Internet & Society: Emerging topics and research communities

Allen Chan, Host and Digital Asia Hub, Hong Kong

Juan Carlos de Martin, Nexa Center for Internet and Society,Politecnico di Torino, Italy

Lightning Talk

Pindar Wong, Former Member, Digital 21 Strategic Advisory Committee, Government of Hong Kong, Hong Kong

The next billion Internet users will come from emerging economies, particularly those in Asia. With an eye to the launch of the Digital Asia Hub, a non-profit think tank based in Hong Kong, this session will explore both the challenges and opportunities in Asia’s evolving digital ecosystem including selected issues at the infrastructure, protocol, and content layers. The session will attempt to address questions such as: where does or could Asia play a particular role, e.g., looking at trends such as the Internet of Things and, more generally, ‘smart cities’? Are some of the issues particular to the region? Or are there specific ways actors in the region engage with Internet-related issues? What can “Asia,” in its broad diversity, teach the rest of the world when addressing current/pressing Internet and society issues?

Opening remarks (and wrap-up): Lokman Tsui, Digital Asia Hub, Hong Kong

Respondents:

Ang Peng Hwa, Singapore Internet Research Centre, Singapore

Pirongrong Ramasoota, Media Policy Center at Chulalongkorn University, Thailand

K.S. Park, Korea Law School, Korea

Open discussion, moderated by Urs Gasser, Berkman Center for Internet & Society at Harvard University, USA

This session will attempt to identify open issues and possible connection points between research endeavors under construction across the world. The first part of the session will focus on one topic currently under investigation by researchers within the NoC: online hate speech governance and its regulation in distinct contexts. India will serve as an example to prompt discussion of legal/regulatory struggles related to hate speech, and provide an opportunity to explore non-legal countermeasures to hate speech. The second part of the session will begin with an open call for collaboration to other NoC Centers. Participants are encouraged to share research updates and flag opportunities for collaboration, including on topics such as recent developments around data protection, the impact of digital currencies, ICT4D, etc.

Note: NoC partners who can not be in Hong Kong are encouraged to share pre-conference inputs for this session, which will be presented by the session moderator.

Opening remarks: chinmayi Arun, Center for Communication Governance, National Law University Dehli, India

Respondents:

Michael L. Best, United Nations University Institute on Computing and Society, China

Sandra Cortesi, Berkman Center for Internet & Society at Harvard University, USA

Felix Krupar, Hans-Bredow Institute, Germany

Open discussion, moderated by Julian Thomas, Swinburne Institute for Social Research, University of Swineburne, Australia

Launched in 2012, the NoC encompasses more than 50 Centers, with approximately 140 participants from across the world. In this last session, the outcomes of session I and session II will inform a discussion on the future of the NoC both as a hub for emerging projects and as a global community of researchers. As a starting point, visual representations of the current NoC composition will be presented. This will be an opportunity to discuss a roadmap for the NoC in 2016 and 2017, including expected long term impacts/outcomes of the NoC.

Opening remarks (and Wrap-up): Juan Carlos de Martin, Nexa Center for Internet and Society, Politecnico di Torino, Italy

Discussion:

Herbert Burkert, Research Center for Information Law, University of St. Gallen, Switzerland

Catherina Maracke, Keio International Center for Internet & Society, Japan

Wolfgang Schulz, Alexander von Humboldt Institute for Internet and Society, Germany

Open discussion, moderated by Urs Gasser, Berkman Center for Internet & Society at Harvard University, USA

Format & Moderator TBC.