[Reader-list] South Asian Conference on ‘New Media Technologies and Freedom of Expression': 3 – 4 May 2009, Kathmandu, Nepal

[OISHIK SIRCAR]

*Announcement for submitting papers for South Asian Conference on
‘New Media Technologies and Freedom of Expression': 3 – 4 May 2009,
Kathmandu, Nepal*

The ‘freedom of expression’ as safeguarded by the Universal Declaration of
Human Rights Article 19 has consistently been subject to intimidation by
various social, political and economic actions in the sub-continent of South
Asian democracies in the past few years. Lately in South Asian countries
like Nepal, Sri Lanka and Pakistan the press has been attacked, journalists
assassinated, threatened and intimidated in their endeavour to uphold the
principles and ethos of freedom of press and freedom of expression.

Though how dismal the situation maybe with press freedom and freedom of
expression in South Asian countries, the new media technologies such as the
Internet, hand-held devices (cell phones, PDAs) and wireless devices, and
their applications like citizen journalism, blogs, Youtube and so on have
provided promising opportunities to uphold freedom of press and freedom of
expression in the sub-continent and elsewhere.

In this context of opportunities provided by new media technologies, to
commemorate the World Press Freedom Day (3 May 2009), Panos South Asia (PSA)
is organising a two day sub-regional conference ‘South Asian Conference on
New Media Technologies and Freedom of Expression’ in Kathmandu, Nepal from 3
- 4 May 2009. The conference aims to provide a forum for practitioners of
new media technologies and freedom of expression for knowledge sharing and
fostering a regional solidarity.

Interested individual and institutional practitioners, researchers,
academicians and related others from South Asian countries and elsewhere, in
this regard are requested to submit an abstract (not more than 500 words) on
three categories of: 1) New Media Technologies and Mainstream Media; 2) New
Media Technologies and Citizen Journalism; and 3) New Media Technologies and
Freedom of Expression/Information. In the first category the papers should
address the issues of how new media technologies have been applied in the
context of upholding press freedom in mainstream media practices. In the
second category, submitted papers should address the issues of new media and
citizen journalism and how it upholds freedom of expression/information. And
the last but not the least category, the papers should discourse the overall
issues of new media technologies and freedom of expression/information.

Papers submitted shall be selected on the basis of the accuracy to address
and discourse the themes categorised in the preceding paragraph. For each
category 4-5 papers shall be selected, which will be presented during the
conference and published later by Panos South Asia.

Interested individual and institutional practitioners, researchers,
academicians and related others may submit their abstracts with a brief
bio-data by e-mail to prsa at panossouthasia.org by 20 March 2009. Only
selected paper authors will be notified by PSA by 31 March 2009. The
complete papers of the selected abstracts need to be submitted by 20 April
2009. The costs (travel, food, hotel etc) for attending the conference by
the authors of the selected papers shall be covered by Panos South Asia.


-- 
OISHIK SIRCAR

oishiksircar at gmail.com
oishik.sircar at utoronto.ca