Dear Friends,
I am happy to share the Call for Essay below.
Many thanks,
Raimondo
--
Call for Essay and Student Writing Competition: The
Good Life in Asia's Digital 21st Century (Abstracts Due:
September 8th)
Dear Colleagues,
The Berkman Center for
Internet & Society, in collaboration with its Asian
partners, including the UNU-CS
and the C-Centre,
as well as the Global
Network of Interdisciplinary Internet & Society Research
Centers (NoC), is excited to invite you to submit reflection
pieces in the form of short essays (1500-2000 words) for a
collection entitled, “Digital Good Life in Asia’s 21st Century.”
This collection will be published in November 2015 in the context
of an international and interdisciplinary symposium on Digital
Asia in Hong Kong. Papers submitted by students will be considered
for an award offered for the best three papers.
Topics and Possible Perspectives
Specifically, we would like to invite you to submit original
contributions that address one of the following topics:
- Mobile: For
instance, how does mobile access to knowledge, economic
information, and news change political, economic and
entrepreneurial behavior? What are best practices for
expanding access and including underserved communities? How
does always-on and always-available change human relationships
and cultural practices?
- Internet of
Things: For instance, what can we learn from
Hackerspaces and IoT as grassroot movements in various Asian
countries? What are scenarios of a good life that are
supported by IoT technology? What are examples of technologies
that are based on Asian values?
- Innovation &
Creativity: For instance, how might various Asian
traditions and values interact with a remix culture? How can
digital technology foster innovation and creativity in the
Asian context?
- Digital Economy
Ecosystem / Observatory: For instance, what are the
arguments for the creation of a Asian Digital Economy
Observatory? How would such an observatory improve the
availability of data and comparability of the current
practices on key Internet issues?
- Digital
Literacy: For instance, what are examples that
demonstrate the increasing importance of technological
literacy for everyday participation in private and public
affairs? What are good/best practices to foster digital
literacy among different populations?
- ICT4D: For
instance, what are the roles and relevance of digital
technologies to social and political development especially in
emerging parts of Asia? How can these technologies reach and
empower the most marginalized among us? How can everyone
sustainably enjoy a good life?
- Digital Rights:
For instance, how do new technologies impact digital
rights? What can we learn from the discussions on digital
rights, cultural values, and internet sovereignty in various
Asian countries? What kind of digital rights are necessary for
a good life?
Within your selected
thematic frame, the essay could, for instance, provide an overview
and/or analysis of relevant fields in Asian countries; a
comparative view between Asian countries; identify, highlight,
discuss, and/or reflect upon key findings, insights, stories, or
examples related to the topics above; cover additional issues,
phenomena, visions, or questions that you think may be helpful in
understanding these topics; or include interesting examples of
tools, case studies, initiatives/efforts in Asia, or focus on a
specific mode, process or method—something that you are excited
about. Additional ideas are welcome!
Format Guidelines
Regarding length and format, the essays should:
- Be written in
English;
- Be between
1,500-2,000 words in length;
- Use APA
citation style (no footnotes; only in-text citation with
a reference list at the end);
- If you intend to
use images in your essay, please make sure they are of good
quality (high resolution). Please indicate in the text where
the images should be placed and make sure you submit the
images together with your text;
- If helpful, include
a list of 5-8 resources, including the relevant URLs, at the
end of your text (e.g. scholarly research, examples and case
studies, books, people, tools, etc);
- Make sure to
include a captivating title;
- Below the title,
please add your name and affiliation;
- Submit your text as
a Microsoft Word document (.doc or .docx) or Google doc.
Acceptance and
Submission Process
Please send a 1-page abstract of your proposed essay as well as
your contact information to apruitt@cyber.law.harvard.edu
by September 8th, 2015 for planning and initial feedback.
Final submissions are due to the same email address by September
21st, 2015.
The Berkman team will inform contributors by the beginning of
October 2015 whether or not their essay has been selected for
publication. The review will be conducted by an international
editorial team, and the Berkman Center will help with language
editing for selected essays. The finalized contributions will be
published under a Creative
Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Student Writing Competition
As part of this call for essays, we will also be holding a student
writing competition. From the essays submitted by current
students, we will select the top three. First place will receive a
cash stipend of $3000; second place will receive $2000; and third
place will receive $1000. Information about the acceptance
process, eligibility, and prize payment is as follows.
- Eligibility: To
be eligible for prize money, essays must be written by
students over the age of 18, currently pursuing a
post-secondary degree (e.g., bachelor’s, master’s, PhD, or
post-doctoral research).
- Acceptance
Process: The Berkman Center will inform students in
October 2015 whether or not their contribution has won a
prize.
- Prize Payment:
The Berkman Center will provide a stipend to the students
selected for the three best submissions, subject to applicable
law.
Please don’t hesitate to be in touch if you have any questions,
and we hope you will consider sharing something with us!
Best,
Urs Gasser, Michael Best, Lokman Tsui, and Donnie Dong
on behalf of the Digital Asia collaborators