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Online panel: Examining the role of platforms and AI in elections | 9 Feb 2024
by Orsolya Gulyás 31 Jan '24

31 Jan '24

Dear colleagues, The Centre for Digitalisation, Democracy and Innovation (CD2I) at the Brussels School of Governance is organising an online panel discussion about the role of platforms and AI in elections. Experts from various fields will discuss actions that platforms are undertaking, how online political campaigning is currently regulated in the EU, and how these measures interplay. Speakers will also place the upcoming European Parliament and national elections in the wider context of our saturated (dis)information environment and reflect on how platforms and politicians can maintain and restore trust with citizens. The panel discussion will take place on 9 February at 14.00 (CET) on Zoom, please register to receive the meeting link. Registration: https://brussels-school.be/output/events/winter-school-online-policy-panel-… Speakers: * Trisha Meyer, Director of the Centre for Digitalisation, Democracy and Innovation, Brussels School of Governance * Nicola Aitken, Meta, Lead, Stakeholder Engagement and Content Policy * Mattia Caniglia, Atlantic Council’s DFR Lab, Associate Director, Capacity Building * Mihalis Kritikos, European Commission, DG-RTD, Policy Analyst, Ethics and Integrity Sector Best wishes, ORSOLYA GULYÁS PhD Researcher orsolya.gulyas(a)vub.be<mailto:orsolya.gulyas@vub.be> Brussels School of Governance<https://brussels-school.be/> Pleinlaan 5 - 1050 Brussels

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IVSA Xalapa, Mexico deadline extension
by MC Cambre 31 Jan '24

31 Jan '24

Dear all, We've had some portal glitches and many questions and have extended the submission possibilities until *February 9th *to make sure it works out for all. Apologies for any confusions! Please see the call for *Visual Accountability: "Show don't Tell"* June 26-29 here: https://visualsociology.org/?page_id=8614 Looking forward! -- *Dr. Carolina Cambre (she |her) Associate ProfessorConcordia University, Montréal * *Chercheuse associée à IRCAV-Paris 2020-2025https://www.carolinacambre.com/ <https://concordia.academia.edu/mariacarolinacambre>https://www.concordia.ca/artsci/education/faculty.html?fpid=carolina-cambre <https://www.concordia.ca/artsci/education/faculty.html?fpid=carolina-cambre>* *Concordia University is located on Kanien’kehá:ka territory.* *University of Alberta is located on Treaty 6 / Métis territory.*

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OSoMe Awesome Speakers returns February 8th [full schedule included]
by Watkins, Caitlin 31 Jan '24

31 Jan '24

Happy New Year/Spring semester everyone (and my apologies if you see this message multiple times due to cross-posting)! We’re excited to announce that OSoMe Awesome Speakers will pick back up next week! As a reminder, the zoom link is different for all speakers so be sure to register for each event at osome.iu.edu/events/speaker-series<https://osome.iu.edu/events/speaker-series>. All talks will be at 12pm ET. This semester you can hear from: * February 8th – David Lazer, Northeastern University * February 29th – David Broniatowski, George Washington University * March 6th – David Rand, Massachusetts Institute of Technology * March 20th – Sandra González-Bailón, University of Pennsylvania * March 28th – Andrew Guess, Princeton University * April 4th – Kate Starbird, University of Washington We’re looking forward to another great series of talks and hope to see y’all there! Best, Caitlin Caitlin Watkins Executive Director Observatory on Social Media caiwatki(a)indiana.edu<mailto:caiwatki@indiana.edu>

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STORYTELLERS + MACHINES 2024
by Dave Mee 31 Jan '24

