DEMO-net is a Network of Excellence project funded under the European Commission's sixth framework programme: Information Society Technologies. The overarching objective of DEMO-net is to strengthen scientific, technological and social research excellence in eParticipation by integrating the research capacities of individuals and organisations spread across Europe. As a part of this, DEMO-net organizes PhD students collaborations; seminars, workshops, publications, and this PhD Colloquium.

The 2006 DEMO-net PhD student colloquium will be held on September 3-4 in conjunction with EGOV'06 in Krakow, Poland. PhD students are invited to submit a paper based on their PhD project. Papers will be reviewed and discussed by other PhD students and senior researchers in the eParticipation field. Best papers will be invited to a book project in which relevant and high-quality contributions are rewritten so as to make up a coherent volume on e-Participation.

SUBMISSIONS
------------------
Submissions to the PhD Colloquium should be sent to anders.avdic@esi.oru.se by email in Word format. Papers should be single-authored, no more than 5000 words, and include:

• the name and affiliation of author,
• abstract (max. 300 words),
• 3-5 keywords,
• research aim,
• theory, method,
• results achieved and/or prospective results.

The number of participants is limited. Proposals will be critically reviewed by the organising committee for rigor, quality and relevance (see criteria below). Students may come from any discipline relevant to eGovernment research and practice.

Papers must clearly relate to the eParticipation field, which is defined by the following key words:
* Collaborative Environments - includes groupware and CSCW
* ICT Design Issues - includes technology design, HCI and accessibility
* Campaigning - protest, lobbying, activism, petitioning
* Inclusion/Exclusion - digital, gender, linguistic, demographic, socio-economic status and disability divides
* Community Informatics - support for collaboration and informal networks   
* Information Provision - includes information architecture, content design and content management
* Consultation - top down initiatives as opposed to bottom up
* Journalism - includes online editorial content and user generated content
* Cultural Politics - understanding new online spaces which touch on power, but are not traditionally political   
* Knowledge Management - management of knowledge used in eParticipation
* Deliberation - understanding why, when and how citizens participate in formal and informal talk; design of tools to support  deliberation; assessing quality of contributions   
* Mediation - includes dispute or conflict resolution
* Discourse - includes discourse analysis, argumentation and issues of scalability with large corpora   
* Mobile Communication
* Policy Processes – governance
* Electioneering - campaigning in elections
* Polling - opinion measurement
* Evaluation – of eParticipation as well as development of evaluation frameworks   
* Security - includes privacy and identity management
* Visualisation - includes GIS, Virtual Reality and 3D   
* Service Delivery - participation in design, implementation and monitoring of services
* Voting - such as an election or referendum   
* Spatial planning - includes urban planning and environmental assessment

REVIEW CRITERA FOR PHD STUDENT COLLOQUIUM SUBMISSIONS
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The colloquium welcomes qualitative and quantitative research from any discipline relevant to eParticipation research or practice.

Review Process. Papers will be pre-screened for conformity with submission guidelines and for overall appropriateness for the colloquium. Papers that pass the initial screening process will be reviewed by the members of the organising committee. PhD proposals will not be blind reviewed. Review Criteria for PhD colloquium contributions: Relevance for eParticipation research, Interesting/important problem, Clear motivation (why the problem is interesting theoretically and/or practically), Methodological adequacy and well structured and clearly written paper.

PUBLICATION
---------------
Abstracts will be published in a PhD colloquium brochure and at the DemoNet web site. Papers meeting relevance and quality criteria will be invited to a book project in which relevant and high-quality contributions are rewritten so as to make up a coherent volume on e-Participation.

IMPORTANT DATES
---------------
Deadline for submission:        April 30, 2006. Submissions should be sent to Anders Avdic anders.avdic@esi.oru.se in Word format.
Notification of acceptance:     June  20, 2006
Doctoral Consortium:            September 3, 2006

PROGRAM CHAIRS
-----------------------
Åke Grönlund, Örebro University (SE) (ake.gronlund@esi.oru.se)
Maria A. Wimmer, University of Koblenz- Landau (DE) (wimmer@uni-koblenz.de)
Kim V. Andersen, Copenhagen Business School (DK) (kva@cbs.dk)

LINKS
-----------------------
 
EGov PhD Colloquium
https://www.uni-koblenz.de/FB4/Institutes/IWVI/AGVInf/Conferences/egov2006/Phd

Egov'06
https://www.uni-koblenz.de/FB4/Institutes/IWVI/AGVInf/Conferences/egov2006