The Participatory Communication Research (PCR) section will have a section programme featuring 25 panels for the annual conference of International Association for Media and Communication Research (IAMCR) to be held from 16-20 July, 2017 in Cartagena, Colombia.
Panels and Papers – The numbers
The PCR section was successful in attracting good quality abstracts for both individual papers and panel proposals for IAMCR 2017. The section invited 93 proposals (out of which 85 were individual presentations and 8 joint panel proposals incorporating 37 papers), selected after a rigorous blind double peer review process. Out of the 122 invited papers, 111 (including a keynote paper) confirmed their participation at the conference and are now a part of the PCR section’s conference programme. The success of receiving a large number of high quality abstracts also means that it is necessary for the PCR section to go in for two parallel flows during the conference. The programme is thematically divided in 25 panels - eight of which are original panel proposals, and 16 have been constructed based on the thematic affinity of the papers. One panel is a business meeting for the PCR section management. Thirteen public panels are in English, 2 panels are in Spanish and the rest are mixed language panels (English & Spanish). The 90-minute panels are efficiently divided with an average slot occupation of 4.78 presenters per PCR section panel.
Thematic affinity of the panels
The 24 panels (excluding the business meeting) now featuring 111 paper presentations have been built on the basis of thematic affinity – encompassing a wide range of issues addressed by the Participatory Communication Research section of the IAMCR. Language was only used as secondary criterion to cluster the papers based on the strong belief that content should get priority and that the panels should bring together people that work on the same issues, whatever the language of the presentation might be. The PCR section has also developed a language facilitation strategy and is striving to provide as many language facilitators as possible during a panel to overcome the challenges of mixed language panels.
The panels titles include (but are not limited to) Participation as a struggle and struggle for participation, Participation and the Urban, Participatory Public Spaces, Political Participation, Online Media and Participation, Future trajectories for Participatory research. The panels truly reflect the PCR section's mandate of addressing issues related to communication between community members and other stakeholders that are engaged in processes of social change. Further, two panels at the PCR section are co-sponsored by other sections and working groups of the IAMCR. These are Participation and the Environment, co-sponsored by the Environment, Science and Risk Communication (ESR) working group and Participation and Organisation - Civil Society and Community Media co-sponsored by Community Communication and Alternative Media (COC) Section of IAMCR. The PCR section will also co-sponsor another panel in the COC section.
Optimizing presentations in a panel
The PCR section programme strives to achieve panels with five paper presentations. The PCR section believes this to be the optimal number of presentations in a panel and serve to maximize the potential of dialog and interaction within the panel, while simultaneously planning ahead for the last-minute cancellations which will affect some of the panels. In a few cases we have placed 6 presentations in one panel (only when there is a strong thematic affinity between the presentations). In a number of cases, we also have 4 presentations in a panel, but these are either original proposals where panel convenors do not wish to have other presenters, or are panels with a strong thematic fit and will play an agenda-setting role in the particular sub-field of Participatory Communication Research.