31 Jan '24

May be of interest to some on the list, particularly theme 3. -- 2-4 July 2024, School of Digital Arts, Manchester Metropolitan University Following on from the series symposium in June 2023, Storytellers + Machines 2024 will be a two-day conference shaping debate on AI narrative, art and media at the School of Digital Arts (SODA) at Manchester Metropolitan University in the UK. Theme of the conference is “Controlling the Narrative: agency, interaction and influence in creative AI”. Storytellers+Machines 2024 is a transdisciplinary conference that champions the contributions of artists, creative practitioners and technologists, alongside other voices from academia, industry and cultural sectors in the lively and contested creative AI space. The open call for submissions to the conference is now open. >> Deadline: 15 February 2024. https://storytellersandmachines.xyz THIS YEAR’S THEME: CONTROLLING THE NARRATIVE: AGENCY, INTERACTION AND INFLUENCE IN GENERATIVE AI STORYTELLING AND ART The theme for this year’s conference asks presenters to submit 300-work proposals for papers, artworks and performances related to three overarching topics for discussion: * AGENCY * INTERACTION * INFLUENCE THEME 1: AGENCY AI generative systems are possibly the first tools depicted as having their own creative agency. Yet, the philosophical distinctions between creators and their tools, audiences and their media are often blurred. What kind of agency do audiences, authors and developers have when using generative and AI tools? Should we think in terms of control at all in these relationships and instead consider notions of collaboration, borderless synthesis of human and machine or something else? THEME 2: INTERACTION New forms of interaction and immersion for audiences are being invented through generative and AI controlled narratives, artworks and experiences. What are the emerging creative systems, aesthetics and relationships between audience and producers of these forms? THEME 3: INFLUENCE The influence that algorithmic systems exert on society, communities and identities, for example through algorithmic bias and corporate ownership, is increasingly well understood and documented in the media, academia and the software industry. What are the socio-cultural and economic implications of such these influences on artistic and creative media producers and their audiences? And are there emerging strategies and tools that can be used to avoid, mitigate or otherwise challenge types of harmful influence and bias, particularly as they pertain to our narratives and media? https://storytellersandmachines.xyz

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Job advertisement - Postdoctoral Fellowship "Sonic-Social Genre? - Max Planck Institute for Empirical Aesthetics
by Christopher Haworth 31 Jan '24

31 Jan '24

The successful applicant for this postdoctoral fellowship will collaborate on a research project focused on new approaches to analyzing and modeling music genres. Located between informatics engineering, music information retrieval, musicology, and music anthropology and sociology, this interdisciplinary project addresses the lack of an adequate theory of genre in existing approaches to music genre recognition. See link for more information: https://www.aesthetics.mpg.de/karriere/jobs/postdoctoral-fellowship.html

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"Wikipedia and/as Data" symposium 19 June 2024
by Heather Ford 30 Jan '24

