Wednesday, October 07, 2009

War 2.0 streamed live now

The symposium "War 2.0: Political Violence & New Media" is being streamed live from the ANU in Canberra for the next two days. As well as
Video, there is a Twitter discussion.

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.

Last night the "Timeline Project" was demonstrated at Google Sydney. This used a timeline updating a map of Europe in World War 2. Military organisations traditionally document battles in the battalion dairy. This timeline mapping technique could be used for an electronic diary. This week ABC Media Watch criticised the Australian Department of Defence for providing minimal information for the public about what is happening in Afghanistan. Perhaps as well as a war artist, there could be a war blogger, providng a timeline map of what is happening. I might ask the symposium about this.

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. 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.

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 - 9:30Introduction
9:30 - 10:45Keynote address by James Der Derian
From the Image of War to the War of Images
(Live webcast from Brown University)
10:45 - 11:15Morning tea
11:15 - 12:45Panel 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 - 1:45Lunch
1:45 - 3:00Keynote address by Eric Beecher, Crikey.com
The Changing Media Landscape
3:00 - 3:30Afternoon tea
3:30 - 5:00Panel 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 - 6:30Reception

8 October
9:30 - 10:45Keynote address by Paul McGeough, Sydney Morning Herald
A Correspondent's Journey
10:45 - 11:15Morning tea
11:15 - 12:45Panel 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 - 1:45Lunch
1:45 - 3:00Concluding Plenary
Politics by Other Means?

1 comment:

Tom Worthington said...

The symposium "War 2.0: Political Violence & New Media" is being streamed live from the ANU in Canberra for the next two days. As well as Video, there is a Twitter discussion.