Information

NEWS OF POTENTIAL INTEREST 

CALL FOR ABSTRACTS

“Social Media, Regulation and Freedom of Expression: A Comparative Perspective”
A workshop organized by HKBU and Tsinghua U
Communication & Visual Arts Building, Hong Kong Baptist U
Hong Kong, 23-24 May, 2013

Abstract submission deadline: 1 April 2013

Social media are marked by features of convergence, participation, openness and the transcendence of national borders. The growth of social media not only poses challenges to traditional media policy- and regulation-making, which are based on the type of medium and on national borders, it also triggers new legal issues of both a criminal and civil nature around the world.

Despite the fact that China has the world’s largest Internet population and possesses a rapidly expanding social media sector, the policy and regulatory implications of social media are under-researched in the academic literature. This calls for analysis from a comparative and multi-disciplinary perspective.

The Department of Journalism at the Hong Kong Baptist U (Hong Kong), and School of Journalism and Communication at the Tsinghua U (Beijing, China), with the support of the Chiang Ching-kuo Foundation for International Scholarly Exchange, Taiwan, are pleased to invites abstract for their 2013 workshop on Social Media, Regulation and Freedom of Expression: A comparative perspective. The workshop aims to address the key issue of the advent of social media for media policy and legal regulatory issues, particularly with regard to freedom of expression, access and service provision, content, privacy and data protection. We are seeking presentations and panel discussions from legal, regulatory, and media experts, journalists, and human rights NGOs from different jurisdictions, including Mainland China, Hong Kong, the USA, and Britain.

Speakers include:
Professor Kyu Ho Youm, the Jonathan Marshall First Amendment Chair Professor at the U of Oregon
Mr. Peter Noorlander, Chief Executive, Media Legal Defence Initiative
Professor Chan Chenfeng, School of Journalism and Communication, Tsinghua U, Beijing
Dr. Yik Chan Chin, Department of Journalism, Hong Kong Baptist U

Abstracts are invited that address topics which include, but are not limited to:
1) Balancing between freedom of expression and social media regulation
2) Social media access and service provision
3) Social media content
4) Defamation, privacy and data protection
5) Security and identity
6) Impacts of social media on the economics of information
7) Role of social media in a transitional society
8) Jurisdiction and Applicable law

Abstracts of up to 500 words and a short bio of the author(s) should be submitted to jourworkshop@hkbu.edu.hk by 1 April 2013. Please write 
2013Workshop: YOUR NAME in the subject line. Accepted presenters will be notified by 15 April, 2013. Registration Fee: HKD 200 (students); HKD 900 (others). Details on booking accommodation will follow on acceptance of your proposal.