30 Jan '24

|| CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS || Wikipedia and/as Data What is Wikipedia’s relationship to data? What should Wikipedia’s relationship to data be? 2024 wikihistories<https://wikihistories.net/> symposium co-located with ICA Gold Coast <https://www.icahdq.org/mpage/ica24> and brought to you by the wikihistories project <https://wikihistories.net/> at the University of Technology Sydney<https://www.uts.edu.au/> in partnership with the Centre for Media Transition<https://www.uts.edu.au/research/centre-media-transition>, the ARC Centre of Excellence in Automated Decision-Making and Society<https://www.admscentre.org.au/> (ADMS+) and Wikimedia Australia<https://wikimedia.org.au/wiki/Wikimedia_Australia> Date and time: Wed 19th June 2024, 9:00 am - 5:00 pm AEST (in person) Location: Queensland University of Technology (exact venue available soon) Deadline for submissions: 15 February Wikipedia has always been a critical source of data for computer science projects, offering data scientists a massive store of open data. Researchers and developers use Wikipedia to work on natural language processing (NLP) tasks and applications, model user interactions with content and other users, deliver factual statements to users in automated question-answering tasks, and find nearby features as represented by Wikipedia articles (Iliadis, 2022<https://www.wiley.com/en-ae/Semantic+Media:+Mapping+Meaning+on+the+Internet…>; Iliadis & Ford, 2023<https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/20563051231195546>). These practitioners use Wikipedia as a store of facts assuming that it expresses an established consensus as a result of its policies and processes. Yet, Wikipedia’s natural language could contain meanings that resist translation into data and whose classifications might be open to interpretation and critique (Ford & Iliadis, 2023<https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/20563051231195552>). For example, articles about complex topics such as Jerusalem<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jerusalem> do not easily align with standard ways of representing entities like cities. Jerusalem’s infobox<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Help:Infobox> reflects Wikipedia’s power to make important decisions about how we understand facts and the meanings that are associated with them (Ford & Graham, 2016<https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/0263775816668857>). This power is intensified when entire Wikipedia articles are translated into structured datafied knowledge bases of machine-readable statements – by the Wikidata project, for example, which started in 2012 as a project of the Wikimedia Foundation (Ford, 2020<https://direct.mit.edu/books/oa-edited-volume/4956/chapter/1879827/Rise-of-…>). How researchers measure Wikipedia’s sociocultural biases also depends on the datafication of Wikipedia’s content and how such processes may be questioned rather than taken for granted. Measuring the extent to which Wikipedia represents Australians, for example, could simply be achieved by counting articles that are categorised in the “Australians” data category, and yet this category itself is not an objective representation of Australianness but rather the result of particular practices that resist stable referents (Falk et al., 2023<https://wikihistories.github.io/reports/who-counts.html>). As Wikipedia’s content is increasingly used to power virtual assistants such as Amazon Alexa and more recently large language model applications like ChatGPT and Google’s Bard, Wikipedia participates in the global information ecosystem in ways that go well beyond its role as a web-based encyclopaedia (McDowell & Vetter, 2023<https://ijoc.org/index.php/ijoc/article/viewFile/20807/4453>). Thus, it is important to understand Wikipedia’s relationship to data, not as a given, but as something to be critically investigated. This symposium will gather together social scientists, humanists, critical technologists, and others to investigate Wikipedia’s connection to data and the importance of this relationship for the global information ecosystem and the production of knowledge. The workshop will be organised as a day-long, face-to-face event prior to the annual International Communication Association conference<https://www.icahdq.org/mpage/ica24> on the Gold Coast in Australia. Participants will be invited to share short presentations and to participate in discussions focused on the questions “What is Wikipedia’s relationship to data?” and/or “What should Wikipedia’s relationship to data be?” Participants will also agree to read a few background papers prior to the gathering. The workshop will result in a collaborative document that maps out possible areas for researching these questions from a sociotechnical lens and the option to continue the collaboration post-symposium. To participate, please complete the following web form<https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSf78yQus2mwGT2FOOfygisjfJwCJLjNIpd…>, including a 250-300 word abstract outlining your contribution to the symposium themes. Lead curator and contact: Heather Ford<https://profiles.uts.edu.au/Heather.Ford> Organisers: Francesco Bailo<https://www.sydney.edu.au/arts/about/our-people/academic-staff/francesco-ba…> Michael Davis<https://profiles.uts.edu.au/Michael.Davis> Michael Falk<https://findanexpert.unimelb.edu.au/profile/1043380-michael-falk> Benjamin Mako Hill<https://com.uw.edu/people/faculty/benjamin-mako-hill/> Andrew Iliadis<https://andrewiliadis.com/> Tim Koskie<https://www.linkedin.com/in/timothy-koskie-74ba1718/?originalSubdomain=au> Amanda Lawrence<https://www.rmit.edu.au/contact/staff-contacts/academic-staff/l/lawrence-dr…> References Falk, M., Ford, H., Tall, K., & Pietsch, T. (2023). How Australians are represented in Wikipedia. Reports of the Wikihistories Project. University of Technology, Sydney. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.10296217 Ford, H. (2020). Rise of the underdog. In J. Reagle & J. Koerner (Eds.), Wikipedia @ 20: Stories of an Incomplete revolution (pp. 189–201). MIT Press. Ford, H., & Graham, M. (2016). Provenance, power and place: Linked data and opaque digital geographies. Environment and Planning D: Society and Space, 34(6), 957-970. https://doi.org/10.1177/0263775816668857 Ford, H., & Iliadis, A. (2023). Wikidata as semantic infrastructure: Knowledge representation, data labor, and truth in a more-than-technical project. Social Media + Society, 9(3). https://doi.org/10.1177/20563051231195552 Iliadis, A. (2022). Semantic media: Mapping meaning on the internet. Polity. Iliadis, A., & Ford, H. (2023). Fast facts: Platforms from personalization to centralization. Social Media + Society, 9(3). https://doi.org/10.1177/20563051231195546 McDowell, Z. J., & Vetter, M. A. (2014). The re-alienation of the commons: Wikidata and the ethics of “free” data. International Journal of Communication, 18. https://ijoc.org/index.php/ijoc/article/view/20807 UTS CRICOS Provider Code: 00099F DISCLAIMER: This email message and any accompanying attachments may contain confidential information. If you are not the intended recipient, do not read, use, disseminate, distribute or copy this message or attachments. If you have received this message in error, please notify the sender immediately and delete this message. Any views expressed in this message are those of the individual sender, except where the sender expressly, and with authority, states them to be the views of the University of Technology Sydney. Before opening any attachments, please check them for viruses and defects. Think. Green. Do. Please consider the environment before printing this email.

