War 2.0: Political Violence & New Media, Canberra,

Brig. Dawson

The Department of International Relations of the Australian National University is hosting a two day symposium on "War 2.0: Political Violence & New Media" in Canberra, 7 to 8 October 2009. There is a modest $50 registration fee ($15 for students). The program includes Brigadier Brian Dawson (Director General of Australian Defence Force Public Affairs), Eric Beecher (Crikey.com), Professor Hugh White (ANU Strategic and Defence Studies Centre) and Mehran Mortezai (Iranian student and Twitterer). The venue is the new hit-tech Hedley Bull Centre at the ANU. I hope to take part in the symposium via the web (from Web Directions South), relating some of my experience setting the Australian Defence Force's policy for the use of the web and Internet.

War 2.0: Political Violence & New Media

Today, war is conducted not only by the dispatch of Tomahawks in the air or Kalashnikovs and suicide attacks on the ground but also by means of bytes, tweets, digital images, and social networking forums. (New) media technology, in other words, has become a medium of war and diplomacy.

This multidisciplinary two-day symposium on 7-8 October hosted by the Department of International Relations at the ANU will map the shifting arena of war, conflict, terrorism, and violence in an intensely mediated age. The symposium will bring together international relations academics, media scholars and media practitioners, policymakers and defence staff. It will explore cultural, political, strategic, and technological transformations in media platforms and media participation and assess their impact on policy, publics, and outcomes of political conflict.

The symposium addresses questions such as: What is 'new' about new media? How have the transformations in media technology influenced media-military relations? How have these transformations impacted upon traditional media actors? How are war, conflict, terrorism and violence represented; what are the consequences of these representations? In what ways has new media technology empowered marginalised voices in war, conflict, and terrorism? And how has the transformation of the media landscape impacted on the way states conduct their foreign policy? ...

From: War 2.0: Political Violence & New Media, ANU, 2009

Symposium Program

7 October
9:15 - 9:30	Introduction
9:30 - 10:45	Keynote address by James Der Derian From the Image of War to the War of Images (Live webcast from Brown University)
10:45 - 11:15	Morning tea
11:15 - 12:45	Panel One: Traditional Voices Responding to New Toys, New Challenges Kate Geraghty, Sydney Morning Herald photographer Prakash Mirchandani, Strategic and Defence Studies Centre, ANU Bill Paterson, Ambassador for Counter-terrorism Peter Mantello, Ritsumeikan Asia Pacific University, Japan Brigadier Brian Dawson, Director General Public Affairs, ADF
12:45 - 1:45	Lunch
1:45 - 3:00	Keynote address by Eric Beecher, Crikey.com The Changing Media Landscape
3:00 - 3:30	Afternoon tea
3:30 - 5:00	Panel Two: New Voices New Media Empowering New Actors Lisa Goldman, political blogger from Tel Aviv Sophie McNeill, SBS Dateline video journalist Mark Andrejevic, University of Queensland Matthew Hornsey, University of Queensland Nicholas Farrelly, ANU Mehran Mortezai, Iranian student and Twitterer
5:00 - 6:30	Reception

8 October
9:30 - 10:45	Keynote address by Paul McGeough, Sydney Morning Herald A Correspondent's Journey
10:45 - 11:15	Morning tea
11:15 - 12:45	Panel Three: War 2.0 - What are We Facing? How is New Media Shaping Conflict? Thomas Rid, Authors of War 2.0 Peter Leahy, University of Canberra Seb Kaempf, University of Queensland Julie Posetti, University of Canberra Hugh White, ANU
12:45 - 1:45	Lunch
1:45 - 3:00	Concluding Plenary Politics by Other Means?

From: Program for War 2.0: Political Violence & New Media, ANU, 2009