A few more good students wanted

[David Farber <dave () farber net>]

Begin forwarded message:

From: Jonathan Zittrain <z () oii ox ac uk>
Date: December 11, 2005 12:39:57 PM EST
To: dave () farber net
Subject: A few more good students wanted

Oxford University
Doctor of Philosophy in Information, Communication, and the Social  
Sciences

The Oxford Internet Institute (OII) is now accepting applications  
from candidates worldwide who want to study the Internet and its  
social impact full-time at a doctoral level from October 2006. We aim  
to admit four to six students a year, starting in 2006-07. The first  
closing date for fully completed applications is the 20th of January  
2006 for admission in October 2006.

We are a department of Oxford University, chartered to pioneer the  
multidisciplinary study of the evolution and social implications of  
the Internet and related information and communication technologies.  
The OII informs and grounds its research in fruitful collaboration  
with policy makers, technologists, businesspeople, teachers, scholars  
and civil society more widely. We seek to understand the most  
relevant social puzzles, problems, and opportunities associated with  
the Internet as it transforms the fundamentals of work, politics,  
education, entertainment, and social collaboration and conflict.

Candidates must demonstrate the talent, creativity, and enthusiasm  
necessary to perform outstanding research that will make a difference— 
to ask original, concrete questions and adopt incisive methodologies  
for exploring them, in order to help positively shape the development  
of digital networked space and those whose lives are affected by it.

The OII’s four key areas of research provide the focal points for  
studies within the DPhil in Information, Communication, and the  
Social Sciences:

Technology and institutional innovation. This area includes  
productivity in the private and public sphere; the management,  
functioning and delivery of government
services and processes; and e-democracy and e-government  
developments. Backgrounds in sociology, management, government, and  
political science would help to explore issues such as: In what ways  
is the Internet transforming politics, government and organizational  
performance? How do governments use information technology to improve  
public service delivery and enhance democratic processes—or to  
strengthen autocratic regimes? What social and organizational factors  
constrain and drive developments in e-government and e-democracy?

Science, learning and networks. Here the focus is on the use of ICTs  
within academic and research communities, especially on innovations  
in education and the social, legal and ethical shaping of what is  
becoming known as e-Science. Backgrounds in education, computer  
science, ethics, and law would be particularly appropriate for  
examining questions like: In what ways is the Internet being used to  
transform science, learning, and education? What new legal, ethical,  
and institutional issues are being raised by advanced Internet and  
Grid technologies? Will advanced developments in e-Science define the  
next breakthrough in ICTs?
e-Society. The application of ICTs in many aspects of everyday life  
is the heart of this theme, such as in personal interactions and  
activities in the household and workplace in a mobile, networked  
society. Backgrounds in sociology, media and cultural studies,  
economics, political science and other relevant social sciences are  
welcomed to gain fresh insights into questions like: Who uses and who  
does not use the Internet and what difference does this make? Is the  
Internet a technology of freedom or control, enhancing social and  
personal freedom or eroding privacy and civil liberties? How can the  
Internet’s impact be accurately and meaningfully measured and  
explained? What social factors are shaping ICTs and their broad  
societal implications?

Shaping, governing and regulating the Internet and related ICTs. This  
focal point investigates frameworks that liberate or constrain the  
range of choices that can be made about the use, design and  
development of ICTs, including the architecture of the Internet and  
how it is governed. Backgrounds in law, computer science, technology  
policy, and media studies would be especially relevant to issues such  
as: How far should, and can, citizen behaviour in cyberspace be  
regulated and controlled? Who does, and who should, govern the  
Internet? What shifts between public and private gatekeepers are  
underway, or could emerge in the future? What options are there for  
what the Internet could look like in the next 10–20 years, and which  
of these futures are most desirable and attainable?

For further information, see <http://www.oii.ox.ac.uk/teaching/>



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