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New Framework and Resource Site for Race-Grounded Career Advising
by Cindy Hau 30 Jan '24

30 Jan '24

<https://connectedlearning.uci.edu/> <https://clalliance.org/> New Framework and Resource Site for Race-Grounded Career Advising Today we are releasing a new resource site <https://connectedlearning.news/race-grounded> with a framework and tools for career advising practitioners to reflect on racial dynamics in career advising, and develop programs centered on the assets, identities, voices and strengths of BIPOC youth and their communities. The framework challenges negative “deficit” beliefs about BIPOC youth that place blame on individuals and communities, and offers an alternative, asset-based perspective. Being “race-grounded” means recognizing how racial dynamics and inequities pervade policies, practices, and cultural assumptions–in oppressive ways, but also in ways that offer assets and wisdom in career development. The site offers professional development guides, case studies, and recommended readings and resources to bring an asset-based mindset into programs and practice. Race-Grounded Recognitions Deficit Perspectives Asset-based Perspectives Recognizing assets of marginalized groups BIPOC youth have deficits and must “professionalize” and assimilate culturally in order to have successful careers. BIPOC youth bring unique personal strengths, wisdom, expertise, networks, perspectives, and cultural assets to occupations and careers. Recognizing structural inequities Career failures are because of individual lack of effort, grit and competence. Cultural biases and structural inequities must be recognized and challenged for BIPOC youth to thrive in careers Recognizing collective power BIPOC youth must leave their culture and communities behind and network with high status professionals in order to be successful. Community connection and contribution are powerful drivers of career motivations and occupational identity for BIPOC youth. Recognizing the whole person Knowledge, skills and an individualistic and competitive mindset are the drivers of success. Sacrificing wellbeing is necessary for success. When individuals and communities are aligned with their sense of purpose, they are able to thrive in careers in ways that embrace their values, passions, and interests. Read More! <https://connectedlearning.news/race-grounded> Racial inequity in access to good jobs in the U.S. has increased in the past few decades. Though Black and Latine workers have made progress in high school and college completion, the wage gap with White workers has grown at every level of educational attainment. In the tech sector, despite well-funded federal programs and industry investments, representation of Blacks and Latines has remained stagnant. Even after they make it into the tech workforce, retention is often a challenge. These are indicators of the limitations of a “pipeline” model for addressing equity that focuses on individual skills training and credentials. Unlike direct economic assistance and training for youth, cultural change is a slow process of collective shifts in mindsets, policy, and practice. It means moving beyond a focus on training and “fixing” BIPOC youth and individual representation metrics, to look more broadly and deeply at institutional policies, ingrained practices, and the dominant culture. It means reflecting on whether youth development and workplace settings collectively honor the identities, communities, strengths, and culture of minoritized youth and workers. It also means recognizing and centering race in conversations about equity in educational and workplace settings. This resource site for race-grounded career advising is offered as one contribution to this unfolding conversation and grappling in the field. The framework and site was produced by the Equitable Futures Innovation Network <https://connectedlearning.uci.edu/projects/equitable-futures/> of the Connected Learning Lab <http://connectedlearning.uci.edu/> at the University of California Irvine, with support from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. It grew from three years of research-practice partnership and youth participatory action research with BIPOC-serving career development organizations delving into issues of race, equity, and holistic wellbeing. Learn more about the research and explore the resource site and full framework here <https://connectedlearning.news/race-grounded>. <https://www.twitter.com/TheCLAlliance> <https://www.facebook.com/ConnectedLearningAlliance/> <https://www.youtube.com/c/connectedlearningalliance> <https://www.linkedin.com/company/connected-learning-lab>

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Wiki Workshop 2024 - Call for contributions
by Pablo Beytía 30 Jan '24

