Call for Papers: GigaNet 2024 Symposium 

GigaNet announces a Call for Proposals for the upcoming GigaNet Annual Symposium in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia 15 December 2024, to all members and observers through the GigaNet mailing list as well as through GigaNet’s social media accounts. Join GigaNet now to stay up to date!

Submission of abstracts: 15 July 2024, 23.59 (in your time zone)

Submission of full papers (for onsite Riyadh symposium): 25 November 2024

Submission of full papers (for online symposium): 1 January 2025

GigaNet – the Global Internet Governance Academic Network – is now accepting extended abstracts for papers to be presented at its annual symposium. As of now, GigaNet 2024 is planned to be held 15 December 2024 alongside the United Nations Internet Governance Forum (IGF) in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, in a half-day in-person format and as a two-day online academic symposium the week of January 15, 2025.

Papers on internet/digital governance-related topics are welcome, and preference will be given to papers that relate to the specific topics in the call text. Multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary approaches are warmly encouraged. There will be the possibility for a focused subset of accepted papers to be fast-tracked for publication in a relevant journal. In previous years, collections of papers presented at the symposium were invited for publication in the journal Telecommunications Policy.

We particularly welcome presentations of research that take a global perspective, and explicitly invite comparative papers. GigaNet encourages emerging scholars and researchers working with diverse methodologies to submit their work to the symposium. Proposals should be submitted in English. Participation in the GigaNet symposium is free of charge.

Welcome topics for this year’s symposium include, but are not limited to:

Internet governance as a field of study

  • Narratives, myths, and frictions in the construction of the field of internet governance
  • Internet governance cultures and power dynamics
  • Theoretical innovations and new methods applicable to internet governance research
  • Postcolonial Internet Governance studies

The evolution of internet governance, institutions, and norms

  • Internet standards, protocols and critical infrastructures
  • Platform governance
  • Cybersecurity
  • Digital sovereignty

Critical internet futures

  • Sustainability and environmental impacts
  • Digital colonialism
  • Space and internet governance
  • Governance of frontier technologies (Internet of Things, Artificial Intelligence, virtual currencies, metaverse, quantum computing, etc.)

Current themes in internet governance research (not an exhaustive list):

  • Online harms, cyberattacks and accountability
  • Cyber operations and sanctions, neutrality in the cyber domain, applicability of international law
  • Civil rights and their limitations
  • Internet governance and emergency preparedness

GigaNet is oriented around the presentation of research papers. The proposed extended abstract should be 800-1000 words long (excluding bibliography) and must describe:

  1. Research question(s),
  2. Data used,
  3. Methodology,
  4. Main (expected) findings of the paper, and
  5. Contributions to literature and/or ongoing policy debates.

Theoretical papers need not specify the data used but must have a clear research question and statement of the specific theories used and literature in which the analysis is situated. Bibliographies should be included in the abstract where references are made (and are included in the word count).

The extended abstract must be uploaded to the submission platform by 1 July 2024, 23.59h (in the submitter’s timezone). Visit: https://giganet-symposium.org/ to register and upload your abstract. When submitting your abstract, please indicate if you wish to be considered for the in-person or the online variant of the Symposium, or both (the PC will then choose, based on fit across all contributions).

Individual abstracts will be reviewed double blind. Please do not include names or any other identifiable information on the uploaded file or in the text of the abstract you submit to the platform. (The platform records the author name(s) and contact information: the programme committee chair will be able to see that information.) Full papers should only be submitted upon invitation, following the selection of abstracts. Full papers must be submitted by the deadlines below, in order to participate in our symposium.

Important dates:

  • Submission portal opens: 1 June 2024
  • Extended abstracts submission: 15 July 2024
  • Notification to authors of acceptances/rejections: 1 August 2024
  • Accepted authors confirm attendance: 1 September 2024
  • Optional Submission of draft papers for comment by PC members: 30 September 2024
  • Confirmation of presence at symposium: 14 October 2024
  • Initial feedback from PC member: week of 14 October 2024
  • Deadline for paper submission for Riyadh in-person symposium: 25 November 2024
  • In-person symposium: 15 December 2024
  • Deadline for paper submission for online symposium: 1 January 2025
  • Online symposium: week of 15 January 2025

You can also have a look at all Past Annual Symposia programs and read previous symposium submissions in our SSRN Archive of Symposium Papers.

