Interconnect February 2014




Interconnect February 2014



Interconnect header

February 2014

Table of Contents

Message from the Chair

Call for Papers for 2014 ITS Biennial Conference in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

25th European Regional ITS Conference

Call for Papers for 6th ITS Ph.D. Seminar

Conference Calendar
2014-2015

Moving – Stay in Touch

ITS Corporate members

ITS Board of Directors

ITS Executive Committee

Previous Interconnect issues

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MOVING?
STAY IN TOUCH!

To ensure uninterrupted delivery of the ITS membership journal, Telecommunications Policy, as well as e-mail announcements of upcoming Calls for Papers, publications, conference registration discounts and similar news of potential interest sent via the
ITS-L Listserv, ITS members are requested to please keep the Secretariat updated by sending their new coordinates to:

Don Romaniuk, ITS Secretariat at secretariat@itsworld.org

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INTERCONNECT

Editor: Don Romaniuk
Calgary, Canada

secretariat@itsworld.org

Graphic Design Artist:
Mike Latajka
Calgary, Canada

hypnografix@shaw.ca

Message from the Chair

Erik Bohlin

Dear ITS Colleagues:

It has been 14 years since ITS convened a conference in South America, that being the 13th ITS Biennial which took place in Buenos Aires in July 2000.

It is thus with much excitement and anticipation that ITS looks forward to its return to South America with Rio de Janeiro being selected as the host city for the 20th ITS Biennial Conference to be held November 30 to December 3, 2014.

The theme of the 2014 Biennial is The Net and the Internet: Emerging Markets and Policies. The Call for Papers for the Rio Conference was issued over the web at the beginning of February this year and is reproduced in the lead article of the current (February 2014) issue of Interconnect. Prospective participants and paper presenters are reminded that the deadline for abstract submissions is May 15, 2014.

The host of the 2014 Biennial is ITS Global Corporate member, TIM Brasil, under the capable leadership and direction of its VP Regulatory and Institutional Affairs, and ITS Board member, Mario Girasole. It goes without saying that the organizational support and financial assistance of TIM Brasil are deeply appreciated by ITS.

As noted on the Conference web site (www.itsrio2014.com) among the reasons for convening a global academic/scientific gathering in Brazil focusing on Internet policy, and cyberspace in general, is that while Brazil is very much a modern and industrialized country, it is to some extent still regarded as part of the emerging and developing world. Thus, Brazil offers a number of immediate and useful insights on the relationship between Internet policy and economic growth based on its own experience as both a developed and still developing country. Moreover, Brazil will be at the core of the global Internet policy debate in 2014, starting with the global summit on Internet governance to be held in April in São Paulo.

Please note that registration for the Conference will commence on April 15, 2015. Information on accommodations, registration fees (including rates for early bird registration) and tourism-related matters will be available on the Conference web site by that time. As with all ITS Biennial (but not Regional) Conferences, registration fees will include a two-year ITS membership. A complimentary two-year subscription to the ITS journal, Telecommunications Policy, is included with each membership.

I also wish to remind readers that ITS has two other major Conferences scheduled for 2014: the 25th European Regional ITS Conference to be held in Brussels, June 22-25 (see, http://www.itseurope.org/) and the 6th ITS Ph.D. Seminar to be held in Brussels immediately afterwards on June 25-26 (see, http://www.itseurope.org/content/6thPhDSeminar.html).

As always, I look forward to seeing as many of you as possible in the months ahead at one or more of these upcoming Conferences and to engaging you in discussions on the issues and subjects of greatest interest and concern to the telecommunications and broader ICT industry.

Sincerely,

Erik Bohlin signature

Erik Bohlin
ITS Chair

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25th European Regional ITS Conference

The 25th European Regional ITS Conference, the theme of which is Disruptive Innovation in the ICT Industries: Challenges for European Policy and Business, will be held in Brussels, Belgium, June 22-25, 2014.

The programme for the Conference will cover a broad range of topics including, but not limited to, telecommunications economics and regulation; broadband and next generation networks; new services and business models; media, content and telecoms; emerging policy issues; and ICT and economic development.

The Conference is being hosted by iMinds, an independent research institute, founded by the Flemish government, the mission of which is to stimulate ICT innovation. All Conference sessions will be held at the KVAB (Koninklijke Vlaamse Academie van België – Royal Flemish Academy of Belgium).

