Temple University in Philadelphia, PA hosted the 2016 Global Fusion conference.
In light of Philadelphia’s recent naming as the United States’s first World Heritage City, this year’s conference theme is media and the global city. The theme encompasses — but is not limited to — considerations of urban (sub)cultures, patterns of media engagement in urban spaces, urban centers as nodes of the global/local nexus, narratives of the city, or processes of civic engagement, networking and protest in urban communication.
Prof. Kapatamoyo presented his research paper entitled “Zero Rating and the Disappearance of Disappearance in Developing Nations” at the 2016 Global Fusion conference held at Temple University on October 22nd, 2016.
Zero Rating is a pricing mechanism (or sponsored data plans) used by telecommunication carriers or internet service providers (ISPs) on one hand, and content providers such as Facebook and Google on another. Customers in many developing countries enjoy exemptions from data charges by the carriers and ISPs. The paper compares regulatory frameworks from selected countries that address the how the above exchange disadvantages customers. Further, the research notes the limited political and administrative commitment to and capacity for effective regulation in developing nations fails to protect consumers’ privacy rights.
Dr. Baasanjav also presented at the conference paper titled “Language Diversity Policies and Praxis in Cyberspace.” Her research explores language diversity policies and praxis in cyberspace by comparing two major developments–International Domain Names (IDNs) and Google Translate in relation to the recent so-called IANA (Internet Assigned Numbers Authority) transition of 2016 that ended the control of the U.S. government over ICANN.
Communiqué 