30 Jan '24

Hi everyone, To all of you interested in research about or using Wikidata, Wikipedia, Wikimedia Commons, Wikisource, Wiktionary, and other collaborative resources, we invite you to present your results at the Wiki Workshop 2024 <https://wikiworkshop.org/2024/call-for-papers>, the largest research event in the Wikimedia environment. At the workshop, you'll have the chance to meet other researchers who use similar resources for their research projects. It is an excellent opportunity to share your early research progress and receive quick feedback. The deadline for submitting presentation proposals is April 22, 2024. You can submit completed or ongoing research in an extended abstract format (2 written pages). After the selection process, *t*he event will be held virtually on June 20, 2024. For more information on possible topics and submission instructions, please visit this website <https://wikiworkshop.org/2024/call-for-papers>. If you have any questions about the event or submitting proposals, please don't hesitate to contact us at *wikiworkshop(a)googlegroups.com* <wikiworkshop(a)googlegroups.com>. On behalf of the PC-chairs, Pablo Beytía, Catholic University of Chile Martin Gerlach, Wikimedia Foundation

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UN Cybercrime Meeting Day 1
by Joly MacFie 30 Jan '24

30 Jan '24

After the CITI webinar <https://isoc.live/17229/>, I am following this with some interest, and running the sessions into Otter, since the UN does not provide transcripts. https://joly.substack.com/p/51969f5d-7820-4672-9bec-0df5dd5cf3ef SInce it is the 'Concluding meeting' before full UN ratification, most of the text is set, but some things are still moot. The session kicked of with a lengthy reading of minor amendments, which one can find detailed in the Explanatory Notes <https://www.unodc.org/documents/Cybercrime/AdHocCommittee/Concluding_sessio…> . Then it was down to a lengthy discussion focused on two articles, 5 and 24, that relate to human rights: Article 5. Respect for human rights > States Parties shall ensure that the implementation of their obligations > under this Convention is consistent with their obligations under > international human rights law. Article 24. Conditions and safeguards > 1. Each State Party shall ensure that the establishment, implementation > and application of the powers and procedures provided for in this chapter > are subject to conditions and safeguards provided for under its domestic > law, which shall be consistent with its obligations under international > human rights law, and which shall incorporate the principle of > proportionality. > 2. Such conditions and safeguards shall, as appropriate in view of the > nature of the procedure or power concerned, inter alia, include judicial or > other independent review, grounds justifying application, and limitation of > the scope and the duration of such power or procedure. > 3. To the extent that it is consistent with the public interest, in > particular the proper administration of justice, each State Party shall > consider the impact of the powers and procedures in this article upon the > rights, responsibilities and legitimate interests of third parties. It was noted in the CITI call that, up to now, with the exception of Canada, and some Latin American countries, but, surprisingly, not the EU, there had been very little pushback on behalf of human rights, On Monday the EU delegate made a lengthy statement, concluding with threatening what in the UK is known as "throwing a wobbler" if article 24 were to be deLeted, > > Madam Chair, we fail to understand why articles five and 24 pose concerns > for some distinguished delegates. This will be a UN Convention on the UN > itself as being the original promoter of human rights at a global scale. > Through its Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which the UN General > Assembly adopted almost 20 years ago. It is unquestionable that every UN > member states as obligations under international international human rights > law as article 5 of the draft convention records, article 24 clarifies how > these obligations translate into some of the core parts of this future > convention, namely the procedural powers it provides and the international > cooperation measures that rely on them. When it comes to human rights and > safeguards, we are not talking about something nice to have, without which > the convention could still be implemented. Human Rights are in fact an > essential enabler of international cooperation, not an obstacle. If a state > party cannot trust, that the assistance or information it provides to > another state party will be used in a way that does not infringe the rights > of the persons investigated or prosecuted, that state body is simply unable > to provide that assistance or information in accordance with its domestic > law. > > We underline again that for many states around the world, including the EU > member states, human rights are an integral part of the national framework. > Accordingly, they set out the limits and conditions of the ability to > cooperate with other states, the future convention cannot be fully > effective without incorporating them. To respond to some question which > were asked in relation with the principle of proportionality, the EU and > its member states would like to stress that it is a basic tenet of human > rights law. It is already found in article 29 of the Universal Declaration > of Human Rights. It provides that such rights and freedoms shall be subject > only to such limitations, as are determined by law solely for the purpose > of