The recent years have seen the emergence of global terrorism. The 9/11 bombing has marked new changes in the way terrorists are perpetrating their crimes: the misuse of technology. Simple aircrafts are now becoming mass destruction weapons. After the London and Madrid bombing, investigators have observed two critical issues: terrorist are rather well educated people with a very good scientific background (London bombing) and the use of IED (improvise exploding device) shows a good knowledge of recent technologies (Madrid bombing with the use of cell phones in a very clever way). It is more than critical to explore and forecast how science and technology can be perverted, misused to perform terrorist activities. This mini-track aims at inviting authors to submit technical papers exploring such issues in the field such as computer science, chemistry, physics, mathematics, aircraft and ship technologies, telecommunication... Papers which identify new risks but also propose solutions to prevent them are particularly encouraged.
This track intends to attract academic or technical papers presenting results, new approaches or new views with respect to this new challenge for digital societies.
Submission details are given below. Topics for submissions to this mini track may include, but are not limited to:
§New techniques and scenarii of terrorism
§Technological watch as an intelligence tools
§Misappropriation and hijacking of science and technology for terrorist acts
§Control of knowledge dissemination with regards to sensitive technology
§Global security and global insecurity
§Other topics
For mini track submission details, see the Call for Papers page
It is a proven tradition for governments, alliances and corporates to hide or mislead key information to achieve their aims for political and competitive purposes. For example, the findings of parties in Iraq over no weapons of mass destruction.
However, the world is now full of non-government parties (e.g. lobby groups) that have a capability to and are starting to reveal information that has been hidden or used to mislead. This includes information that has been hidden or misleading for centuries, and exposure now discredits the 'offender' so the party wanting to lobby them has an additional bargaining tool to achieve their desired aim.
Thus, is the hiding or misleading of key information to achieve aims in need of change or removal because access to information is so readily achievable now? Alternatively, does the level of encryption, secrecy, deception etc now have to be lifted even higher?
Furthermore and probably not practical, why hide or mislead on anything now and just tell the truth?
Submission details are given below. Topics for submissions to this mini track may include, but are not limited to:
§Changes in societal information culture
§The dilemmas facing the propaganda, encryption, secrecy and/or deception world
§Improved use of information by governments, alliance and corporates
§Increasing secrecy and/or deception
§Increased exposure or collaboration on information sharing
§Other topics
For mini track submission details, see the Call for Papers page
Mini Track on Linguistic Analysis, Discourses and Narratives of Western Military Organizations
Mini Track Co-Chairs: Professor Aki-Mauri Huhtinen, Marja Härmänmaa, Marja Vuorinen and Saara Jantunen, University of Helsinki, Finland
Aki-Mauri Huhtinen
Marja Vuorinen
Marja Härmänmaa
Saara Jantunen
This track examines the information age representations of war in political rhetoric and technological syntax. The track focuses on the actors in information warfare, namely how states and enterprises construct identities that legitimize participation in conflicts unrelated to the actor. A special emphasis is placed on the construction of nationalist discourse and myths through historic analogies, metaphors and value assignment, and purposeful discourses of enmity.
The function of eye has become the function of weapons. There is no war without representation, no sophisticated weaponry without psychological mystification.
Submission details are given below. Topics for submissions to this mini track may include, but are not limited to:
§Different concepts of the enemy.
§Strategic Communications and Information Operations, such as a large media corporation.
§The different kinds of military narratives and discourses in texts, pictures and social media.
§Concepts, categories and typologies of enmity - theoretical or case-oriented approaches.
§Poor people as a target of risk and business threat.
§The so called hate texts and speeches.
For mini track submission details, see the Call for Papers page
Mini Track on Cyber Conflict
Mini Track Chair: Debi Ashenden,DefenceAcademy, Cranfield University, UK
Debi Ashenden
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There have been a number of calls recently for research, debate and public engagement on cyber conflict in order to better understand the domain.Even deciding on the title for this track is problematic – should it be called cyber security or cyber war?In the end we’ve opted for cyber conflict to encompass both but no doubt views will differ and we would like to give those views an airing.
The argument is made that without such discussion any policy formulated will be narrow and short-term.There is a recognised need for research that crosses disciplinary boundaries if we are to develop an intellectual framework for discussing cyber conflict.The aim of this track is to stimulate discussion, to start to explore strategic issues and to encourage debate that crosses legal, political, ethical and technological disciplines.
Current topics for submissions to this mini track may include, but are not limited to:
§The lexicon of Cyber
§The problem of attribution
§The differences between attack and exploitation
§Citizen involvement and patriotic hackers
§International partnerships
For mini track submission details, see the Call for Papers page
Publication opportunity
Papers accepted for the conference will be published in the conference proceedings, subject to author registration.
Selected papers presented at the Conference will be considered for publication in a special issue of the Journal of Information Warfare: http://www.jinfowar.com .
Click on the icon to view a complimentary .PDF version of the latest issue of the Journal of Information Warfare.
