ICA Political Communication Graduate Student Preconference

Sponsoring Division: Political Communication

Aims: 

The preconference goals include providing guidance, feedback, and professional socialization to political communication graduate students at the advanced master's and doctoral levels, introducing graduate students to ICA and inviting them to take part in the academic discourse on political communication through ICA, and cultivating a network among young political communication scholars. To achieve these goals, the preconference will bring together a select group of graduate students working on political communication projects and provide them with the opportunity to present and discuss their projects in a constructive atmosphere. The preconference will also address common issues graduate students face, including working toward publication and building a c.v.

The event will take place at LSE in London, very close to the ICA conference venue, on Monday June 17, 2013.

Submission guidelines are here:  http://www.icahdq.org/conf/2013/policommgrad.asp 

The deadline for submissions is January 3, 2013. 

Acceptance and rejection decisions will go out on February 15, 2013.

Preconference Committee:

Claes de Vreese (University of Amsterdam), Jesper Stromback (Mid Sweden University), Magdalena Wojcieszak (IE University Madrid), and Yariv Tsfati (University of Haifa)

Holbert recognized by NCA, ICA

In other conference related news, our own Lance Holbert has been recognized by both the National Communication Association and the International Communication Association.  He's been named the Teacher of the Year by the NCA's Mass Communication Division, and he's been elected Vice-Chair of ICA's Mass Communication Division.  Congratulations, Lance!

COPS at NCA 2012

COPS is well represented at this year’s meeting of the National Communication Association (NCA). COPS members have three papers in the political communication division, including two on the top-paper panel, and two more in mass communication. If you're in Orlando this November, I hope you'll consider attending these talks!

Political Communication Division

Garrett, R. K., & Stroud, N. J. (2012). Decoupling selective approach and selective avoidance. Paper to be presented at the Annual Conference of the National Communication Association, Orlando, FL. Top Faculty Paper Panel, Political Communication Division.

Peifer, J.T. (2012, November). Palin, Saturday Night Live, and framing: Examining the dynamics of political parody. Paper to be presented at the Annual Conference of the National Communication Association, Orlando, FL.

Quenette, A. M. (2012, November). The kids just aren't right: A mediation model to identify factors that explain why young adults don't consume political news. Paper to be presented at the Annual Conference of the National Communication Association. Top Faculty Paper Panel, Political Communication Division.

Mass Communication Division

Brookes, S. E., Ellithorpe, M. E., & Ewoldsen, D. R. (2012). Looking at the bigger picture: Construal level as a moderator of cultivation effects. Paper to be presented at the Annual Conference of the National Communication Association (Mass Communication Division), Orlando, FL.

Ellithorpe, M. E., & Ewoldsen, D. R. (2012). Media as moral socialization agent: How media can promote empathy and cognitive moral development. Paper to be presented at the Annual Conference of the National Communication Association (Mass Communication Division), Orlando, FL.

Alyssa Morey heading to Albany

Congratulations to Alyssa Morey, who has recently accepted a position of Assistant Professor at the University at Albany (formerly known as State University of New York at Albany). Alyssa will join another COPS alumnus, Mihye Seo, on the Communication faculty there.

Neuman on communication's "evolving paradigm" on 10/1

Professor W. Russell Neuman, the John Derby Evans Professor of Media Technology at the University of Michigan, will be giving a talk on October 1 at 11:30am in JR106.  His presentation, "The Evolving Paradigm of Communication Research", considers the theoretical and methodological implications of the digital media environment.  The talk is part of the School's weekly colloquium.

ABSTRACT:

There has been a flurry of attention in recent years to the question of whether the changing digital media environment will require communication researchers to recalibrate their theories and methods.  Cass Sunstein, for example, ominously warns of a new form of online political polarization.  Markus Prior is concerned about political disengagement in a high-choice media environment.  Lance Bennett and Shanto Iyengar ask if we need to reassess the phenomenon of selective attention.

I am going to make the argument that we need more than a minor recalibration.  It may turn out to be better characterized as an evolving paradigm rather than a paradigm shift.  But at this point in the history of the field such questions need to be addressed.  I start with a brief excursion into the origins of the traditional effects research paradigm derived from the study of propaganda following the Second World War.  I contend that the phony debate over big versus minimal effects has been a major theoretical distraction.  I put forward the case that the critically important issues of informational abundance and also the intrinsically polysemic character of media messages have not yet been fully integrated into communication theory and research methods.  I propose that new analytics addressing “big data” and over-time measurement strategies offer special promise to reenergize and modestly redirect the research enterprise in the digital era.

Hoffman Hits the Democratic Convention

COPS alum Lindsay Hoffman, now assistant professor at the University of Delaware, recently shared this photo of her with VP Joe Biden from the Democratic National Convention. Lindsay is attending the convention through her position as Research Coordinator for Politics and Technology at the University of Delaware Center for Political Communication. Looks like fun Lindsay!

News for those interested in Agent-Based Modeling (relevant to matters included but not limited to social network analysis):

Dear All,

Virginia Nivar is offering a new course - Introduction to Agent-Based Modeling Using NetLogo - this Autumn 2012 (https://complexity.osu.edu/news/agent-based-modeling-course-offered-autumn). This course is recommended for undergraduates and graduate students interested in modeling complex systems. You can can register now!

