In the relatively short period of time that information technology has
been available, it has become generally accepted that IT has had a
significant and widespread influence on the political process. At the same
time, there is no consensus regarding the broad impact of IT on the
understanding and practice of democratic politics. In conjunction with the
conference theme, "Facing Forward and Looking Back: Democracy and Justice
in a Century of Change," the Information Technology and Politics (ITP)
section welcomes paper, panel, short-course, roundtable, and
poster-session proposals that contribute to our understanding of the ways
in which information technology has enhanced, inhibited and/or
fundamentally altered our understandings of democracy, justice and
politics.
In addition to proposals directly tied to the conference theme, we also
anticipate presentations on innovative instructional and scholarly
applications of IT. Especially encouraged are systematic analyses of the
effects of using IT to teach political science, and on the profession, the
scholarly community, scholarly communication, and publishing.
Demonstrations of innovative instructional applications, such as dedicated
course web sites, are generally excellent candidates for poster sessions.
Hands-on workshops to demonstrate innovative approaches to teaching, data
collection, dissemination or analysis, are highly appropriate candidates
for short courses. Furthermore, we encourage presenters to make
appropriate use of IT in their presentations.