The Conference Organizing Committee comprises Pieter Ballon (Chair): iMinds-SMIT-Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB); Sven Lindmark: iMinds-SMIT-VUB; Luciano Morganti: iMinds-SMIT-VUB; Sofie Verbrugge: iMinds-IBCN-Universiteit Gent; and ITS Board members, Brigitte Preissl: German National Library of Economics (ZBW) and Jason Whalley: University of Northumbria, UK.

Further details on this Conference are available on the Brussels Conference web site at http://www.itseurope.org/. Online registration for the Conference, meanwhile, will be made available by mid to late March 2014. Commencement of online registration will be announced over the ITS-L Listserv.

Brussels

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Calendar of Events

ITS Conferences 

2014

June

25th European Regional ITS Conference
Disruptive Innovation in the ICT Industries: Challenges for European Policy and Business
Brussels, BelgiumJune 22-25, 2014
http://www.itseurope.org/

6th ITS Ph.D. Seminar
Brussels, BelgiumJune 25-26, 2014
http://www.itseurope.org/content/6thPhDSeminar.html

November-December

20th ITS Biennial Conference
The Net and the Internet: Emerging Markets and Policies
Rio de Janeiro, BrazilNovember 30 — December 3, 2014
http://itsrio2014.com/ 

2015

African Regional ITS Conference
(Further details will be provided when available)
Accra, GhanaMay 2015

Other Conferences of Potential Interest
to ITS Members

2014

March

WIK International Conference
Single Market and Future Framework for Electronic Communications
University Foundation
Brussels, Belgium • March 17-18, 2014
http://www.wik.org/index.php?id=627

EuroCPR2014
Prospects, Challenges and Limits to User-Centric Approaches in the Digital Information Society
Centre for European Policy Studies (CEPS)
Brussels, BelgiumMarch 24-25, 2014
http://smit.vub.ac.be/event/90/EuroCPR2014___Call_for_Papers_

May

8th International Conference on Pervasive
Computing Technologies for Healthcare
Workshop on Interdisciplinary Design of Pervasive
Healthcare Applications (IDPHA)

Oldenburg, GermanyMay 20-23, 2014
http://idpha.intec.ugent.be/

3rd CMI GTUC International Conference
The Future of Mobile ICT and New Media in Africa
Accra, Ghana • May 26-27, 2014
http://conf.cmi.aau.dk/

CPR LATAM (formerly ACORN-REDECOM)
Communication Policy Research Conference
Universidad del Rosario
Bogotá, Colombia • May 30-31, 2014
http://www.cprlatam.org/

June

13th International Conference on Mobile Business
ICMB 2014
London, UKJune 5-6, 2014
http://mbusiness2014.org/ICMB2014.html

International Institute of Forecasters (IIF)
34th International Symposium on Forecasting – ISF 2014
Economic Forecasting: Past. Present and Future
Rotterdam, The NetherlandsJune 29-July 2, 2014
http://forecasters.org/isf/ 

July

International Association for Media and Communication Research
IAMCR 2014 Conference
Region as a Frame: Politics, Presence, Practice
Hyderabad, IndiaJuly 15-19, 2014
http://www.iamcr.org/cfp-2014

August

2014 Ph.D. Summer School on Political Economy of ICT
Center for Communication, Media and Information
Technologies (CMI)
Internet and New Media – Institutions and Innovation Systems
Skagen, Denmark • August 19-24, 2014
http://phdsummerschool.nordict.aau.dk/index.html

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20th ITS Biennial Conference

November 30 – December 3, 2014
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

CALL FOR PAPERS

The Net and the Internet: Emerging Markets and Policies

Programme Overview

Inherent in the five programme tracks described in more detail below is a layered approach to the study and analysis of emerging markets' policies in cyberspace. Among the core issues to be addressed are (1) the tradeoffs between encouraging large-scale (and profitable) investment in new infrastructure while facilitating vigorous competition for the benefit of consumers; (2) optimal approaches not only to “net neutrality”, but to emerging analogues including “search neutrality” and “cloud neutrality”; (3) the sustainability of for-profit content creation, broadcasting and copyright protection in light of evolving new media platforms and new internet business models; (4) future national and international internet governance initiatives; and (5) re-envisioning the role of broadband communications as simultaneously enabling, enhancing and transforming economic, social and political activity and interaction at all levels of society. It is anticipated that a number of similar and equally challenging policy issues directly affecting social welfare, economic growth and development and, increasingly, the very foundations of modern society will also be addressed in the Conference program.