Introduction to Agent-Based Modeling Using NetLogo
Integrated Biomedical Science (IBGP) 5194-0010
Instructor: Virginia A. Nivar
virginia.nivar@osumc.edu
Syllabus:  Autumn, 2012
Tuesdays and Thursday, 7:05-8:25PM
285 Baker Systems Engineering

Best,

Mark

Dr. Mark Moritz

Assistant Professor

Department of Anthropology
The Ohio State University

House Republicans Pass Bill to Defund Political Science Research at the National Science Foundation

House Republicans passed a bill to specifically (and only) defund the political science grant program at the National Science Foundation. Political communication scholars in all fields should be concerned about this development, as this act severely hampers funding for key research resources such as the American National Election Studies, the General Social Survey, and many other sources of political communication data.

See the post at the Monkey Cage for more information

Congratulations to former (and "original") COPS member and current University of Delaware assistant professor Dr. Lindsay Hoffman for receiving an advising award for her work in the Department of Communication. Way to go Lindsay -- we're all very proud of you! http://www.udel.edu/udaily/2012/may/excellence050912.html

ICA student travel grants deadline 2/20

ICA's political communication division offers travel grants to help students offset the cost of the conference. The deadline to apply is Monday, February 20. For more information, see the division's blog: http://politicalcommunicationdivisions.blogspot.com/2012/01/ica-student-travel-grant.html.

Merolla and Zechmeister to speak on terrorism and public opinion

Jennifer Merolla and Elizabeth Zechmeister will speak about "Terrorist Threat and Democratic Public Opinion" at 3:30 p.m. Friday (2/3) at the Mershon Center for International Security Studies, 1501 Neil Ave. Merolla is associate professor of politics and policy at Claremont Graduate University. Zechmeister is associate professor of political science and associate director of the Latin American Public Opinion Project (LAPOP) at Vanderbilt University. They are co-authors of Democracy at Risk: How Terrorist Threats Affect the Public (Chicago, 2009). The book examines how worry about terrorism alters individual attitudes toward others in society, their evaluations of political leaders, and their foreign policy preferences. To register, contact powers.108 [ at ] osu.edu by Thursday (2/2).

What makes a good review

There's a great post on orgtheory.net that is relevant to our topic today. Titled "the editors speak: what makes a good review", the post includes observations, recommendations, and wish lists from 11 past and current editors of major journals, including the American Sociological Review, Administrative Science Quarterly, and others. Although neither communication nor political science journals are represented, most of the advice offered transcend disciplinary boundaries. I highly recommend reading it.

http://orgtheory.wordpress.com/2011/05/31/the-editors-speak-what-makes-a-good-review/

Symposium to examine Arab Spring revolution in Egypt

The Mershon Center is starting off the new year with a two high-level visitors from Egypt who will be giving us the inside scoop on the Arab Spring revolution during a two-part event on Monday, January 9. See the announcement below:

Please register now for a two-part symposium on "Egypt and the Arab Spring Revolution" to take place on Monday, January 9, 2012. First, Gouda Abdel-Khalek, Egyptian minister of supply and domestic trade and professor of economics at Cairo University, will speak at noon about "The Political Economy of Egypt and the Arab Spring: International Support Packages" at the Mershon Center for International Security Studies, 1501 Neil Ave. To register, contact powers.108@osu.edu. Then, Karima Korayem,professor of economics at Al-Azhar University, will speak at 5 p.m. about "The Challenges of the Arab Spring Revolution in Egypt" at the Barrister Club, 25 W. 11th Ave., with discussion by Gouda Abdel-Khalek and Hassan Aly, professor of economics at Ohio State. Register at http://karimakorayem.eventbrite.com.

Still Time to Submit to CY

Deadline Approaching: Communication Yearbook 37A Publication of the International Communication Association

Editor: Elisia L. Cohen

CY 37 is a forum for the exchange of interdisciplinary and internationally diverse scholarship relating to communication in its many forms. Specifically, we are seeking state-of-the-discipline literature reviews, meta-analyses, and essays that advance knowledge and understanding of communication systems, processes, and impacts. Submitted manuscripts should provide a rigorous assessment of the status, critical issues and needed directions of a theory or body of research; offer new communication theory or additional insights into communication systems, processes, policies and impacts; and/or expand the boundaries of the discipline. In all cases, submissions should be comprehensive and thoughtful in their synthesis and analysis, and situate a body of scholarship within a larger intellectual context. For CY 37, the editorial board also welcomes commentary and essays that advance knowledge and understanding of communication research methodologies and applications.

Details

• Submit manuscripts electronically via a Word attachment to Elisia L. Cohen, Editor, at CommYear@uky.edu
• Submissions for CY 37 will be considered from October 15, 2011 through February 15, 2012
• Use APA style, 6th edition
• Include a cover letter indicating how the manuscript addresses the CY 37 call for papers
• Prepare manuscripts for blind review, removing all identifiers
• Include a title page as a separate document that includes contact information for all authors
• Following Communication Yearbook's tradition of considering lengthier manuscripts, initial manuscript submissions may range from 6,500 to 13,000 words (including tables, endnotes, references).
• Incomplete submissions not adhering to journal guidelines will be returned to authors for revision.
• For more information about CY 37 or this call for submissions, please contact Dr. Cohen at commyear@uky.edu.