (UK), Marco Padula (Italy), Volkmar Pipek (Germany),
Jenny Preece (US), Amanda Reggiori (Italy), Lodis Rhodes (US),
Douglas Schuler (co-chair; US), Lisa Servon (US), Erik Stolterman
(Sweden), Peter van den Besselaar (Netherlands), Murali Venkatesh
(US), Ken Young (Australia).

Important Dates: February 15, 2000 extended abstracts due; March 15,
2000 feedback given to authors; May 1, 2000 revised abstracts due.
May 20 - May 23, 2000 DIAC-00. The final papers, ready for book /
journal, will be due sometime in summer 2000. We are planning to
publish all submitted abstracts on our web site. We are planning to
publish accepted papers in a book or journal. The academic program
will be thoroughly integrated with the rest of DIAC-00.

***                                                          ***
We are pleased to be a member of the Global 2000 Virtual Community
Coalition. The Global 2000 Virtual Community Coalition is a loosely
affiliated group of people, organizations, and events all over the
world who are working together in the year 2000 to help promote
democratic use of communication technology and discourage social
exclusion due to inequitable access to communication.
***                                                           ***
DIAC-00 is sponsored by Computer Professionals for Social
Responsibility and co-sponsored by the Association For Community
Networks and Friends and Partners. Please contact us if your
organization would like to become a co-sponsor or endorser.  We'd
like to thank the Morino Foundation for their support.

For more information about the symposium, please see the web site
(http://www.scn.org/cpsr/diac-00) or contact conference organizer
Doug Schuler, douglas@xxxxxxxx, 206.634.0752.
_____________________________________________________________