Diversity, Inclusivity, and Good Governance: Emerging themes from the Policy & Internet Conference, 2023

by Milica Stilinovic 06/11/2023

The conference brought together leading local and international scholars and practitioners from the fields of communication, political and computational sciences and law.

by Milica Stilinovic 06/11/2023

The Policy & Internet Journal, housed at the School of Art, Communication and English, held its annual conference on the 28-29 of September in the Social Sciences Building of the University’s Camperdown campus. With an Asia-Pacific focus, the event was themed around policy inclusion within the scope of digitalisation and new technologies. The conference brought together leading local and international scholars and practitioners from the fields of communication, political and computational sciences and law. Editor Dr Joanne Gray with keynote speaker,Professor Johanna Weaver. “One of the most important items to emerge from the conference is the importance of integrating empirical research findings to inform good tech policy, or ‘good policy’, as it was referred to many times across the two days,” said Dr Jonathon Hutchinson, Editor-in-Chief of Policy & Internet. Notable speakers at the conference included Professor Johanna Weaver from the Australian National University in Canberra and Dr Justine Humphry from the University of Sydney. Presenters showcased a wide-reaching scope of papers that tackled the all-important realms of governance, policy design, content moderation, and inclusion. EIC, Dr Jonathon Hutchinsonchairing the e-Safety: Youth anddigital media policy panel. Panels included e-Safety: Youth and digital media policy, chaired by Dr Jonathon Hutchinson, with speakers from the e-Safety Commissioner — including Nikky Sloss, Manager of Children, Youth and Families — along with academics from the University of Sydney, Dr Justine Humphry and Dr Catherine Page-Jeffrey. Professor Catharine Lumby chaired Digital Hostility, policy and Social Change, which explored online hostility and its origins. The panel included academics from the University of Melbourne and RMIT, Professor Rob Cover, Dr Jay Daniel Thompson, and Dr Jennifer Beckett. The last panel of the two-day conference, chaired by Dr Joanne Gray, titled Chat GPT and Gender Bias in the Asia Pacific Region. The discussion focused on how algorithms reflect and perpetuate gender inequity, notably from the experiences of lead researcher Dr Aim Simpeng, who co-presented the initial findings with Dr Olga Boichek. ‘With…

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Policy & Internet Conference 2023: Policy innovation for inclusive internet governance

by Milica Stilinovic 12/07/2023

Together, scholars and policymakers will discuss current practices, alternative designs and the ‘unknowns’ that are required for inclusive internet governance.

by Milica Stilinovic 12/07/2023

Policy innovation for inclusive internet governance Location:Social Sciences Building (A02), Lecture Theatre 200, University of Sydney, Camperdown Campus Dates and time:28-29 September, 20238:30am – 4:30pm The Policy & Internet conference will bring together a range of international voices to demonstrate how varying approaches towards internet policy are established, embodied and engaged with by a variety of stakeholders. Together, scholars and policymakers will discuss current practices, alternative designs and the ‘unknowns’ that are required for inclusive internet governance. Conference program Register now Day One: 28 September 2023 Keynote Speaker:Professor Johanna Weaver Founding Director of the Tech Policy Design Centre at the Australian National University (ANU) A recovering diplomat, and reformed commercial litigator, Professor Weaver champions tech policy as a tool to shape technology for the long-term benefit of humanity. Prior to joining ANU, Professor Weaver completed her term as Australia’s independent expert and lead negotiator on cyber issues at the United Nations. Earlier she led the Cyber Affairs Branch at the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, working closely with Australia’s inaugural Ambassador for Cyber Affairs. Professor Weaver is a member of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) Global Advisory Board on digital threats during conflict. Panels: e-Safety: Youth and digital media policy Chair: Dr Jonathon Hutchinson Chair of Discipline of Media and Communication at the University of Sydney He is a Chief Investigator on the Australian Research Council LIEF project ‘The International Digital Policy Observatory,’ and is also a Chief Investigator on the eSafety Commission Research project ‘Emerging online safety issues: co-creating social media education with young people.’ For 2023 and 2024, he holds the prestigious position of President of the Australian and New Zealand Communication Association and is the current Editor in Chief of the Policy & Internet Journal. His most recent book, Digital Intermediation: Unseen infrastructure for cultural production, is available through Routledge. Panellists Presenters: Inclusivity Chair: Professor John Hartley, A.M Research professor in the…

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Policy & Internet Conference 2022: Datafication. Platformisation. Metaverse. The state of global internet policy

by admin 12/08/2022

Examining how the current developments within digital media spaces has a regulatory impact.