securing do recognition and respect for the rights and freedoms of > others, and of meeting the just requirements of morality, public order, and > the general welfare in a democratic society. It is of use, that it is UN > member states individually which must ensure respect for this basic > principle of unity international human rights law in the exercise of their > sovereignty. > > Madam Chair, article 24 is indeed inspired from the Budapest convention. > But so articles 25 to 30 in the chapter 4 on particular powers, and > articles 42 to 46 on the international cooperation chapter, and they are > intrinsically linked by that logic. Did you think that Article 24, as > proposed by some countries, should then necessarily lead to the deletion of > articles 25 to 30 and articles 42 to 46. Deleting article 24 should also > lead to narrowing the scope of international cooperation on electronic > evidence to cover only crimes defined in the convention. The EU and its > member states were initially against the extension of the scope to the > exchange of electronic evidence for serious crimes. We accepted this larger > scope because we noted how important it was for many delegations. Our > acceptance remains conditional on the existence of strong safe grounds, and > no additional offences under the criminalization chapter. > > Madam Chair, the EU and its member states support the UK proposal to > clarify that article 24 also applies to the international cooperation > chapter. As this does not seem obvious to all the delegations. We also > support an amendment in paragraph one of article 24, which would clarify > that domestic law should provide for the protection of human rights and > which will therefore read domestic law comma which will provide for the > protection of human rights come out consistent with its obligation under > international human rights law, and so on. Thank you Madam President, > Meanwhile Russia, for its part, noted the lack of consensus, and pushed for a vote *Russia* > Chair, the Russian delegation supports the statement made by Iran, Iraq, > Egypt, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, and Syria. Analyzing the statements from UN > member states, the Russian Federation, is coming ever closer to the > conclusion that articles 5 and 24 do not enjoy consensus. In this > connection, Chair, why could we not consider the possibility during this > concluding session of putting these articles to a vote? Thank you very > much. *Chair* > I'm sorry. You're asking right now, for us to vote on these articles? Is > that what I'm understanding? *Russia * > These articles do not enjoy consensus. So we would like to consider the > possibility of putting them to a vote. Let's discuss that during our > meeting today. *Chair* > You would like to discuss whether or not we should vote. That's what > you're asking for. But it's too soon. I think quite honestly, I don't > follow you at all on this proposal, but I will let the committee decide. > Would anyone like to second the proposal put forth by the Russian > Federation to vote on these two articles? *Chair* > I see no one who wishes to support it. which shut them up. The Canadian delegate went off on a lengthy analogy: We all set out to build If I may, an international cooperation clubhouse, a > place where we can efficiently and effectively address some of the world's > most pressing problems. We did not, however, have the same conception of > that clubhouse. Some of us conceived of this clubhouse as a tidy clubhouse > with a half dozen useful rooms. This so called clubhouse would have all the > amenities that you would expect in such a clubhouse, air conditioning, > furnace, windows, patios, etc. In other words, a comprehensive clubhouse. > This clubhouse is neat, well defined and cost effective, while others of us > envisioned a very different type of clubhouse, a clubhouse which had 100+ > rooms, because it too, is comprehensive. In fact, it is open ended in its > comprehensiveness and the back portion of that clubhouse would remain > perpetually under construction, just in case a state identified a new issue > upon which it wanted to cooperate. In the clubhouse, safeguards act as > keys. In other words, when a treaty contains strong and numerous > safeguards, a variety of keys, members of that clubhouse can actually trust > each other on issues of vital importance. In the other clubhouse, the one > without those safeguards, anyone can do whatever they want in that > clubhouse. And in their interactions, individual members will have to prove > themselves trustworthy to each other on an ad hoc basis. This is in fact > what we currently have without a treaty. > If this analogy has missed its mark and does not aptly describe where we > are in this process, I can simply summarize our own country's position, > which is, we not only want to respect human rights from a principle global > perspective, because we think it is our obligation as a UN member state, > but from a practical operational perspective, we have to respect those > human rights every time we use investigative powers domestically. In other > words, we're not asking more of our partners than we need for our own > domestic processes. Eventually the topic changed to the revised preamble <http://We all set out to build If I may, and international cooperation clubhouse, a place where we can efficiently and effectively address some of the world's most pressing problems. We did not however, have the same conception of that clubhouse. Some of us conceived of this clubhouse as a tidy clubhouse with a half dozen useful rooms. This so called clubhouse