Conference for doctoral students researching the digital divide

[Anja Pratschke <anjaprat@icmc.sc.usp.br>]

Date: Fri, 05 Jan 2001 16:33:14 -0500
From: Kate Williams <katewill@umich.edu>
Subject: Conference for doctoral students researching the digital divide

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Call for Response Regarding a Conference for Doctoral Students Doing
Research to Understand or Close the Digital Divide
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(Please forward this message so that more doctoral students will see it.
A
copy of any forwards would be welcome at katewill@umich.edu.)

The Alliance for Community Technology at the University of Michigan
plans
to host a small international conference of doctoral students whose
research includes the digital divide -- the gap between technology haves
and have-nots -- or its social implications.  We would like to hear from
current doctoral students who would be interested in participating. 
Modest
travel grants will be available.  We also hope to publish a book of the
best and most representative student papers.

In order to design the conference, we would like to hear from as many
interested doctoral students as possible from around the world.  Our
collaboration can only advance research and knowledge.  Our objectives
include sensemaking (are we asking the right questions?),
community-building, and sharing perspectives and references. 

The digital divide, as it is known in the US, has spawned a variety of
related concepts: digital or social inclusion, community technology,
community networks, telecenters, public access computing, and more.  It
has
stimulated researchers from many disciplines to apply quantitative and
qualitative methods and to develop experimental models and tools. 

If you are currently pursuing a doctoral degree and your research area
includes the digital divide, please reply by January 22 to
katewill@umich.edu with answers to the questions below:

1. Your name?

2. Your email address?

3. Your discipline (sociology, computer science, urban planning, public
policy, communications, library/information studies, engineering, etc.)?

4. Your university?

5. What year did you begin your doctoral work?

6. One or two sentences on your dissertation topic (either tentative or
firm)?

7. Other research you have done that relates to the digital divide (if
any;
URLs are helpful)?

Please keep this project in mind as term begins and you plan your
research
and writing for the coming months.  We will contact respondents with
further information by February 15, 2000.

Thank you very much.



Kate Williams
Research Assistant, Alliance for Community Technology  
Doctoral Student, U. of Michigan School of Information
http://www.communitytechnology.org
http://www.si.umich.edu
http://www.umich.edu/~katewill/
katewill@umich.edu