by admin 12/08/2022

Datafication. Platformisation. Metaverse.The state of global internet policy Location:The Women’s College 15 Carillon Avenue,Newtown NSW 2042 AustraliaDay One: The Sibyl CentreDay Two: Menzies Common Room Dates and time:28-29 September, 20228:30am – 6:30pm Our invited speakers will address the conference theme, Datafication. Platformisation. Metaverse. The state of global internet policy, which examines how the current developments within digital media spaces has a regulatory impact. The conference will present cutting edge research from areas around the globe that address issues such as what is the current state of play for the platform society and its consequent internet regulation, how internet regulation include/exclude groups and individuals, and the consequences of contemporary communication environment. Through a series of keynote presentations and plenary panels, the 2022 Policy & Internet Conference will set the trajectory for the next 12 months of scholarship in this space. Morning tea, lunch, afternoon tea, and a cocktail event (Day Two) included. Conference program Register now Day One: 28 September 2022 Keynote Speaker:Professor John Hartley Research professor in the Department of Media and Communications at the University of Sydney Previously he was Head of the School of Journalism, Media and Culture at Cardiff University, Dean of Creative Industries at QUT, is John Curtin Distinguished Emeritus Professor at Curtin University. Hartley founded the International Journal of Cultural Studies (Sage), which he edited for 20 years, and Cultural Science Journal (Sciendo). His recent books On the Digital Semiosphere (Bloomsbury) and Advanced Introduction to Creative Industries (Elgar) seek to widen the scope of global technological and media analysis to include the crucial role of culture. Keynote Speaker:Associate Professor Crystal Abidin Associate Professor, Principal Research Fellow, & ARC DECRA Fellow in Internet Studies, Programme Lead of Social Media Pop Cultures at the Centre for Culture and Technology (CCAT) at Curtin University. She is also Affiliate Researcher with the Media Management and Transformation Centre at Jönköping University. She recently received the International Communication Association Popular Communication Early Career Scholar Prize and ABC TOP 5 Humanities Fellowship. Panels: Emerging Internet Policy…

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The “IPP2012: Big Data, Big Challenges” conference explores the new research frontiers opened up by big data as well as its limitations

by David Sutcliffe 24/09/2012

Big data generation and analysis requires expertise and skills which can be a particular challenge to governmental organisations.

by David Sutcliffe 24/09/2012

Recent years have seen an increasing buzz around how ‘Big Data’ can uncover patterns of human behaviour and help predict social trends. Most social activities today leave digital imprints that can be collected and stored in the form of large datasets of transactional data. Access to this data presents powerful and often unanticipated opportunities for researchers and policy makers to generate new, precise, and rapid insights into economic, social and political practices and processes, as well as to tackle longstanding problems that have hitherto been impossible to address, such as how political movements like the ‘Arab Spring’ and Occupy originate and spread. Opening comments from convenor,Helen Margetts While big data can allow the design of efficient and realistic policy and administrative change, it also brings ethical challenges (for example, when it is used for probabilistic policy-making), raising issues of justice, equity and privacy. It also presents clear methodological and technical challenges: big data generation and analysis requires expertise and skills which can be a particular challenge to governmental organisations, given their dubious record on the guardianship of large scale datasets, the management of large technology-based projects, and capacity to innovate. It is these opportunities and challenges that were addressed by the recent conference “Internet, Politics, Policy 2012: Big Data, Big Challenges?” organised by the Oxford Internet Institute (University of Oxford) on behalf of the OII-edited academic journal Policy and Internet. Over the two days of paper and poster presentations and discussion it explored the new research frontiers opened up by big data as well as its limitations, serving as a forum to encourage discussion across disciplinary boundaries on how to exploit this data to inform policy debates and advance social science research. Duncan Watts (Keynote Speaker) The conference was organised along three tracks: “Policy,” “Politics,” and Data+Methods (see the programme) with panels focusing on the impact of big data on (for example) political campaigning, collective action and political dissent, sentiment…

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Internet, Politics, Policy 2010: Wrap-Up

by Professor Tobias Escher 17/09/2010

Making an assessment of the Internet’s impact on politics and policy.

by Professor Tobias Escher 17/09/2010

Our two-day conference is just about to come to an end with an evening reception at Oxford’s Ashmolean Museum (you can have a live view through OII’s very own webcam). Its aim was to try to make an assessment of the Internet’s impact on politics and policy. The presentations approached this challenge from a number of different angles and we would like to encourage everyone to browse the archive of papers on the conference website to get a comprehensive overview about much of the cutting-edge research that is currently taking place in many different parts of the world. The submissions to this conference allowed setting up very topical panels in which the different papers fitted together rather well. Helen Margetts, the convenor, highlighted in her summary just how much discussion and informed exchange has been going on within these panels. But a conference is more than the collection of papers delivered. It is just as much about the social gathering of people who share similar interests and the conference schedule tried to accommodate for this by offering many coffee breaks to encourage more informal exchange. It is a testimony to the success of this strategy that the majority of people have very much welcomed the idea to have a similar conference in two years time, details of which are yet to be confirmed. Great thanks to everybody who helped to make this conference happen, in particular OII’s dedicated support staff such as journal editor David Sutcliffe and events manager Tim Davies.

