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           F I N A L   C A L L   F O R   P A P E R S
                    (Deadline May 31, 1999)

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                       C I P A ' 9 9 

            CITIZENS AND PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION 
                  IN THE INFORMATION AGE:
     Constructing Citizen-Oriented Society for the Future

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Date and Place:   18-20 August, 1999; University of Tampere, 
                  Tampere, Finland 

Organizers:       International Social Science Council (ISSC),
                  University of Tampere, ISFI Research Project,
                  University of Tampere, Information Society 
                  Research Centre (INSOC) 

Keynote Speakers: Prof. Ted Becker, Auburn University, USA
                  Docent Tarja Cronberg, Executive Director, 
                  Regional Council of North Karelia, Finland
                  Prof. Christa Slaton, Auburn University, USA


The purpose of this conference is to discuss, in a multinational 
and multidisciplinary context, the role of citizens and public
administration in the emerging information society. During the
conference issues like "what is the role of citizens and public
administration in the information age" and "how can we use
modern information and communication technologies, 
organizational principles and knowledge in order to create a 
citizen-oriented open society for the future" will be 
scrutinized.

The working language of the conference is English. 



MAIN TOPICS

The general theme of the conference will be discussed under five
sub-themes or topics: 


1) Information Society: Present State, Trends and Prospects 

The opening section of the conference will concentrate on 
systematic analyses, well-grounded opinions and visions on the 
present state, current trends and future prospects of the 
information society. Proposed papers may analyze issues such as: 

* What are the current trends and directions for the information 
  Society? Where are we now and where are we going? 

* What are the main economic, political, cultural, and societal 
  forces affecting the development of the information society? 

* What are the main social and human problems of the information 
  society? And how can we deal with these problems?

* What does the recent development look like at the global 
  level? What will happen to the less developed countries in 
  second and third worlds? Are they left out from the global 
  information society; or if not, what is their role in the 
  emerging global village? Is there such village at all? 



2) The Changing Role of Public Services and Public 
   Administration in the information society 

In this section the role of public and private sectors and the
organization and production of public services and public
administration are discussed. Proposed papers should focus on 
issues such as: 

* How should the division of labor between the public, private, 
  and the "third" sectors be organized in the future society? 
  What is, will be, or should be the role of public sector, 
  public activities, public services and public administration 
  at the information age? 

* What kind of public services are needed at the modern times? 
  Who should fund and who should produce these services, how 
  should their production be organized and controlled, and for 
  whom should these services be targeted? 

* What is or should be the division of labor between different 
  levels of public administration, e.g. what is or should be the 
  division of labor between the central (i.e. state or federal), 
  regional, and local administrations? 



3) Role of Citizens and Customers in Organization, Production 
   and Control of Public Services at the Information Age 

This section will concentrate on the role of citizens and 
customers in the organization, production and control of public 
services in the information society. Proposed papers may analyze 
issues such as, but not necessarily limited to: 

* the need for, promises, and opportunities of citizen's 
  participation and control in the modern society 

* different modes and types of citizen's participation and 
  control the strength and weaknesses, opportunities and threats 
  of citizen and customer participation 

* the role of and need for self-help and spontaneous grass-root 
  level activities, cooperatives and/or indirect public 
  administration 

* the role of customers and citizens in commercially oriented 
  service production. 



4) Use of  Open Computer Networks and Modern Information and
   Communication Technology in the Service of Democratic 
   Information Society

In this section the role of open computer networks (i.e. 
Internet) and the modern information and communication 
technology are analyzed in politics, administration, and service 
provision of the information society. Proposed papers may 
concentrate on issues such as: 

* How could open computer networks (e.g. Internet) and modern 
  information and communication technology be used in the 
  service of citizen oriented democracy? What kind of strengths, 
  weaknesses, opportunities, and threats can be seen in the use 
  of this technology? And what should be done in order to take 
  advantage of the new possibilities and promises offered by 
  this technology? 

* What is the role of public electronic networks, virtual  
  communities, and customer oriented information systems in the 
  service of modern democratic society? What are the challenges 
  of electronic democracy to modern society? How should these 
  challenges be responded, and what kind of results can or could 
  be expected? 

* What kind of technical solutions are available for 
  administrative and political processes and service delivery: 
  WWW, E-mail, electronic bulletin boards, discussion lists 
  (etc.)? What kind of systems can be used in electronic town 
  meeting, televoting, and public electronic access? How can 
  digital cities and wide area networks be used to create a new 
  form of local and regional government? 

* What are the pioneering projects, how have they been 
  established, funded and managed? What kind of lessons have 
  been or can be learned on the basis of these projects? What 
  kind of new developmental projects are initiated and planned? 



5) Speaking of Information Society: Values, Meanings, and 
   Language 

The last section of the conference will concentrate on ethics 
and moral issues, rhetoric and politics of information society,
conceptual and terminological issues and clarifications, and
theories of and theoretization on information society. Proposed
papers may analyze issues such as: 

* Are there, in fact, any comprehensive and plausible theories 
  of information society? If there are, what is their relation 
  to other developments in the field of social, political and 
  administrative theory? 

* Is the concept of information society appropriate for 
  theoretical reasoning, or is it just untheoretical catch-word, 
  appropriate only for visionary discussions and policy 
  programs? 

* What are the differences between the rhetoric and the 
  realities of information society? Is the concept of 
  information society just a myth or utopia without sufficient 
  realist or theoretical grounds? 



PUBLICATION 

A selection of papers presented at the conference will be 
published later on by the organizers.



DEADLINES 

Persons interested in participating this conference should offer
their papers or presentations, including a provisional title and
short abstract (150-250 words), to the organizers as soon as
possible. All submissions are processed as they come, and the final 
acceptance or rejection of the proposed paper should be expected 
normally within one month. 

The final deadline to offer papers and presentations to the
conference is May 31, 1999.

Registrations for participants without a paper or a presentation 
will be also accepted.



REGISTRATION FEES 

Registration fees for the conference are as follows:
 
                             Before June 15  After June 15, 1999

Persons, presenting a paper     500 FIM          700 FIM

Other participants              500 FIM         1000 FIM

The fee will cover access to the conference and the conference 
material. 500 FIM is about 95 USD or 84 ECU. 

Registration form will be available from the conference site at
http://www.uta.fi/laitokset/hallinto/CIPA99


ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

Additional information concerning conference city (Tampere, and 
how to reach it) and about organizers is available from the 
conference www site. 

http://www.uta.fi/laitokset/hallinto/CIPA99


For further information, please contact: 

Matti Mälkiä, University of Tampere, Department of 
Administrative Science, P. O. Box 607, FIN-33101 Tampere, 
Finland,

Tel. +358-40-5042498 (cellular); +358-3-2156362 (office); 
Fax: +358-3-215 6020; Email: [log in to unmask] 



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