21 October 2011
Post-communist Media: From democratic ideals to authoritarian backlash?
What are the major trends of democratization vs. authoritarianism in Central and Eastern Europe? How do authoritarian and semi-authoritarian regimes control media in different post-communist regions? How do old and new media genres contribute to sustaining and / or opposing authoritarian regimes? And how could media studies be reinvented to reflect on changing geopolitical realities and media landscapes?
The aim of this workshop, organized by the CMCS and the Central European University Press, was to paint the big picture of the state of Central and Eastern European media today within the global trend of strengthening authoritarian tendencies.
29 August – 1 September, 2011
Transfabric - A para-sitic workshop on transnational D.I.Y.
The CMCS helped organize this workshop, which took place at FabLab Budapest and Kitchen Budapest. The workshop brought together key thinkers and practitioners from the U.S., Europe, China and Iran who work at the intersection of digital and urban design, making and remaking. The main goal of the workshop was to provide a space to learn from each others’ experiences and establish opportunities for future collaboration. The workshop contained a strong practical component, in which participants broke out in groups to sketch and build various digital and electronic artifacts.
The workshop was organized in collaboration by LUCI – Laboratory for Ubiquitous Computing at University of California, Irvine; the Center for Global Communication Studies (CGCS) at the Annenberg School for Communication, University of Pennsylvania; and the CMCS. It was sponsored by the CGCS, Google OpenSource Office and Google China Developer Relations, Kitchen Budapest and Fablab Budapest.
24-27 June 2011
Building New Media Institutions in the MENA Region: A Roadmap towards Media Law and Policy reform
This exploratory discussion brought together a small group of participants from the MENA (Middle East and Northern Africa) region with international experts. The method of the workshop, organized by the Center for Global Communication Studies (CGCS) at the Annenberg School for Communication, University of Pennsylvania, the Internews Network and the CMCS, was to take current developments in Tunisia, Egypt and elsewhere, as a way of asking how best to gather information, build coalitions, and muster expertise to foster a strong media sector that will undergird democratic development and meaningful reform.
This initial gathering included representatives of various stakeholder groups from the region, including government/policy, media and civil society. The goal was to develop a “roadmap” for the transition in Tunisia and Egypt (with some discussion of prospects for change in other countries in the region). The discussion was directed, in part, by international experts currently engaged with the ongoing processes of change as well as those intimately familiar with the media environment in the region.
4 May 2011
Foreign Reporting in the 21st Century: A Roundtable Discussion
Senior CMCS Research Fellow Markos Kounalakis, President and Publisher Emeritus of the Washington Monthly and a former foreign reporter for Newsweek and NBC, moderated a roundtable discussion with Budapest-based foreign press correspondents and reporters.
Considering that the established model of international newsgathering, with foreign reporters working at fixed bureaus overseas, has struggled to survive in the 21st century media landscape, they discussed whether there are new, financially feasible business models for foreign reporting in the age of digital journalism; how traditional reporters can compete with citizen journalists who work for free and get to the story first; and how the changes in foreign corresponding will impact foreign policy and foreign policy-making.
12 February 2011
Information Privacy Workshop
Dr. Kristina Irion, Assistant Professor at the Department of Public Policy and CMCS Research Director, Public Policy, hosted a workshop on information privacy for interested members of the CEU community. The workshop explored the various facets of information privacy and the surrounding policies of electronic data processing involving personal information, subjects of urgent interest as enhanced computing technology and storage capacity are facilitating an ever increasing appetite for personal information on behalf of businesses and authorities.
31 January 2011
Public workshop on indicators for the independence and efficient functioning of AVMS regulatory bodies
The main focus of this public workshop, which took place at the Albert Borschette Conference Centre (CCAB) in Brussels, was the presentation and discussion of the preliminary final report of the INDIREG study on "Indicators for independence and efficient functioning of audiovisual media services regulatory bodies for the purpose of enforcing the rules in the AVMS Directive".
The CMCS was part of the consortium that was selected by the European Commission to carry out this study. At the workshop, the project partners presented the findings of the study regarding key characteristics of independent regulatory bodies within the scope of the AVMS Directive, its analysis of formal and de facto frameworks of AVMS regulators in 43 countries, as well as an online tool for the self-assessment of independence and effective functioning.
23 September 2010
European Commission stakeholder forum on the EU's European Digital Agenda
The European Commission's Representation in Hungary and the CMCS hosted a stakeholder forum focusing on the European Commission's European Digital Agenda initiative. Keynote speeches were delivered by Detlef Eckert, Director "Lisbon Strategy and Policies for the Information Society" in the Directorate General "Information Society and Media" of the European Commission, and representatives of Hungarian government bodies, which were followed by an interactive discussion.
June 7-8, 2010
"Europe and the Global Information Society Revisited: Developing a Network of Scholars and Agenda for Social Science Research on Cyber Security"
The CMCS hosted a strategic workshop on cyber security, supported by the European Science Foundation, which brought together over two dozen experts from across Europe and the US from universities, intergovernmental organizations and research institutes.
The workshop aimed to help develop a more systematic understanding of the interplay between technological innovations and geopolitical conditions, and its impact on cyber security from a social science perspective. It sets out to map the state of analysis around specific questions in the field of cyber security studies, such as:
- How are different organizations (states, institutions. particular alliances and interest groups) within the European Union (EU) and elsewhere defining responses to cyber security?
