The Symbolic Systems Program, the Center for Deliberative Democracy, the Center for the Study of Language and Information, and the Center for Internet and Society at Stanford University
 

Abstract Deadline: March 15, 2005
Paper Deadline: May 1, 2005

This conference, which uses Open Conference Systems developed by the Public Knowledge Project, enables participants to submit abstracts online at http://www.online-deliberation.net/conf2005/submit.php.

Presentations can include:

Call for Papers Announcement

The Second Conference on Online Deliberation: Design, Research, and Practice / DIAC 2005, will be held at Stanford University from Friday through Sunday, May 20-22, 2005. This conference is a follow-up to "Developing and Using Online Tools for Deliberative Democracy", a two-day seminar which was held at Carnegie Mellon University in June, 2003. At the end of the CMU conference, participants agreed to have a follow-up meeting at Stanford. We would like to solidify the conference as a regular event, and to discuss the possibility of establishing a new society for online deliberation that will bring together researchers, designers, and practitioners whose work bears on this area. This conference is also the latest in a series of conferences on Directions and Implications of Advanced Computing (DIAC), presented in association with the Public Sphere Project (a CPSR Initiative).

We welcome proposals for presentations and workshops from both within and outside academia. An edited volume of abstracts and selected full papers from the conference is planned for publication afterward through CSLI Publications, a division of the University of Chicago Press. Topics of interest include:

* Online deliberation and groupware design
* Computer-supported cooperative work
* Uses and implications of the Internet for democratic participation
* E-consultation and E-rulemaking
* Online facilitation and community-building
* Research on virtual communities
* Uses of groupware in organizations
* Online learning communities
* Social decision procedures for online environments
* Analyzing online dialogue
* Email and listservs
* Chatrooms and instant messaging
* Message boards and blogs
* Collaborative editing and wikis
* Online organizing and petitions
* Teleconferencing
* Mobile communication and "smart mobs"
* Smart rooms and iRooms
* Immersive virtual environments
* Multilingual online communities and machine translation
* Secure communication and voting
* Information systems support for deliberation
* Lessons from "offline" deliberation and democracy
* Distributed design
* IP, ownership and "copyleft"
* Digital divides, usability, and accessibility
* Free speech and censorship online
* Communication across platforms

All of the above topics bear on whether Internet tools for deliberation can truly deepen democracy -- in groups, communities, and societies --and, if so, how. But work on these topics is spread over many and diverse disciplines: computer science, the social sciences, education, law, public policy, philosophy, social work, and information science, just to name a few. It involves scholars, designers, and practitioners from all over the world. This conference, like the one at CMU in 2003, is an attempt to bring these perspectives together so that we can all widen our horizons.

The focus of the conference is not the Internet, society, and politics generally, but rather work that is especially related to online deliberation tools and their use. "Deliberation" denotes "thoughtful, careful, or lengthy consideration" by individuals, and "formal discussion and debate" in groups (Collins English Dictionary, 1979). We are therefore primarily interested in online communication that is reasoned, purposeful, and interactive, but the power and predominance of other influences on political decisions (e.g. mass media, appeals to emotion and authority, and snap judgements) obviously make them relevant to the prospects for deliberative e-democracy. Topics such as technology policy and social networks are of interest, but proposals around such topics for this conference should relate them to online deliberation.

Proposals (abstracts) should be submitted no later than March 15 under one of the following categories:

PAPER PRESENTATION
A proposal to present a paper may include an abstract of up to 300 words. Accepted authors will have until May 1 to upload a draft of their full paper so that conference attendees and an assigned discussant can read it before the conference. Paper presenters will have between 15 and 25 minutes to present their paper, depending on the time available in the final schedule. A limited number of papers will be selected for full-text print publication in a book that will be issued after the conference. Authors who are invited to publish their paper in the edited volume will have until July 1 to produce camera-ready copy. Papers that are not included in the book willl have their abstracts published instead.

DEMO OR TALK
A proposal to give a demonstration or talk may include an abstract of up to 300 words, which should describe the presentation that is being proposed. Accepted presenters will be given 15-25 minutes to present their work, depending on the time available in the final schedule. Presenters may, at their option, upload full papers on the conference web site prior to the conference, but a discussant will not be assigned if the submission is made in a category other than "paper presentation". Abstracts will be published in the edited volume that will be issued after the conference.

PANEL OR SHORT WORKSHOP
A proposal for a panel or short workshop may include an abstract of up to 500 words. The abstract should include the names of proposed presenters or hosts, as well as a description of the proposed workshop/panel. Workshops/panels are expected to last about 75 minutes. Presenters/participants may, at their option, upload full papers on the conference web site prior to the conference. Abstract-length (500 word) summaries of each workshop/panel will be published in the edited volume that will be issued after the conference, and will be due from the workshop/panel organizers by June 1. The conference discusssion forum is available as an online venue for networking on panel and workshop proposals.

EXTENDED WORKSHOP
A proposal for an extended workshop may include an abstract of up to 700 words. The abstract should include the names of proposed presenters or hosts, as well as a description of the proposed workshop. Workshops are expected to last either for a hafl day or a full day. If a proposal is not accepted as an extended workshop, the proposed presenters/hosts may be offered the opportunity to do a short workshop instead. Participants may, at their option, upload full papers to the conference web site prior to the conference. Abstract-length (700 word) summaries of each workshop will be published in the edited volume that will be issued after the conference, and will be due from the workshop organizers by June 1. The conference discusssion forum is available as an online venue for networking on workshop proposals.

The conference will be held at Stanford University in rooms equipped with overhead and laptop projection equipment, screens, and chalkboards. Presenters will need to take responsibility for any computer equipment, slides, or other audio-visual aids needed for their presentations.

If space is available, we will try to facilitate impromptu workshops and group discussions that are organized informally during the conference. Organizers of these discussions will also be invited to submit 300-word summaries at the conclusion of the conference for publication in the edited volume.