IEGIS : Aims

RE: IRELAND, EUROPE & THE GLOBAL INFORMATION SOCIETY: A CONFERENCE FOR SOCIAL SCIENTISTS, Dublin, 24 - 25 April 1997.

IRELAND, EUROPE & THE GLOBAL INFORMATION SOCIETY: A CONFERENCE FOR SOCIAL SCIENTISTS

To be held in central Dublin, Thur 24 & Fri. 25 April, 1997

CONFERENCE ORGANISERS:

- Dr. Paschal Preston, Director COMTEC, Dublin City University

- Dr. James Wickham, Employment Research Unit, Trinity College, Dublin.

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CONFERENCE AIMS & OBJECTIVES

The aims of this conference are:

i) To promote exchanges between researchers engaged in social, economic, political and cultural aspects of new ICTs and the debates surrounding the ‘information society’; here the aim is to promote exchanges ideas and findings amongst researchers concerned with the specific economic, social, political and cultural dimensions of ICTs in the Irish national context;

ii) To help promote the further development and profile of research focused on economic, social, political and cultural aspects of new ICTs and the so-called ‘information society’ within third-level institutions in Ireland.

ATTENDANCE/PARTICIPANTS & PRESENTATIONS

The main attendance will be approximately 30 academic researchers, primarily those based in the social science and humanities fields with an active research interest in these issues. The participants will also include a small number of representatives from relevant national government departments and industry organisations with interests in this field of research. The total number of participants will be 40 - 45 in order to maximise opportunities for exchanges.

Approximately eighteen researchers based in Irish universities will make presentations focused on aspects of their current research. These will take place in smaller workshop settings to maximise the opportunities for discussion and exchanges between conference participants.

A small number of prominent researchers from abroad have been invited to share their findings/ideas and to help provoke relevant debate and new research directions in the Irish context. These include:

Prof. W.H. Melody, has directed major research programmes on socio-economic and policy aspects of new ICTs in Britain and Australia as well as his native Canada. He has authored and edited numerous publications on these topics and is now guest Professor at CTI, Technical University of Denmark;

Dr. Juliette Webster, whose past research and publications have covered employment and gender aspects of new ICT . She is currently based in the European Commission and will soon join the Tavistock Institute in London.

Prof. Nicholas Garnham, Director of Centre for Communication and Information Studies, Univ. of Westminster. He has played a major role in the development of political economy of communication and studies of new ICTs and the reshaping of the media and cultural industries. As well as writing in these fields he is one of founding editors of the journal Media, Culture & Society

Dr. Rohan Samarajiva, is Associate Professor at Ohio State University and President of the Communication Technology Policy section of the IAMCR. He has an extensive research and publications record related to socio-economic and policy aspects of new communication technologies, including issues of privacy and surveillance.

Dr. Christian Friis is lecturer in public policy at the University of Roskilde, Denmark. He has written widely on government policy and the ‘information society’, and in particular, the Danish ‘Info Society 2000’ initiative.

INITIAL OUTLINE OF CONFERENCE PLAN/STRUCTURE

The conference will be organised around 4 plenary sessions and two sessions when participants will break into three smaller parallel workshop streams focused around the following three themes:

a) Employment, Industry and Work Organisation;

b) Government, Public Service and Citizenship

c) Communication, Media and the Cultural industries

The conference will commence at lunchtime on the Thursday, 24 April and will wind-up with a wine reception for conference participants that evening, from 6.00-7.30 pm. The conference will re-commence at 9.00 am on Friday morning and close around 5.30pm on Friday.

BACKGROUND

The changing role of the information ‘society’ or ‘economy’ associated with the diffusion and application of new information and communication technologies (ICTs) has been highlighted in many recent EU reports. For example, the 'Bangemann Report’ in 1994 highlighted the emergence of an information society and the wider implications of new ICTs for many aspects of economic and social life throughout the EU. These issues were also emphasised in the Commission's White Paper 'Growth Competitiveness, Employment', in the 1994 green paper on the audiovisual sector and in the action plan for ‘Europe’s way to the Information Society’ which was published in 1995. Some of the social issues and implications were featured in the interim report of the High Level Group of Experts and (partially) addressed in the Commission’s Green Paper, ‘People First’,published October 1996.

In the light of these policy developments and initiatives, it highly pertinent for academic researchers to take stock of what the 'information society' means as a project for Europe in general and Ireland in particular.

At both EU level and within many members states these EU documents have promoted much research and policy activity. Much of the discussion on the 'information society' has focused on the impacts and implications of new ICTs for economic, social and cultural futures. The debates over the direction/shape of 'Europe's way to the information society' are also linked to key debates concerning the overall development of the European Union. For some, there is a 'European model' which contrasts with the extremes of inequality and individualism of the USA. Yet the initial impetus for the info society stems from the USA, as do nearly all our images of what the future holds. How can a European project involve a distinctive 'information society'?

THE IRISH DIMENSION

For nearly two decades, new ICT has been central to Irish industrialisation strategy. The achievement of the IDA in attracting foreign hardware and, more recently, software companies to Ireland are well known; Ireland also has a developing, if still small-scale, indigenous software industry.

However, there has been relatively little research on the application or the particular implications of new ICTs in the Irish economic, social or cultural policy context in the 1990s. For example, there has been little by way of university-based research focused on aspects of the information society/economy compared to that undertaken in other EU member states in recent years. So far, there has been relatively low levels of awareness, research or informed debate concerning the new industrial possibilities, social challenges and policy issues associated with the emergence and diffusion of new ICTs or a changing information society/economy. In part this is related to the absence of a significant social science research council or fund such as exists in many other European countries.

Public policy discussions related to the application and implications of new ICTs should take account of Ireland's particular socio-economic conditions and institutional contexts. For example, as an underdeveloped and peripheral European country but one with relatively advanced take-up of ICTs in delimited sectors, Ireland is, in important respects, quite distinct from most other EU member states. Yet, compared to many EU countries, there is a low level of relevant research and teaching based in the field of social, economic and cultural studies, which is focused on the application, diffusion and implications of new ICTs in the Irish context.

The Irish government appointed a national Information Society Steering Committee in 1996 and its report is due to be published later this spring. Will this merely produce an Irish version of the ‘Bangemann Report’ and spark all the same kinds of criticisms which were directed at the EC report? Or will it provide a more rounded approach to the socio-political and cultural issues that is in tune with national conditions and contexts.

The conference will provide a forum for scholarly debate on these issues. It will bring together Irish, European & other researchers. It is intended the conference will help to stimulate the development and expansion of Irish research and teaching activity in this area.

CONFERENCE REGISTRATION:

If you are interested in participating in this conference, you should complete the attached Registration Form and send it as soon as possible [before 14 April, 1997] to the address at the bottom of the form.