WEEK 10 CONFERENCE

A little more info about the Week 10 conference.

Your group's task for your chosen policy area is to :

* produce a brief (c. 2-4 pages) handout outlining (i) the dilemmas the government faces in the field they are investigating, (ii) the options open to them and (iii) the group’s preferred policy response(s)

* present their report to the rest of the class in the conference on Thursday of week 10 – talk to last about 15-25 mins

* field questions from other participants at the conference and defend their position against any criticisms that are posed for around another 15-25 mins

One way of approaching the task might be to undertake a ‘SWOT’ analysis: analysing the strengths, weaknesses, threats and opportunities in your chosen area – but only use this approach if it helps.

If any groups/parts of groups want to take over initial ideas I will be around this Thursday during the time we normally meet so feel to pop along/set up an appointment.

On the day we will be at King’s Manor, room K/133; directions here. It’s right in the centre of town and is next door to the York Art Gallery. In anticipation of people getting lost, please aim to get there for 14.15 but we will formally start at 14.30. (The slightly later start is to give people who have a class beforehand to get over here from campus). We should finish around the normal time (16.15) and those who are interested can head over to a bar or coffee shop in town for an end of term drink afterwards.

Finally, and perhaps most importantly, people need to sign up for a group and get working on their report and presentation!

The two topics we were agreed were:

(1) The implications of social networking software. There have been quite a few posts on the virtual seminar about facebook and myspace: be it in terms of who uses SNS, why, the dangers, the threat to privacy and so on. Group 1 will examine this new trend and what it means for society and whether government (or, indeed, the companies providing SNS and the people using it) need to respond to any specific threats and dangers.

(2) Attempts by Government(s) to Control the Internet. We have also talked quite a bit about attempts by governments (be it in the UK or elsewhere) to regulate, censor and even block the internet. There are concerns here about freedom and privacy, but also perhaps legitimate areas of state activity where control is a response to specific dangers identified by the government. Group 2 will examine the ways in which governments have and do try to control the internet and offer thought on when and where this is right and wrong.

You can sign up for you chosen group in the comments section of this post...