- What are the emerging competing frameworks and narratives of cyber security threats and intervention?
- How can institutional analysis be brought to bear to explain and improve approaches to state entities dealing with these questions?
March 18 - April 29, 2010
The Content and Context of "Hate Speech": Rethinking Regulation and Remedies
In March and April, the Floersheimer Center for Constitutional Democracy at the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law in New York and the CMCS, in cooperation with the Department of Sociology of The New School for Social Research, presented a weekly colloquium in New York on "hate speech".
The weekly sessions took place on Thursdays at 4 pm. at the Cardozo School of Law. They drew from chapters of the forthcoming book The Content and Context of "Hate Speech": Rethinking Regulation and Remedies, which will be published by Cambridge University Press. The weekly sessions were convened and moderated by the co-editors of the book, Senior Research Fellow Peter Molnar of the CMCS, Central European University, and Professor Michael Herz, Cardozo School of Law.
February 25-26, 2010
Minorities, diversity and the media – pursuing research for policy and advocacy
The CMCS hosted a workshop for researchers in the field of media, ethnic minorities and cultural diversity at the international conference Tuning in to Diversity 2010 in Budapest, which was organized by the Hungarian public broadcaster MTV and the Dutch NGO Mira Media. The workshop brought together 18 researchers from across Europe to discuss research prospects in a changing media landscape.
December 7-8, 2009
"Civil society and the right to access to state-held information: responses to recent European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) decisions"
The CMCS and the Hungarian Civil Liberties Union co-organized, with the support of the OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media, a workshop to address landmark ECHR decisions on access to state-held information.
February 9 - April 27, 2009
"Hate Speech and Incitement to Violence"
A semester-long workshop at Columbia Law School, convened by Professor Kendall Thomas and Peter Molnar, Senior Research Fellow at the CMCS, who spent the spring semester as Lecturer-in-Law at Columbia Law School.
The first lecture took place on February 9, and was given by Prof. C. Edwin Baker (University of Pennsylvania Law School), on the subject of "Hate Speech".
Further lectures were given by Prof. Robert Post (Yale Law School), Prof. Irwin Cotler (McGill University, Member of the Canadian Parliament and former Minister of Justice & Attorney General), and Prof. Monroe Price (Annenberg School, University of Pennsylvania).
A full overview of the workshops and links to background literature are available on the Columbia Law School website.
February 10, 2009
"Safer Internet – The Hungarian Agenda"
On the occasion of the 2009 Safer Internet Day, promoted by the European Commission's DG Information Society and Media, CMCS hosted the half-day workshop "Safer Internet - The Hungarian Agenda". The event was organized in collaboration with several Hungarian NGOs and included participation from civil society, academia, media and policy makers.
The European Commission's Safer Internet plus programme aims to promote safer use of the Internet and new online technologies, particularly for children, and to fight against illegal content and content unwanted by the end-user. The workshop featured panel discussions on the development of the Safer Internet Program in Hungary and the role of media that support the delivery of the Safer Internet Program aims.
December 12-14, 2008
"From Public Data on Sunshine to Sunshine no Public Data. Global Norms on Access to Environmental Information: A Point of Departure for Improving International Access to Information"
An International Experts' Roundtable Workshop at the CMCS, co-organized by the CMCS and Access-Info Europe with the kind support of the OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media.
Over three days, the participants analyzed internationally developed safeguards on access to environmental information, and discussed how those norms can foster the improvement of access to public data in other fields. Workshop participants drafted and adopted the "Budapest Declaration on the Right of Access to Information."
The event gathered key experts on access to public data from the Council of Europe, the Association of American States (OAS), the European Union and the OSCE, as well as global NGOs such as Access-Info Europe and Article 19.
October 13-17, 2008
Course innovation workshop "Audiovisual Mass Media: Between Politics and Regulation"
Eight faculty members from universities located in the former Soviet Union (list of participants) participated in the curriculum development workshop "Audiovisual Mass Media: Between Politics and Regulation" at the CEU. The workshop was offered by the Departments of Public Policy and Political Sciences and by CMCS, in collaboration with the CEU's Curriculum Resource Center (CRC), and coordinated by Arne Hintz and Kristina Irion.
The workshop examined objectives, instruments and outcomes of public policy of the media sector in Central and Eastern Europe, and discussed the role and agendas of different stakeholders in shaping media policy.
Participants received training in course development, attended courses offered by CEU faculty, and discussed their curricula, teaching methods and research interests with CMCS faculty and staff. In a roundtable discussion, CEU faculty and the visitors explored recent developments in the media and policy situation in Central/Eastern Europe.
September 19, 2008
"Data Retention on the Internet: Challenges for small, alternative and citizen-based Internet Service Providers"
At this international workshop, 70 experts and e-activists met to discuss EU-wide policies on data retention and to develop strategies for defending and enhancing privacy.
The workshop was organized in collaboration with the Association for Progressive Communications (APC) and brought together scholars, lawyers, policy experts, digital rights advocates and a large number of grassroots/activist ISPs. Organizations that were represented included APC, the European Digital Rights Initiative (EDRI), Digital Rights Ireland, Electronic Frontier Finland, Iuridicum Remedium, AK Vorrat, the Hungarian Civil Liberties Union, and many others.