The Changing Dynamics of Public Controversies

How do public controversies play out in today’s changing communications environment? What creates controversy? How do controversies “work”? How are the dynamics of controversy altered as the social, technical, and economic parameters of human communication change? Led by our three keynote speakers, we invite you to a discussion aimed at developing analytical perspectives on the character of public controversy today.

Recent years have seen an explosion in the number of platforms that allow publication (many commercial, some not), accompanied by a decline in the relative importance of some of the traditional centers of publicity (network news and newspapers) and the professions formed around them (journalism). Simultaneously, the very material character of what is made public seems to be changing, no longer constrained to the relative fixity of print and broadcast or the ephemeral character of face-to-face interaction in public spaces.

Today, we face a profusion of eminently malleable and remixable but also oddly durable digital products that facilitate not only the transfer of information and its annotation, but also increasingly the development of communities and the pursuit of collective action both on- and off-line.

A select group of discussants and participants from various disciplines will be invited to engage in a discussion of the presentations and a set of concrete cases of recent controversy. Cases taken up may include debates over media reform; the ongoing financial crisis; torture carried out by arms of the US government; and the recent bombings in Gaza.

The event is organized by Columbia’s Communications Ph.D. program and co-sponsored by:

Institute for Social and Economic Research and Policy
Columbia Center for New Media Teaching and Learning
Center on Organizational Innovation
The Alliance Program

It is tied to a graduate level course being taught this spring at Columbia (JO9055). The syllabus can be found here. All students who take the course will be invited to take part in the conference. Both the conference and the course will be supported by StudyPlace.org’s online platform.

The conference is registration-only, and registration has closed. If you have any questions, email the student organizer, Rasmus Kleis Nielsen, at rkn2103@columbia.edu.

Confirmed Conference Participants (PDF)

Agenda

9 - 9:45 a.m. Registration and coffee (Butler Library Lounge, Room 214)

Opening Remarks (Butler Library, Room 203)

9:45 - 10 a.m. Introduction

10 - 10:30 a.m. Dean Nicholas Lemann (Graduate School of Journalism), "Public Controversies Today." Andie Tucher will moderate the discussion. Open to the public.

Session I (Butler Library, Room 203)

10:30 a.m. - 1 p.m. Paul Starr (Princeton University), "Public Controversy and the New World of the News." Todd Gitlin will respond and moderate the conversation.

1 - 2 p.m. Lunch, with topical conversations (Butler Library Lounge, Room 214)

Session II (Butler Library, Room 203)

2 - 4:30 p.m. Bruno Latour (Sciences Po), "Is Walter Lippmann's Phantom Public more visible on the web?" Michael Schudson will respond and moderate the conversation.

4:30 - 5 p.m. Refreshments, break (Butler Library Lounge, Room 214)

Session III (Butler Library, Room 203)

5 - 7:30 p.m. Yochai Benkler (Harvard University), "Participation and power in the networked public sphere." Frank Moretti will respond and moderate the conversation.

7:30 - 8 p.m. Concluding discussion.