Publication Type: Proceeding
Abstract: The fiftieth session of the UN Commission on the Status of Women explored the continued efforts by national governments to increase the participation of women in various levels and processes of decision-making and power. True and Mintrom (2001) suggest that a majority of the world’s governments have now instituted mechanisms for mainstreaming gender into national policy. Some argue that in large part, this progress is due to women’s transnational advocacy efforts. However, to what extent have these advocacy efforts been diffused into the ongoing policy contestation around the emerging international regime for the global governance of information and communications technologies (Krasner, 1986, 1991; Cowhey, 1992; Cogburn, 2003; Braman, 2004)? This paper explores the participation of women in transnational policy networks and epistemic communities active in global policy formulation for information and communication technologies taking the first phase of the UN-Sponsored World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) and its various preparatory processes as a case study. We examine three key questions: (1) to what degree did women participate in the WSIS processes?; (2) do women differ from men in their participation in transnational advocacy networks and epistemic communities active in WSIS; and finally (3) are the policy preferences of women in WSIS different from men? The paper uses a descriptive analysis of international survey data (N=322) and participant observation. Much to our surprise, we find that on each of these three questions, there are very few differences between the male and female delegates participating in the WSIS processes. The paper concludes with suggestions for a growing research agenda that may enhance the character of multi-stakeholder policy processes.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Review Method: Peer Reviewed
Abstract: Scholars have pointed out that three major innovations have given the impetus to an ongoing transformation of our economic and social environment. These historical and technological changes were the swing of electronic industries to digital technology, the large-scale marketing of personal computers and the advent of the Internet. These three changes interacted to produce Information Communication Technology (ICT) convergence and the evolution of industrial society towards an "information society". Cheaper transmission of information via many more communication outlets as a result of convergence will mean that ICTs will be used in increasingly many other ways by governments, commercial systems and society that had previously not been possible. So, does this mean that with advent of the age of convergence, increases in the variety of ways the same information can be access will result in the reduction of the gap in the digital divide? This paper explores the extent of convergence in Malaysia and Singapore, two countries located in South East Asia and the nature of the digital divide in both countries.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Abstract: The aim of this paper is to analyse the complex and diverse ways in which audiences engage with media in the context of domestic social change and globalisation. Theoretically it is to develop a diversified rather than polarised or reductionist conception of the active audience, thereby showing a possibility for a convergence of a variety of active audience studies, in terms of the concept of ‘audience engagement’. Empirically, it looks at the various ways in which Japanese audiences engage with the media and ICT in the global rich media environment. It makes use of previously identified dimensions of audience activities from several traditions of audience research and adds to these new dimensions revealed from my ethnography of so-called ‘modern’ Japanese families living in the media-rich Tokyo Metropolitan Area. The seven modes of engagement I will consider are: information-seeking activity, connectivity, ‘world-creation’, parasocial interaction, utility, interpretation and, finally, participation.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Abstract: Disaster relief is intertwined with many social marketing objectives which often include health, livelihood, social welfare and community rebuilding issues. Using the social marketing framework, we examine case examples from recent tsunami disaster relief efforts in Asia (primarily from Banda Aceh and Tamil Nadu, India) which utilized Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs). We draw lessons on how and when ICTs can play a focal role in influencing collective welfare, education levels, livelihood generation activities, sharing health resources, improving mortality and in shaping communal roles. Implications for policy and disaster relief agencies are proposed.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Abstract: Once thought of as limitless in resources, the world’s oceans are now resembling empty tanks. At the same time, the present structure of a central authority, with a monopoly on information that regulates a passive and limited set of stakeholders, is being challenged. There has been an emerging set of marine stakeholders in Hawaii, who are enabled by technology and whose actions are fueled by an increasing amount and availability of information, fostering the formation of new alliances and partnerships. These stakeholder groups have started to demand a more active role in the management of marine resources. In this paper, we characterize this shift from “ocean users” to technology-enabled, information-rich, and “active stakeholders.” We link preliminary findings from ongoing research to theoretical approaches to information and communication technology use in order to describe and understand this new shift among Hawaii’s marine stakeholders.