Call for papers: Building & Bridging Community Networks: Knowledge, Innovation & Diversity through Communication conference

About the conference

Location (how to get to Brighton)

Important dates

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Registration and payment form

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Committee

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The Committee of the " Building & Bridging Community Networks: Knowledge, Innovation & Diversity through Communication"  conference issues a call for your participation in an exciting opportunity to network with others engaged in community networking, community informatics and community technology research, practice and policy. The conference, which forms part of an Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) research project (RES-328-25-0012), funded through the People at the Centre of Communication and Information Technology (PACCIT) research programme, is intended to act as a catalyst for creating communication and knowledge linkages between those involved in community networking.

In order to create synergy and understanding between practitioners, researchers and policy, it is important that knowledge of the issues and problems surrounding community networking be identified, articulated, recorded and shared in the form of a dynamic and ongoing community networking knowledgebase. To this end the conference welcomes contributions from practitioners, researchers and policy-makers in the following areas:

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• Community networking case studies
• Community network analysis as a methodology and theory
• Community Informatics as an emerging research agenda
• The World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) and the role of Civil Society
• Communication and Development - theory and practice
• A human-centred approach to community technology - moving beyond causality to purposiveness
• Indigenous knowledge and cultural diversity
• Grass-roots community innovation and action

These subjects are timely because in addition to the recent World Summit on the Information Society event in Geneva , the period between March and September, 2004 will see a number of important conferences taking place on the subject of community network or related areas. The Canadian Research Alliance for Community Information Networks (CRACIN) will be launched in the form of an International Workshop in May, 2004. The eighth biennial Participatory Design Conference will be held between July 27-31, 2004 at the University of Toronto, Canada and will have a strong community networking component. The second international colloquium of the Community Informatics Research Network (CIRN) is being convened in Prato , Italy at the end of September.

The Brighton conference provides an excellent opportunity for community networkers - researchers, practitioners and policy makers alike - to establish links and share experiences and knowledge with people, groups and organisations engaged in the excitingly diverse activities that constitute community networking.

We are looking to bring together researchers, practitioners and policy makers to discuss/summarize/theorize/and draw conclusions or lessons learned from some ten years of practical work and research experience in applying information and communications technology to enabling and empowering communities of all kinds.

Our conference will also provide an opportunity for researchers, practitioners, and policy-makers to reflect on and draw conclusions from a range of currently relevant areas, fields and practices.

Submissions for this conference can take the form of extended abstracts, position papers or full papers. Extended abstracts and position papers should be no more than 1500 words. Full papers including citations, tables, diagrams and references should be no more than 5000 words. Harvard citation style is mandatory and the conference language is English. The Conference Committee will decide, through a refereeing process, which contributions will be presented at conference.

All submissions and queries relating to submissions should be directed to Dr Peter Day (p.day@btinternet.com)