The mission of this Section is to provide opportunities and venues for association by all those who are interested in the broadest issues and problems of global communication. The limitations to communication across distance have been displaced, but in their place are new challenges and opportunities. Within the International Communication Section are colleagues who are interested in the intersection of globalisation and media, including, for example, issues of information flow, freedom of expression, global media ethics, the media’s role in foreign diplomacy, media and diaspora, global literature and other arts, science communication, etc. Active participation is invited from academics and professionals who seek to associate with those with interests in these and related subjects.
Section Head: Herman Wasserman [contact]
Section Vice-Head: Tania Rosas Moreno[contact]
Section Vice-Head: Karen Arriaza Ibarra [contact]
This Section is interested in the broad issues and problems of global communication. These include the intersection of globalisation and media, issues of information flow, freedom of expression, global media ethics, the media’s role in foreign diplomacy, media and diaspora, global literature and other arts, science communication, etc. This section considers the role of the media in constructing a sense of community including the development of virtual communities and the uses of new media, their implications for organisations and employment, the construction of audiences.
The mission of the International Communication Section is to provide opportunities and venues for association by all those who are interested in the broadest issues and problems of global communication. The limitations to communication across distance have been displaced, but in their place are new challenges and opportunities. Within the International Communication Section are colleagues who are interested in the intersection of globalization and media, including, for example, issues of information flow, freedom of expression, global media ethics, the media’s role in foreign diplomacy, media and diaspora, global literature and other arts, science communication, etc. Active participation is invited from academics and professionals who seek to associate with those with interests in these and other subjects.
A key theme that appears in the Section’s work is the role of the media in constructing a sense of community both on and offline. The development of virtual communities linked mainly via the Internet and involving small enterprises and large ones as well as the use of new media applications as SUS is examined as is the changing nature of communication within and between organizations and the implications for employment relationships. The content of the media in constructing conceptions of international, regional and national audiences also is investigated.
Policy is a key consideration in this Section particularly with respect to the development of infrastructure such as cable networks or applications such as Internet-based email. More generally, the Section has a long-standing interest in international debates ranging from those in the 1960s and 70s about the requirements for a new world information and communication order (NWICO) to those underway today in the context of the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS).
The relationships between the production and consumption of the media, and especially the role of journalists, within efforts to sustain or build democratic processes are a central interest in this Section. Research focuses on aspects of the press, the role of the state, the potential for new spaces for the expression of voice and the tensions between local and global discourses and narratives concerning conflicts in various regions of the world.
Couple with these areas, some researchers have a strong interest in – and to offer critiques of – mainstream views of the globalization process, paying attention to the interests of stakeholders internationally and in local settings. The role of audience and media producers in constructing meaning and perceptions of issues from HIV/AIDS to SARS are also of interest to this Section.