April 9th Expert Workshop

Social media and the prospects for expanded democratic participation in national policy-setting
Expert Workshop April 9th, 2015

Although social media have demonstrated their critical role in electoral politics and many other domains including disseminating political news and information, they have not yet been effectively deployed in helping set national policy. New social media platforms could potentially expand the quality and level of public support in areas such as law enforcement, health, education, and public diplomacy.

To better understand the barriers as well as potential role, both positive and negative, of social media in setting national goals and policies, leading thinkers will be coming to Boston University’s College of Communication on April 9, 2015. With papers having been prepared in advance, the day-long event will allow in-depth analysis of the latest thinking on these issues. In addition, time will be set aside for a mapping exercise to consider what the next steps are in terms of needed future research so that the insights presented at the workshop can help inform other researchers both in the United States and beyond

We have a strong set of papers to be presented and a wide-ranging and esteemed group of participants and guests. The following is our current list of presenters and discussants as well as the links to conference papers.

Amy Becker, Loyola University      Networked Publics (co-authored with Lauren Copeland)
Michael Bruter, London School of Economics
Lauren Copeland, John Carroll University (see paper link above)
Deen Freelon, American University      Agenda-setting in the one-step flow
Jacob Groshek, Boston University
Hahrie Han, Wellesley College
Eitan Hersh, Yale University
Anshul Jain, Boston University
David Karpf, George Washington University
Daniel Kreiss, University of North Carolina      The Problem of Citizens
Lev Manovich, The Graduate Center, CUNY      The Exceptional and the Everyday
Rasmus Kleis Nielsen, Roskilde Universitet      Social Media and Policy Processes
Richard Pineda, University of Texas at El Paso     Political Dialgue in the Liking Era
Benjamin Schneer, Harvard University      Civic Engagement and Policy Setting Before the Age of Social Media
Samuel Woolley, University of Washington     Digital Democracy, Digital Control

This expert workshop is designed to bring leading thinkers in the field together to discuss what is known and what we still need to know about the role that social media can and should play in national policy-setting. Attendance at this event is very limited. For more information, please contact Jill Walsh at mobicom@bu.edu.

As part of our initiative we will be holding a public event on April 8th. For more information click here.