[P2P-F] Fwd: Program of the International Workshop on "Ethics, Wellbeing and Meaningful Broadband" 16 - 18 August 2011

[Michel Bauwens]

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Soraj Hongladarom <hsoraj at chula.ac.th>
Date: Fri, Jul 15, 2011 at 9:09 AM
Subject: Program of the International Workshop on "Ethics, Wellbeing and
Meaningful Broadband" 16 - 18 August 2011



Dear all,

Here is the 2nd version of the program of the workshop on August 16 - 18.
Since some of us have not yet submitted the topic, I have inserted "Topic to
be Announced" instead. Please send your topic very, very soon. Thanks. I
will publicize this announcement now. This looks very exciting already. The
workshop proper takes place only on August 16 and 17. On August 18 Craig
will organize his own meeting of the research consortium. He will us more
details later.

Best wishes,
Soraj


International Workshop
> Ethics, Wellbeing and Meaningful Broadband
>
> August 16 - 18, 2011
> Chulalongkorn University
>
> Introducing broadband to a country such as Thailand has faced a number of
> challenges. Many of these challenges are regulatory and political in nature.
> Many groups are vying for a lead position in the broadband game and no one
> wants to lose out. This has led to an impasse where nothing is moving.
> However, a brighter prospect appears to be on the horizon when a new law was
> passed recently setting up the National Broadcasting and Telecommunication
> Commission (NBTC) which has the responsibility and the authority to lay out
> regulatory framework for broadband network. Hence it seems that Thailand
> will have its own broadband network soon.
>
> Nevertheless, a new set of challenges are emerging as a result of the
> introduction of the broadband network. When the physical infrastructure is
> there, these new challenges include how the network will be used to the best
> interest of the public as a whole. We have introduced the notion of
> “meaningful broadband” to refer specifically to these new challenges. How
> can broadband communication be “meaningful” in the sense that it responds to
> not only the demand for economic growth, but also the need to maintain the
> values and goals which are not so directly measurable? These values and
> goals comprise the meaningfulness of people’s lives. Meaningful values, for
> example, are present when the people do not become a mere cog in the giant
> economic wheel but retain their sense of purpose and direction that is
> ethically positive. Hence a number of questions and challenges emerges:  How
> can broadband use be integrated into the traditional lives of the people so
> that it does not become a mere tool of the new seemingly all-powerful values
> of consumerism and globalized commercialization? How can broadband fit with
> and even promote the values that are meaningful to the people?
>
> This is the rationale for the international workshop on “Ethics, Wellbeing
> and Meaningful Broadband.” A number of internationally recognized scholars
> have been invited to the workshop to share their viewpoints with leading
> Thai thinkers and members of the public to find ways to respond to the
> challenges of ethical and meaningful broadband use mentioned above. The
> workshop aims at answering the following questions:
>
> 1)   How to operationalize "sufficiency economy" in NBTC? The Thai
> constitution has a requirement for each Thai ministry and agency, including
> its regulatory agency, to further "sufficiency economy," a principle laid
> out by the Thai king. The principle has affinities with the Bhutanese
> principle of “Gross National Happiness.” How is this requirement of either
> Sufficiency Economy and Gross National Happiness being operationalized? Of
> it is being ignored, why and which government agencies are innovating on
> this theme. As a new regulatory agency tied to the theme of digital
> convergence (linking broadcast and broadband), NBTC represent a new
> opportunity to position Sufficiency Economy as an overall driver of digital
> convergence strategies, integrated into the frequency allocation (spectrum
> management) and taxation strategies of the new regulator as well as
> establishing a new interface between regulation and "human development"
> which is a traditional concern of ministries such as public health, culture
> and education which have been totally isolated from telecommunications
> regulation.
>
> 2)  How to pre-empt government censorship of the Internet?   Recently
> political constituencies and governmental factions have furthered internet
> censorship in Thailand and in other Asian nations. This is particularly
> evident regarding online games, gambling, pornography, and (in particular
> countries), certain themes such as Lese Majeste, Singapore's sensitivity to
> criticism, China's sensitivity to human rights arguments, Arab countries
