"PROSPECTS FOR ELECTRONIC DEMOCRACY" :
CALL FOR PAPERS

Community Connections, a Hewlett Foundation-funded project on on-line civic
deliberation, is planning a conference in late September or early October
2002 on "Prospects for Electronic Democracy."  The organizers hope to turn
accepted papers into a published volume.  Papers are sought in the
following areas:

*   Case studies of successful efforts to foster meaningful and enduring
on-line civic engagement and deliberation.

*   Papers that relate prospects for electronic democracy to the social and
psychological factors that either contribute to or impede political
deliberation and community engagement in real space.

*   Research that addresses the individual, social, and political
consequences of on-line deliberation, whether on communication, individual
decision-making processes, or public policy formation.

*   Research relating the Internet to the future of representative
democracy, including such topics as political campaigns, grass-roots
organizing, communicating with representatives, and on-line voting.

*   Papers addressing the implications of electronic communication for
democratic theory.

Proposals should be submitted no later than March 15, 2002 to Professor
Peter M. Shane, Project Director, Community Connections, H. J. Heinz III
School of Public Policy and Management, Carnegie Mellon University, 5000
Forbes Avenue, Pittsburgh, PA 15213.  Anyone interested in discussing paper
ideas preliminarily is also welcome to contact Professor Shane at
pshane@andrew.cmu.edu. Completed drafts will be due August 30, 2002.
Interdisciplinary and collaborative proposals are welcome.  For more
information, see www.cmu.edu/insites.
 

Information received on 15 Jan 2002, from:

Peter M. Shane
Distinguished Service Professor of Law and Public Policy and
Director, Institute for the Study of Information Technology and Society
(InSITeS)
H. J. Heinz III School of Public Policy and Management
Carnegie Mellon University
5000 Forbes Avenue
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 15213
412-268-5980
FAX:  412-268-5338
E-Mail:  pshane@andrew.cmu.edu