Target participants: Members of the ECREA Communication Law and Policy Section (but open to all)
Affiliation: ECREA Communication Law and Policy Section in collaboration with the Institute of Mass Communication and Media Research (IPMZ), University of Zurich
Venue: Zurich, Switzerland
Date: Nov 06 - Nov 07, 2009
Contact: m.puppis@ipmz.uzh.ch, n.just@ipmz.uzh.ch
Call for papers: http://www.mediapolicy.uzh.ch/ecrea/ecrea_callforpapers.pdf
Website: http://www.mediapolicy.uzh.ch/ecrea/
The Communication Law and Policy Section of ECREA is organizing an event on New Directions for Communication Policy Research.
The section’s 2009 workshop takes place in Zurich, Switzerland, on November 6-7, 2009. It is hosted and jointly organized by the divisions Media & Politics and Media Change & Innovation of the University of Zurich’s Institute of Mass Communication and Media Research (IPMZ).
The state of the art of communication policy research is well documented, but where do we go from here? How do we theoretically and methodologically approach new policy issues? What policy challenges are emerging and what insights can we gain from the application of theories and methods of cognate areas?
The workshop focuses on the following four topics:
- New Theories: Scholars in communication policy research are specialized in applying a variety of theoretical approaches (e.g. policy analysis, regulation theory).
Presentations addressing this topic will present possible enhancements of these theories or highlight how other theories can be helpful for the analysis of policy and regulation (e.g. governance, organization theory, institutionalism, innovation theory).
Presentations will focus mainly on the application of these theories to our subjects of research.
- New Methods: While much research is of a comparative nature, methods are not always well elaborated. Similarly, document analysis is one of the mostly used methods but rarely covered in textbooks.
Presentations addressing this topic will reflect ontological and epistemological questions, discuss how data collection and data analysis work in practice and point out benefits and challenges for communication policy research.
- New Subjects: New policy challenges arising from media change are manifold and widespread in communication policy research.
Preentations addressing new subjects will analyze specific new and emerging policy challenges and show how communication policy research approaches these issues.
Presentations will include topics as competition policy, policies for new content platforms, intellectual property rights, privacy, public service media, data protection, spectrum policy, user generated content (Web 2.0), social networks, and civil liberties.
- New Regulatory Structures and Instruments: New regulatory structures and instruments have emerged as specific features of the changing communication landscape.
Presentations addressing this topic will provide insights into the workings, impact and effectiveness of these new institutional arrangements.
Presentations will include new forms of governance, independent and integrated regulatory authorities, the interrelationship between various regulatory bodies (competition vs. sectoral regulators; state regulation vs. self- and co-regulation), and the understanding of common or different governance patterns across nations.
The workshop’s aim is to stimulate reflection and discussion on New Directions for Communication Policy Research. The sessions will thus be thematically focused and leave room for discussion and exchange.
Full papers are due no later than October 15, 2009.
More information will be available in due time on the conference website.