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Internet, Politics, Policy 2010: Closing keynote by Viktor Mayer-Schönberger

by Professor Tobias Escher 17/09/2010

What he sees at stake is power because of the permanent threat of our activities are being watched by others—not necessarily now but possibly even in the future—can result in altering our behaviour today.

by Professor Tobias Escher 17/09/2010

Our two-day conference is coming to a close with a keynote by Viktor Mayer-Schönberger who is soon to be joining the faculty of the Oxford Internet Institute as Professor of Internet Governance and Regulation. Viktor talked about the theme of his recent book “Delete: The Virtue of Forgetting in the Digital Age” (a webcast of this keynote will be available soon on the OII website but you can also listen to a previous talk here). It touches on many of the recent debates about information that has been published on the web in some context and which might suddenly come back to us in a completely different context, e.g. when applying for a job and being confronted with some drunken picture of us obtained from Facebook. Viktor puts that into a broad perspective, contrasting the two themes of “forgetting” and “remembering”. He convincingly argues how for most of human history, forgetting has been the default. This state of affairs has experienced quite a dramatic change with the advances of the computer technology, data storage and information retrieval technologies available on a global information infrastructure. Now remembering is the default as most of the information stored digitally is available forever and in multiple places. What he sees at stake is power because of the permanent threat of our activities are being watched by others—not necessarily now but possibly even in the future—can result in altering our behaviour today. What is more, he says that without forgetting it is hard for us to forgive as we deny us and others the possibility to change. No matter to what degree you are prepared to follow the argument, the most intriguing question is how the current state of remembering could be changed to forgetting. Viktor discusses a number of ideas that pose no real solution: privacy rights – don’t go very far in changing actual behaviour information ecology – the idea to store only as much…

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Internet, Politics, Policy 2010: Campaigning in the 2010 UK General Election

by Professor Tobias Escher 17/09/2010

Drawing attention to the fact that the 2010 UK General Election was dominated not by the Internet but by a very traditional media instead, namely the TV debates of party leaders.

by Professor Tobias Escher 17/09/2010

The first day of the conference found an end in style with a well-received reception at Oxford’s fine Divinity Schools. Day Two of the conference kicked off with panels on “Mobilisation and Agenda Setting”,”Virtual Goods” and “Comparative Campaigning”. ICTlogy has been busy summarising some of the panels at the conference including this morning one’s with some interesting contributions on comparative campaigning. The second round of panels included a number of scientific approaches to the role of the Internet for the recent UK election: Gibson, Cantijoch and Ward in their analysis of the UK Elections drew attention to the fact that the 2010 UK General Election was dominated not by the Internet but by a very traditional media instead, namely the TV debates of party leaders. Importantly, they suggest to treat eParticipation as a multi-dimensional concept, ie. distinguish different forms of eParticipation with differing degrees of involvement, in fact in much the same way as we have come to treat traditional forms of participation. Anstead and Jensen aimed to trace distinctions in election campaigning between the national and the local level. They have found evidence that online campaigns are both decentralised (little mention of national campaigns) and localised (emphasizing horizontal links with the community). Lilleker and Jackson looked at how much party websites did encourage participation. They found that first and foremost, parties are about promoting their personnel and are rather cautious in engaging in any interactive communication. Most efforts were aimed at the campaign and not about getting input into policy. Even though there were more Web 2.0 features in use than in previous years, participation was low. Sudulich and Wall were interested in the uptake of online campaigning (campaign website, Facebook profile) by election candidates. They take into account a range of factors including bookmakers odds for candidates but found little explanatory effects overall.

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Internet, Politics, Policy 2010: What is our impact on the Internet? Keynote by Arthur Lupia

by Professor Tobias Escher 16/09/2010

Have we been as effective as we could have been in changing people’s beliefs and behaviours?

by Professor Tobias Escher 16/09/2010

Arthur Lupia has just been delivering the opening keynote on our very own conference “Internet, Politics, Policy 2010: An Impact Assessment” here in Oxford. He started by turning on the audience: What is our impact on the Internet? Have we been as effective as we could have been in changing people’s beliefs and behaviours? However, this wasn’t about benchmarking success of researchers into Internet and Politics but about the question why many well-intentioned projects—be it making people participate in politics, be getting across the relevance of your ground-breaking research or whatever—ultimately fail. Arthur Lupia’s main argument that many of these well-meant enterprises do not take into account sufficiently how people are. How they are is—according to Lupia—mainly defined by three broad influences: biology social behaviour (e.g. how we learn etc) political contexts So in order to successfully persuade others (in any benign meaning of course) he posits three necessary conditions (implying that they might not be sufficient): attention: as people have a limited capacity to pay attention, your message will only get through if they feel its urgency and relevance for them elaboration: relate your message to the audience. People will only listen if it is unique and highly relevant to them. Ways to achieve this is by making it local, concrete and immediate but also by making the desired change possible, making clear that the desired effect is within reach credibility: Finally, credibility is key but this is not an absolute value but it is domain-specific. Credibility is bestowed on someone by the audience and depends on whether the audience believes (not matter if correctly) that you are knowledgeable and share their interests See the summary by ICTlogy about the talk and the Q&A session. To follow the conference on Twitter on all over the Internet, look for the IPP2010 tag.