Knowledge and Governance Workshop

Blayne Haggart, Natasha Tusikov, and I have been working on developing an interdisciplinary discussion around the challenges of knowledge regulation in a data-driven world. We are hosting a workshop on Knowledge and Power in the Global Political Economy at the Balsillie School of International Affairs on May 17th and 18th.

We are welcoming participants from across Canada, Australia, the United States, and the United Kingdom, bringing expertise from the fields of communication studies, politics, law, criminology, and gender studies.

To create a common entry point for this multi-disciplinary event, we are using the writings of Susan Strange, an important thinker in international political economy whose work focuses on four key structures: production, finance, security, and knowledge. The papers themselves present research that covers various knowledge-related topics, including the regulation of the Internet, questions of truth and censorship, and the relationship between knowledge and control.

The full workshop schedule is as follows:

Thursday, May 17

9:00 – 9:10 Arrival and Coffee

9:10 – 9:30 Introductions and Scene-setting

9:30 – 11:30 Theoretical Reflections on Susan Strange and the Knowledge Structure

• A Strange Approach to Information, Network, Sharing, and Platform SocietiesSara Bannerman and Angela Orasch (McMaster University)
• Incorporating the Study of Knowledge into the IPE Mainstream, or, When Does a Trade Agreement Stop Being a Trade Agreement?Blayne Haggart (Brock University)
• Discussant: Randall Germain (Carleton University)

12:00 – 12:45 Lunch

12:45 – 2:45 Internet Governance and Regulation

• A Declining Superpower? The Internet Infrastructure’s Changing Balance of PowerDwayne Winseck (Carleton University)
• Redefining Ownership: Data Governance and the Internet of ThingsNatasha Tusikov (York University)
• Discussant: Madeline Carr (University College London)

2:45 – 3:00 Break

3:00 – 5:00 Questions of Truth and Censorship

• Copyright as Private Censorship: Regulating Speech in the Knowledge EconomyDebora Halbert (University of Hawai‘i)
• You Can’t Handle the Truth: The Importance of False Information to the Knowledge StructureMichael Jablonski (Georgia State University)
• Discussant: Brad Sherman (University of Queensland)

7:00 – 10:00 Dinner

Friday, May 18

9:00 – 9:15 Arrival and Coffee

9:15 – 11:15 Knowledge and/as Control

• Between Production and Consumption: Tracing the Techno-Legal Lives of Commodities at National Border Ports-of-EntryAllison Fish (University of Queensland)
• Surveillance as Governance: Making Social Assistance Recipients TransparentKate Henne (University of Waterloo/Australian National University)
• Discussant: Jennifer Musto (Wellesley College)

11:15 – 11:30 Break

11:30 – 12:15 Wrap-up Discussion and Plans Moving Forward

12:15 – 1:00 Lunch