To register for online or on-site attendance, please follow the IGF registration steps.

2023 Annual Symposium Programme (Kyoto, Japan – hybrid)

We are proud to present the programme for the GigaNet Annual Symposium, taking place on Day 0 at the Internet Governance forum. In this symposium, 17 papers that have been selected from a competitive process will be presented.

The symposium will take place in hybrid format: you can use your IGF registration to sign up to the session both online and onsite. It takes place on 8 October, and will be help physically in Workshop Room #4 at the Internet Governance Forum.

Kyoto local times (UTC +9) indicated below

10:00 Introduction and welcome remarks
– Jamal Shahin and Roxana Radu

10:10 Panel I

Chair / Discussant: Jamal Shahin

Right to Data Access in the Digital Era: the Case of China (paper)
– Yik Chan Chin
Web PKI and the Private Governance of Trust on the Internet (paper)
– Karl Grindal, Vagisha Srivastava
Internet Fragmentation and its environmental impact: A case study of Satellite Broadband (paper)
– Berna Akcali Gur, Joanna Kulesza
ICT Standards and the Environment: a call of action for environmental care inside Internet Governance (paper)
– Kimberly Anastácio

11:25 Panel II

Chair / Discussant: Danielle Flonk

Institutional Change in Cyber Governance? Catalytic Factors & The United Nations Open-Ended Working Group (OEWG) (paper)
– Nanette S. Levinson
Women, Peace, and Cybersecurity in Southeast Asia
– Jaimee Stuart, Cara Antonaccio
Principles for Enabling Responsible AI Innovations in India: An Ecosystem Approach (paper)
– Kamesh Shekar, Jameela Sahiba, Bhavya Birla, Garima Saxena

12:30 Lunch

13:35 Panel III

Chair / Discussant: Andrea Calderaro

AI Policies as a research domain: Preliminary Findings of Publication Pattern Analysis (paper removed)
– Radomir Bolgov, Olga Filatova
European Rules, European Tools? Mapping the Institutional Contours of EU Platform Regulation
– Robert Gorwa, Elettra Bietti
A new Social Contract for Data? (paper)
– Sophie Hoogenboom

14:50 Panel IV

Chair / Discussant: Raquel Gatto

Regional Internet Governance and Postcolonial Consciousness: A Nkrumahian Analysis of the African Declaration on Internet Rights and Freedoms (extended abstract)
– Adio Dinika, Dennis Redeker
Governing the Internet through South-Based Regional Private Regimes. Legitimacy at AFRINIC, APNIC, and LACNIC (abstract)
– Debora Irene Christine, Hortense Jongen, Nahema Nascimento Falleiros, Gloria Nzeka & Jan Aart Scholte
“Glocalizing” digital policymaking: the impact of the EU Digital for Development (D4D) policy on ICT policy adoption in the Global South (paper)
– Stephanie Arnold

16:05 Panel V

Chair / Discussant: Luis Barbosa

The ambiguity of Digital Sovereignty between territorialization of the cyberspace, extraterritorial claims and digital rights: analysing data transfer policies in EU, US and China (paper)
– Nicola Palladino
“Here Are Some Thoughts I Have”. On Threats of Regulation and Other Forms of Bullying as a Governance Mechanism (paper)
– Ramiro Álvarez-Ugarte
The Wallet of Digital Citizens: Online Payment Adoption in the Developing Countries’ Public Adminstration
– Ahmed Elmasry
YOUthDIG participation on regional and global level: The dynamics of meaningful youth participation (paper)
– Nadia Tjahja

17:00 Wrap up and closing session, before moving to Giganet Business Meeting (ICC Kyoto Bilateral Room #4, and zoom).