would have all the amenities that you would expect in such a clubhouse, air conditioning, furnace, windows, patios, etc. In other words, a comprehensive clubhouse. This clubhouse is neat, well defined and cost effective, while others of us envisioned a very different type of clubhouse, a clubhouse which had 100+ rooms, because it too, is comprehensive. In fact, it is open ended in its comprehensiveness and the back portion of that clubhouse would remain perpetually under construction, just in case a state identified a new issue upon which it wanted to cooperate in the clubhouses safeguards act as keys. In other words, when a treaty contains strong and numerous safeguards, a variety of keys, members of that clubhouse can actually trust each other on issues of vital importance. In the other clubhouse, the one without those safeguards, anyone can do whatever they want in that clubhouse. And in their interactions, individual members will have to prove themselves trustworthy to each other on an ad hoc basis. This is in fact what we currently have without a treaty. If this analogy has missed its mark and does not aptly describe where we are in this process, I can simply summarize our own country's position, which is we not only want to respect human rights from a principle global perspective, because we think it is our obligation as a UN member state. But from a practical operational perspective, we have to respect those human rights every time we use investigative powers domestically. In other words, we're not asking more of our partners than we need for our own domestic processes.>. The main bone of contention here was the inclusion of provisions mentioning 'vulnerable' and 'gender' victims. Recognizing the increasing number of victims of [cybercrime] [the use of > information and communications technologies for criminal purposes], the > importance of obtaining justice for those victims and the necessity to > address the needs of persons in vulnerable situations in measures taken to > prevent and combat the offences covered by this Convention, Recognizing the need for cooperation between States and relevant > stakeholders in combating [cybercrime] [the use of information and > communications technologies for criminal purposes], Affirming the importance of mainstreaming a gender perspective in all > efforts to prevent and combat the offences covered by this Convention, For example, Cameroon on gender, add a CYA clause. My delegation would like to reiterate that our work is to craft a > convention about criminalizing illicit use of ICTs. Why then do we need to > put gender in criminalization? It's fine to talk about it. comprehensively > to address the issue in a comprehensive, overarching manner, crimes are > crimes for everyone. Because when we start talking about gender, sex and so > forth in crime, then we're running the risk of either not saying enough or > saying too much. So my delegation would suggest that we either remove this > concept, or, if we absolutely want to keep it, then we need to add to it > and add other considerations in keeping with the domestic legislation of > every state, because we also need to avoid a situation where we're adding, > and that opens the door and opens up Pandora's box, really, because of a > concern or a special concern that we have, and then we get involved in all > these others. So, just to sum up, on this paragraph, we have some > reservations about this concept of gender, and associating it with crime at > this level. But, in order to accommodate all delegations, if we need to > keep the idea of gender, then we need to do so in a way that is in keeping > with the domestic legislation of every state. Because Cameroon's concept of > gender might not be the same as the concept of delegation X, Y, or Z. The chair responds > As I said before, I always try to be as honest as possible if that word > still has any meaning in current diplomatic situations. But so having said > that, the reference to gender in subparagraph 10 of the preamble is the > result of a compromise. You'll remember, perhaps, that during our work, a > number of countries had asked for the reference to gender to be an Article > 5, next to human rights. And then after a number of informal discussions, > multilateral, bilateral and other discussions and discussions in plenary, > and given the very significant number of delegations that were insisting on > a reference to gender, given that situation, I found that what might be > helpful is to including the reference to gender in the preamble, that way, > it would cover things in a comprehensive way for the convention, and then > we wouldn't be forced to introduce this reference at it every article or > paragraph or almost. And that's why I put the reference to gender at the > preambular level. Now, of course, as usual, you are sovereign. So I would > be asking if the committee needs to decide about whether to delete this > paragraph, I would do as you wish, but having said that, I would invite you > to reflect on Cameroon's proposal, which I think is a good compromise, add > the reference to domestic legislation, that would be a way of avoiding > multiple interpretations and harmful to the convention. As to multi-stakeholder, there wasn't all that much. There were no interventions from the MS community, but there was an amendment in the draft language that changed "stakeholders" to "relevant stakeholders". The spectre of hordes of 'non-relevant stakeholders' gumming up the works obviously a concern! - -- -------------------------------------- Joly MacFie +12185659365 -------------------------------------- -

