Online Conference on Buddhism and Human Rights

[d.keown at gold.ac.uk]

On-line Conference on Buddhism and Human Rights

The Journal of Buddhist Ethics is considering whether to host an
on-line "virtual" conference on Buddhism and Human Rights, and
invites your comments and suggestions.
 
The conference would follow the pattern of a traditional academic
conference in that it would have a limited duration (perhaps five
days to two weeks), papers would be presented, there would be panel
discussions, and the opportunity to ask questions from the floor.
The main difference would be that since the conference center is a
virtual one no-one would make a journey to attend.
 
In deciding whether not to go ahead with the conference the editors
would be grateful for feedback on the following points:
 
1) Would you be interested in presenting a paper?
 
Papers will be published electronically in a special edition of the
JBE in advance of the conference. Plain text (ASCII) and hypertext
(WWW) versions of the papers will be available. The editors will also
explore the possibility of publishing the conference proceedings in
book form in partnership with a traditional press. The subject matter
of the papers may be of a social, political, or philosophical nature
and deal with contemporary or historical themes in the general field
of Buddhist Studies. Papers should be around 5,000 words in length.
 
2) Would you be interested in joining a panel?
 
The function of a panelist is to comment on the papers presented and
participate in general discussion about Buddhism and human rights.
Panelists may be academics, politicians, representatives of human
rights organizations, or individuals who have knowledge or experience
of human-rights problems and abuses in Buddhist cultures.
 
3) Would you "tune in" to the conference proceedings?
 
Whether or not you present a paper or join a panel you are welcome to
"attend" the conference free of charge. The conference will be a
public one on the list JBE-L. Anyone can "attend" the conference by
subscribing to the list, and can unsubscribe when the conference ends.
Comments can be made, and questions put to the authors of the papers
and to the panel. All comments from the "floor" will be moderated to
minimise duplication.
 
So far as we are aware this would be the first on-line conference of
its kind, and the editors would like to assess the degree of interest
in such a project before deciding to proceed further.
 
Please send any comments you might have to:
 
jbe-ed at psu.edu
 
and NOT to the list on which this message appears.
 
Sincerely,
The Editors
Journal of Buddhist Ethics

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Damien Keown
Department of Historical & Cultural Studies
Univerity of London, Goldsmiths
London SE14 6NW
d.keown at gold.ac.uk
voice: [44] 0171 919 7171
fax: [44] 0171 919 7398
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