> sensitivity to protest movements fostered by the internet. Censorship is an
> example of "throwing the baby out with the bathwater" because exclusion of
> web sites via censorship often prevents a country from receiving benefits
> from internet-based learning in an effort to achieve specific goals and much
> internet censorship is ineffective and unenforceable for a variety of
> reasons. Nonetheless we can expect censorship to continue and grow unless
> "national broadband ecosystems"  emerge that that are meaningful to citizens
> and nations. In particular, needs of vulnerable citizens (the poor, the
> uneducated, young children) must be protected. What can be done in the
> design and regulation of new technologies to attracted ethically valuable
> applications technology and discourage negative impacts? What can be learned
> by the effort to develop "quality of life indexes," e.g. those underlying
> Bhutan's Gross National Happiness (GNH), to provide objective measures of
> technologies that enable policymakers to exclude or attract certain
> technologies based on their anticipated ethical impacts?
>
> 3)  Rethinking "media ethics" for the broadband era: What is the track
> record of "media ethics" strategies to limit harm from television and
> encourage voluntary compliance by Hollywood or music-makers?  What
> has/hasn't worked in influencing behavior by large number of users, e.g.
> young children?  What are the obstacles that have prevented better success
> of media ethics strategies? Now that the broadband era is introducing
> multimedia convergence how is the media ethics field changing? What new
> opportunities and challenges is it facing.   What can be learn from South
> Korea and other broadband-saturated nations? How to effectively integrate
> media ethics considerations into broadband policies before a nation embarks
> upon its broadband-enabled transformation?
>
> 4)  Predicting the ethical impacts of broadband: What are the best methods
> for scenario construction, forecasting and prediction of the ethical impacts
> of broadband? How can a “wellbeing society” be visualized and construction
> that involves broadband use? How can broadband contribute to wellbeing? How
> are the ethical impacts in poor uneducated countries different from advanced
> highly educated nations?
>
> 5)  Technological determinism vs. human intervention: What are current
> views regarding the philosophical concept of technological determinism?
>  What is the origin and development of this concept and what do we know from
> empirical research on this theme -- from Pythagoras to Heidegger to McLuhan?
> What are the technologically deterministic viewpoints that now dominate the
> broadband era -- and what corporate or governmental interests sustain these
> viewpoints?   What opportunities exist to alter the course of
> next-generation broadband-enabled technologies in order to ameliorate their
> ethical impacts?
> Schedule
> Workshop on “Ethics, Wellbeing and Meaningful Broadband”
>
> Room 105, Maha Chulalongkorn Building, Chulalongkorn University
>
> August 16, 2011
>
> 11.45 Lunch and Registration
>
> 13.00 “The Second Wireless Revolution: Bringing Meaningful Broadband to
> the Next Two Billion,” Craig W. Smith
>
> 14.00 "Content Regulations in the Broadband Era: Incentives and
> Disincentives Based Approach to Content Regulations,” by Akarapon
> Kongchanagul
>
> 14.45 Topic to be Announced, Arthit Suriyawongkul
>
> 15.30 Break
>
> 15.45 Topic to be Announced, Poomjit Siriwongprasert
>
> 16.30 “Meaningfulness, IT and the Elderly,” Soraj Hongladarom
>
> 17.15 Closes
>
> August 17, 2011
>
> 8.30 Registration
>
> 9.00 Keynote Lecture, “Ironies of Interdependence: Some Reflections on ICT
> and Equity in Global Context,” Peter Hershock
>
> 10.00 Topic to be Announced, Hans van Willenswaard
>
> 10.45 Break
>
> 11.00 “From Veblen to Zuckerberg: Past, Present, and Future of
> Techno-Determinism in Thailand,” Pun-arj Chairatana
>
> 11.45 Lunch
>
> 13.00
>
> 13.45 "Give Them the Tools, Get Out of the Way: the Liberisation of
> Communication and its Consequences," Nares Damrongchai
>
> 14.30 Mini-break
>
> 14.40 "Media and Information Literacy (MIL): the Move beyond Broadband
> Access," Kasititorn Pooparadai
>
> 15.25 Break
>
> 15.40 Topic to be Announced, Supinya Klangnarong
>
> 16.25 “From Meaningful Broadband to Open Infrastructures and Peer
> Economies,” Michel Bauwens
>
> 17.10 General Discussion - Where do we go from now?
>
> 17.30 Workshop closes.
>
> 18.00 Dinner (place to be announced later)
>
> August 18, 2011
>
> 9.00 - 16.00 Workshop on “Meaningful Broadband Research Consortium,”
> organized by Craig W. Smith
>



-- 
Soraj Hongladarom
Department of Philosophy, Faculty of Arts, Chulalongkorn University
Bangkok 10330, Thailand
Tel. +66 (0) 2218 4756; Fax +66 (0) 2218 4755






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