The two manuals: “E-inclusion guidelines: supporting diversity” and “E-Participation guidelines: supporting diversity”, published in English, Estonian, Finnish and Swedish are the main outcomes from the IIeP – EU/Central Baltic INTERREG IVA project. These outputs found online and in pdf-versions on the new website: www.supportingdiversity.eu are aimed to meet the needs for those involved in participatory processes and immigrant involved issues. They also provide ideas and best practices for authorities to facilitate inclusion. The manuals can be used widely to support residents´ active participation in local multinational communities.

Target groups: Authorities in national and local level involved in e-democracy and e-governance, persons from immigrant and multicultural non-governmental organisations as well as researchers and others in related fields interested in e-democracy and inclusion of immigrants in participatory decision-making.

Aim of the International Joint Workshop: Creating a discussion forum and a dialogue between authorities, NGO actors and immigrant societies on immigrant inclusion by e-participation.

There will be cross-border exchange of best results as experienced in practice, in projects or in research. The sessions will all have participatory elements such as discussions, collaboration, brainstorms and debates and will utilize participatory tools and methods. E-participation will be also possible, the links will appear later.

The event is free of charge, but make sure you register by the 21st of October 2011, since the venue only has a limited amount of seats.

Keynote speakers, Presentations, Abstracts and Biographys
The keynote speakers and their preliminary topics are:

Nico Carpentier, Senior Lecturer in Communication and Media Studies, Department of Social Sciences, Loughborough University, UK
“Mediated participation. ‘New’ technologies’ claims to increased participation, novelty and uniqueness”

Edward Andersson, Deputy Director of Involve, UK, Expert on methods of participatory decision making
“Engaging for the long term -Successful strategies and examples”

Auksė Balcytiené, Professor, Department of Public Communications, Faculty of Political Science and Diplomacy, Vytautas Magnus University, Lithuania
“Diasporic groups online – alternative discourses”

Gavan Titley, Dr, Lecturer in Media Studies, Centre for Media Studies, National University of Ireland Maynooth and Vice-Chair of the ‘Diaspora, Migration and Media’ section of European Communication Research Association – ECREA Centre for Media Studies
“Racialized media literacies: online networks, public discourse and the new ‘new racism’ in Europe.”

Randi Marselis, Associate Professor, Institute for Literature, Culture and Media, University of Southern Denmark
“Web-magazines, cultural memory and transnational belongings”

Andoni Alonso, Professor, Universidad de Extremadura, Spain
”Diasporas, the Web 2.0 and how the Commons are in Danger”

The presentations will be published here after the workshop when possible:

Presentations

Abstracts

Andoni Alonso
Abstract: The notion of Web 2.0 brings many different issues that should be discussed. One of the most interesting is how these electronic social networks can generate an added value in terms of content and shared knowledge. The question is to show how diasporans are also generating such content and how it can be privatized through companies such as FaceBook. Starting point would be to consider how all that on-line knowledge can be treated as a commons, because it is put on line, shared and improved by particulars. So diasporans can be deprived from their physical as well as their electronic homeland.

Randi Marselis
Abstract: Social media on the internet have potential to strengthen transnational belongings amongst ethnic minority groups. However, young people of minority background often prefer to set up websites in the language of their country of settlement. This presentation focuses on journalistic Web-magazines run by Dutch Moluccan and Danish Kurdish youths. In what way do such Web-magazines give room for the cultural memory of migration? And how do belongings to a transnational community intersect with social and political engagement in the country of settlement?