Main Tracks

1) Infrastructure layer (the “net”)

  • Public and private investment in broadband infrastructure
  • Government policies to stimulate broadband take up
  • Sharing passive infrastructure: from ducts to clearinghouses
  • Demand-side policies for broadband
  • Spectrum policy and wireless broadband (including hybrid technologies)
  • Retail and wholesale prices in telecom networks: emerging trends and theories
  • The Internet of Things
  • Critical information infrastructure protection: enhancing resilience

2) Logical and application layers (the “Internet”)

  • Net neutrality and traffic management
  • Application neutrality and interoperability
  • Search neutrality between regulation and competition policy
  • Platform competition in cyberspace
  • The evolving architecture of the Internet: platforms and clouds
  • Emerging business models in the cloud computing age
  • Antitrust and consumer protection in cyberspace

3) Content layer

  • Copyright protection in cyberspace
  • Media pluralism and freedom of expression in the Internet age
  • The future of user-generated content
  • Present and future of television
  • Social networks and the future of content delivery
  • Big data: where is the limit?

4) Internet policy and governance

  • Internet policy around the world
  • The future of Internet governance
  • Public and private (self- and co-) regulation on the Internet
  • Security and data protection after Datagate

5) Beyond telecoms: the transformational power of IT

  • M2M and the future of devices
  • Broadband communications and the future of society
  • Smart cities, smart transport, smart grids
  • Transforming government through ICT: the future of e-democracy

Additional relevant topics are also welcomed. Authors of selected papers from the conference will be invited to submit to special issues of Telecommunications Policy as well as other international peer-reviewed academic journals.

Submission of Abstracts:

Abstracts should be about 2 pages (800 to 1000 words) in length and contain the following information:

  • Title of the contribution
  • A research question
  • Remarks on methodology
  • Outline of (expected) results
  • Bibliographical notes (up to 6 main references used in the paper)

All abstracts will be subject to blind peer review by at least two reviewers.

To submit an abstract, please visit the Rio Conference web site at: http://itsrio2014.com/callforpapers.html

Key Dates

Deadline for Abstract Submission: May 15, 2014
Notification of Acceptance: June 30, 2014
Deadline for Full Paper Submission: October 31, 2014

Please direct all inquiries to: its2014rio@easychair.org

Rio skyline

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Call for Papers for
6th ITS Ph.D. Seminar

ITS will convene its 6th Ph.D. Seminar on June 25 in Brussels, immediately following the closing ceremony for the 2014 European Regional ITS Conference. The two-day event will be held at the same venue as the main Brussels Conference.

As with all prior ITS Ph.D. Seminars, the objective of the 2014 event is to allow leading academics, industry experts and researchers to share their knowledge and expertise with a select group of graduate students in a highly focused learning environment. In this spirit, the discussion will centre and build upon ideas presented by the student participants, rather than focus on the mere presentation of papers.

The Call for Papers (CFP) for the 2014 Ph.D. Seminar was issued early in January. Up to 15 graduate students will be invited to participate based on responses received to the CFP. An equal number of distinguished international scholars from within the ITS community will participate as discussants.

The CFP invites submissions from graduate students on any ICT-related topic falling within any of the five broad study areas listed below:

  • Regulation of telecommunications markets
  • Challenges of convergence of telecommunications systems and content supply
  • Development of telecommunications markets
  • Telecommunications and society
  • Social media and the Internet

The above list is not intended to be exhaustive, however, and other topics will be considered for presentation and discussion at the Seminar based on originality, relevance and merit.

Complete papers, together with a CV, should be sent to Erik Bohlin at erik.bohlin@chalmers.se and to Brigitte Preissl at b.preissl@zbw.eu. The deadline for submissions is March 15, 2014.

The complete text of the CFP is available on the Brussels Conference web site at http://www.itseurope.org/.

The Ph.D. Seminar is being organized by ITS and Chalmers University of Technology and will be hosted by iMinds.

Access to the Ph.D. Seminar will be free of charge to all participants in the 2014 European Regional ITS Conference. Student participants in the Ph.D. Seminar will also be able to attend the main Brussels Conference on a complimentary basis. 

Students will still be required to cover their own travel and accommodation costs. Organizational support, however, will be provided.

Students successfully completing the Seminar will receive a certificate from the International Telecommunications Society.

A selection of papers presented at the Seminar will be encouraged for refereed submission in Telecommunications Policy.

Brussels

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