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Register now: News Use conference and Leverhulme Launch Event
by Ranjana Das 30 Jan '24

30 Jan '24

Registrations Open Emerging Directions in News Use Research -Leverhulme Project Launch Event & Open Conference We are delighted to open registrations (on this link<https://www.surrey.ac.uk/research-projects/news-use-leverhulme#more>), for the fully virtual and free 1 day conference on Emerging Directions in News Use Research on 20th March 2024. This day-long, international, virtual conference - brings together a global group of scholars involved with researching news use, news audiences and consumption, and news engagement and disengagement. We are looking forward to hearing from a range of empirical contexts, from projects using tried and tested as well as more creative and innovative methodologies, and to showcase the work of scholars across career stages in the fields of Sociology, Journalism, Media and Communication, and more. The event marks the launch of the Leverhulme Trust funded parents' news use project - which runs from the fall of 2023 to the fall of 2025. The Leverhulme News Use<https://www.surrey.ac.uk/research-projects/news-use-leverhulme> project aims to examine how parents engage with and respond to news at critical moments of crisis. The project team includes Professor Ranjana Das<https://www.surrey.ac.uk/people/ranjana-das>, Dr Thomas Roberts<https://www.surrey.ac.uk/people/thomas-roberts>, Dr Emily Setty<https://www.surrey.ac.uk/people/emily-setty> and Dr Maria-Nerina Boursinou from the Department of Sociology (University of Surrey) Keynote speakers at the event include Professor Brita Ytre-Arne<https://www.uib.no/en/persons/Brita.Ytre-Arne>, University of Bergen, Norway; Dr Jonathan Corpus Ong<https://www.umass.edu/communication/node/1525>, University of Massachusetts, Amherst; Professor Kim Schroeder<https://forskning.ruc.dk/en/persons/kimsc>, Roskilde University, Denmark; Professor Sahana Udupa<https://www.en.ethnologie.uni-muenchen.de/staff/professors/udupa/index.html>, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, Germany and Professor Lynn Schofield Clark<https://liberalarts.du.edu/about/people/lynn-schofield-clark>, University of Denver, Colorado. The Full Programme: Please browse the conference brochure with the full programme on this link<https://drive.google.com/file/d/1ia4gsoEYILo7UWHGfZMiYGI8FAXIvn9E/view>! Register here: Registrations are now open (on this link<https://www.surrey.ac.uk/research-projects/news-use-leverhulme#more>)! Event date (fully online): Wednesday 20 March 2024 , 0900 to 1700* GMT Please email any question you may have about submissions to Dr Nerina Boursinou (m.boursinou(a)surrey.ac.uk)<mailto:m.boursinou@surrey.ac.uk>. Professor Ranjana Das Professor in Media and Communication Student Consultation Hours in Semester 1: Wednesdays 0930-1130; Thursdays 1300-1500 New 2023 papers: * Contexts and dimensions of algorithm literacies: Parents' algorithm literacies amidst the datafication of parenthood<https://www-tandfonline-com.surrey.idm.oclc.org/doi/full/10.1080/10714421.2…>. Out now in The Communication Review * Parents' understandings of social media algorithms in children's lives<https://www-tandfonline-com.surrey.idm.oclc.org/doi/full/10.1080/17482798.2…>. Out now in Journal of Children and Media * Conditional trust: Citizens' council on data-driven media personalisation and public expectations of transparency and accountability<https://journals-sagepub-com.surrey.idm.oclc.org/doi/10.1177/20539517231184…>. Out now in Big Data & Society * Parent networks, transitional moments and the role of the digital<https://bristoluniversitypressdigital.com/view/journals/frs/aop/article-10.…>. Out now in Families, Relationships and Societies New project: Leverhulme Research Grant 2023-2025: Parents' news use, risk and crises in datafied societies New project: British Academy Grant 2023-2025: Exploring practices around emerging technologies in families raising bilingual children Twitter: @ProfRanjanaDas<https://twitter.com/DrRanjanaDas> Web: Prof Ranjana Das | University of Surrey<https://www.surrey.ac.uk/people/ranjana-das>

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