Keywords: Websites, cultural memory, transnationalism, Dutch Moluccan youth, Danish Kurdish youth

Nico Carpentier
Abstract: New media discourses are often engulfed by a variety of claims that emphasize their specificity. We can find the formulation of strong claims of novelty and uniqueness, in combination with processes of forgetfulness in relation to the societal roles of old media technologies. This presentation starts with a discussion on (new) audience theory, mapping and structuring the diversity of audience articulations with a focus on two of its main dimensions: the active/passive and the interaction/participation dimension. This mapping will then be used to problematize and critique the strong claims of novelty and uniqueness that ’new’ participatory technologies have generated. Moreover, this theoretical mapping will also show that audience theory turns out to be quite stable in its capacity to facilitate the understanding of the diversity of relations between humans and media technology. Three claims are scrutinized: the shift from one-to-many to many-to-many communication; the rearticulation of the audience into the ‘producer’; and the convergence of top-down business with bottom-up production and consumption practices. Each of these claims is critically evaluated, in combination with a case study discussion that shows the complexities and contradictions of these claims. These three case studies are the BBC’s Video Nation project in the UK, a reception study of nine films on the Belgian online video-sharing platform 16plus, and formal participatory (alternative and community media) organizations.

Edward Andersson
Abstract: This workshop will look at the practice of e-participation with a particular focus on achieving long term engagement. It will draw on practical examples from numerous countries as well as a two and a half year research project exploring the individual motivations for participation in three sites in England.
Different approaches and rationales for participation will be explored, as well as differences between online engagement and face to face engagement. Some engaging approaches (both online and face to face) will be demonstrated; allowing participant interaction.

Biographys

Andoni Alonso, got his degree at the Universidad de Navarre and his PH. D. at the Basque Country University. Visiting researcher at the Penn State University and Visiting Professor at Nevada University at Reno, Reno. He has taught at the Universidad de Extremadura and presently is associate professor at the Universidad Complutense de Madrid. He won the 5th Award Prize by the Epson Institute of Techno-Ethics with the book La Quinta columna digital. His field of interest has been the informational society and its ethical, political and aesthetical implication in books like La nueva ciudad de Dios, Siruela, Madrid, 2002 and Carta al homo cibernéticus, Edaf, Madrid 2003. Recently has published the following books: Diasporas in the New Media Age (Nevada University Press, 2010), Knowledge Communities (CBS Reno, 2011) and Autoridad Expandida, Naturaleza Común y saber profano (Universidad de Quilmes).

Randi Marselis (PhD) is an associate professor at Institute of Literature, Media and Cultural Studies, University of Southern Denmark. Her research interests are on ethnic relations and the media in multiethnic societies with special focus on Denmark and the Netherlands. The aim of her current research is to examine the role of the Web in the remediation of migration memories. This project is part of a collective project: Changing Borderlines: Mediatization and Cultural citizenship (2008-2011; supported by the Danish Council for Independent Research, Culture and Communication). She has for the past years been an active participant in the NordForsk-funded network on migration and media, MigraNord, and she will continue her collaboration with other Nordic researchers within this field through the newly established NordForsk-network TheoryNord.

Nico Carpentier is Senior Lecturer at the Social Sciences Department of the University of Loughborough and Associate Professor at the Communication Studies Department of the Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB – Free University of Brussels). He is also vice-president of the European Communication Research and Education Association (ECREA). His theoretical focus is on discourse theory, his research interests are situated in the relationship between media, journalism, politics and culture, especially towards social domains as war & conflict, ideology, participation and democracy. His most recent publications include the following books Discourse Theory and Cultural Analysis. Media, Arts and Literature (ed.)(2008); Democracy, journalism and technology (ed.)(2008), Communicative approaches to politics and ethics in Europe (ed.)(2009), Trans-reality television. The transgression of reality, genre, politics and audience (ed.)(2010) and Media and Participation. A Site of Ideological-Democratic Struggle (2011).

Edward Andersson is the Deputy Director of Involve, a UK based charity and think tank. He is an established expert on methods of participatory decision making. He set up peopleandparticipation.net – the UKs leading public engagement site, and has advised a number of organisations on public engagement strategies, including the Home Office, the European Commission, the OECD and numerous Local Authorities and Health Trusts. His research covers how to measure the business case for engagement, achieving efficiencies through engagement, and involving the public in developing new solutions to problems such as climate change.
He is a Professional Facilitator (Certified by the International Association of Facilitators), sits on the National Expert Panel on Local Governance for the Department for Communities and Local Government and is a board member of the international not-for profit e-Democracy.org. He is a guest lecturer at Birkbeck College at the University of London and has written thought pieces for WHO Europe and the OECD among others.