IAMCR Newsletter | April 2015
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ANZCA: Annual conference and new journal
This year will be a pivotal one for ANZCA; the Executive has spent a lot of time reflecting on the opportunities that the Association can provide members and a number of exciting ventures are underway.
In July, ANZCA will present its annual conference in Queenstown, New Zealand, a stunning background for the fantastic program of events planned. ANZCA 2015: Rethinking Communication, Space and Identity will be held from 8-10 July with postgraduate and early career researchers welcome to join the free pre-conference event on 7 July. Five great keynote speakers will present at the conference, including: Professor François Cooren from the University of Montreal, Professor Steven Livingston from the George Washington University, Professor Caroline Haythornthwaite from the University of British Columbia, Prof Katharine Sarikakis from the University of Vienna and Julian Carver, the manager of Canterbury Spatial Data Infrastructure at Land Information New Zealand. The keynote program will also include a special presentation and workshop on communicating science from Amanda McKenzie, chief executive of the Australian Climate Council.
The conference convenors Donald Matheson and Michael Bourk have been doing a wonderful job of organising this year’s conference. They have three $500 bursaries to award, in addition to prizes for best papers at the conference. They are also offering opportunities to publish great conference papers. There’s even a ski deal conference attendees can take advantage of at nearby Coronet Peak for the weekend after the conference! You can find more information about registrations here: www.arts.canterbury.ac.nz/conferences/anzca/
The second exciting announcement for 2015 is the launch of ANZCA’s new journal, Communication Research and Practice. I can confirm that the first issue will be available from May 2015 and will be promoted widely at the 2015 ICA conference in San Juan, as well as the ANZCA conference in Queenstown. Some of the fantastic authors in the first issue of the new journal include Robert Picard, John Hartley and Rowan Wilken and we hope that ANZCA members will be able to enjoy hard copy and online access to the journal before and during the Queenstown conference. My congratulations and thanks to Editor Terry Flew, who has worked tirelessly to deliver a journal with international scope, great content and academic quality.
Finally, 2015 will be an important year for the Association to look for ways to improve the benefits and opportunities it provides to members. In December 2014, ANZCA launched a survey of past, current and prospective members. The data we collect will allow us to create new strategies in 2015 to ensure we continue to support researchers in our discipline with initiatives that are relevant to members and remain an important voice in our community of scholars and professionals. If you’re a memberIf you're a member we encourage you to have your voice heard by particpating in this survey! If you're not a member -tell us why!
It will take between 5-10 minutes to complete and responses will remain anonymous. We encourage you to have your voice heard by participating in the survey. If you’re not a member –complete the survey and tell us why! The survey will take no more than 10 minutes to complete and can be found here: https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/YJFCW66
If you are thinking of joining ANZCA you can read more about the benefits of membership and fees hereAlready the data that we have compiled has allowed us to think about launching some exciting new initiatives, including free events for members. Stay tuned to the ANZCA member email list or ‘like’ ANZCA on Facebook to make sure you don’t miss out on all the new announcements! There are a lot of new developments to be announced in 2015 – the to do list has never been longer for the Association, but it’s never been a better time to be a member!: If you would like to join or renew for 2015, you can register online at www.anzca.net.au/.
Diana Bossio
ALAIC: New Committee
In August 2014, during the biannual Congress of Latinoamerican Communication Researchers (ALAIC), held in Lima Peru, the new Committee of the Association was installed (www.alaic.net; http: //alaic2014/blogspot.com). The new Committee has noted the need to consolidate what has been done so far by ALAIC during 48 years, developing an agenda for inclusive discussion and communication on regional issues.
We outline some activities made by the new Committee:
- The ALAIC book: Latin America's contribution to the field of communication. History, theoretical, epistemological and research trends, coordinated by César Bolaño, Delia Crovi Druetta and Gustavo Cimadevilla, is in the final editing stage.
- Summer School 2015 Communication Research in Latin America, was held in late March in the city of Brasilia, Brazil. Aimed at graduate students from the region, its purpose is to become a permanent space for learning and dialogue, changing host countries annually to discuss particular national realities.
- VIII ALAIC Research Seminar: Comunication, Culture and Challenges of contemporaneity, to be held in San Juan, Puerto Rico, from 25 to 27 May at The Universidad Metropolitana (UMET)
- Panel ALAIC-IAMCR Communication, Hegemony, and Power: Latin American perspectives, to be held in Montreal, Canada, next July. It seeks to stimulate debate about science communication in Latin America, within the international congress of IAMCR.
- VIII ALAIC Research Seminar (Southern Region) Policies, actors and practices of communication: crossroads of research, organized by the School of Information Sciences, National University of Córdoba. Will take place in Argentina on 27 and 28 August 2015 (alaic2015@eci.unc.edu.ar).
ALAIC is also preparing a regional journal, an online journal, a blog and a web site with which seeks to maintain an open dialogue with its partners, to stimulate discussion and explore joint research areas. In this context, the important roles of ALAIC highlighted: to build bridges of collaboration so that communication associations across the various regions of the world, may exchange productions, ideas and knowledge.
AMIC: The 'City of Now' to host AMIC 2015
Keynote addresses from a CNN anchor and an Annenberg School Professor will launch this year’s international conference of the Asian Media Information and Communication Centre (AMIC).
The 24th AMIC event, to be held in Dubai, known as the ‘City of Now’, features major keynotes from CNN and former CNBC anchor and Middle East media specialist, Erin Burnett, and Professor Philip Seib, Vice-Dean and Professor of Journalism and Public Diplomacy at the Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism, University of Southern California. They will explore the subject of Communicating across Cultures in an e-world: Professional and academic experiences.
This year’s AMIC conference is hosted by the Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum School for Communication at the American University in Dubai (AUD), United Arab Emirates and has the overarching theme Communicating in an e-Asia: Values, Technologies and Challenges.
Following a very successful global ‘call for papers’, more than 200 delegates are expected to make peer-reviewed presentations at the conference. Major plenary sessions, break-outs and a variety of other professional and academic activities will ensure that participants enjoy wide-ranging networking and scholarly experiences.
The prestigious AMIC Distinguished Forum, to be held on the first day of the conference after the official opening ceremony, features IAMCR President, Dr. Janet Wasko from the USA, and President-elect of the International Communication Association, Professor Ang Peng Hwa from Singapore. They will be joined by professionals and academics from the Middle East, South and Central Asia. The subject under discussion is Communication and Media Education in an ‘e-Century’: Future Perspectives, Opportunities and Challenges.
The conference runs from 10th-13th June, 2015 and will be held on the AUD campus in Dubai the ‘City of Now’. IAMCR’s Vice-President, Associate Professor Pradip Thomas from Australia, has also been invited by AMIC to attend the conference and will speak in the UNESCO Emeritus Dialogue plenary. More conference details at:
http://www.aud.edu/mohammed_bin_rashid_for_communication/en/page/3615/amic-2015?sub=13791&show_title=1&new_frame=1