NSF awards $10 million for American National Election Studies

The American National Election Studies (ANES) is one of the most important tools for political communication research in the United States.  The project has collected data on voting, political behavior, and public opinion in every presidential election since 1948, as well as most midterm elections.  The NSF just awarded $10 million to the project for the 2010 midterm and 2012 presidential elections which will allow the project to futher expand its data collection capabilities. This is great news for political communication researchers!

TODAY: Talk by democratic theorist Mark Warren

Democratic theorist Mark Warren is giving a talk at 2:30 this afternoon (2/19) titled "Two trust-based uses of minipublics in democratic systems". The talk is sponsored by the Department of Political Science and will be held in Derby 2030. More information about Professor Warren is available here: http://www.politics.ubc.ca/index.php?id=2516 and a paper on the same subject is here: http://psweb.sbs.ohio-state.edu/intranet/poltheory/papers-2010/warren-Dec-2009.pdf

COPS ICA Achievements

COPS members obtained a 100% acceptance rate for papers submitted for presentation at the upcoming annual meeting of the International Communication Association (ICA) to be held this June in Singapore. The acceptance rate for the conference as a whole was substantially lower, 54%. Congrats to all COPS authors! Outstanding work! COPS members Holbert, Garrett, Geidner, and Hill will be attending the conference, and it appears that they will be quite busy during their time abroad.

Here is the list of accepted works (alphabetical order):

Garrett, R. K. (2010). The troubling consequences of online election rumoring. Paper accepted for presentation at the upcoming annual meeting of the International Communication Association, Singapore.

Geidner, N. W. (2010). Perceived network connection: Measuring individual-level connection to voluntary groups. Paper accepted for presentation at the upcoming annual meeting of the International Communication Association, Singapore.

Holbert, R. L. & Geidner, N. W. (2010). A theory of political campaign media connectedness (PCMC), part II: Clarifying the roles of debate viewing and online media. Paper accepted for presentation at the upcoming annual meeting of the International Communication Association, Singapore.

Holbert, R. L., & Hill, M. R. (2010). The promotion of the American cable TV news personality and its influences. Paper accepted for presentation at the upcoming annual meeting of the International Communication Association, Singapore.

Kline, S., & Hill, M. R. "Editorial Inkblots: A Comparative Analysis of Presidential Election Cartoons from 1960, 1980, and 2008." Paper accepted for presentation at the upcoming annual meeting of the International Communication Association, Singapore.

Matthes, J., Hayes, A. F., Rojas, H., Shen, F., Min, S. J., & Dylko, I. (2010). Testing the spiral of silence theory in nine countries: An individual difference perspective. Paper accepted for presentation at the upcoming annual meeting of the International Communication Association, Singapore.

Slater, M. D., & Gleason, L. S. (2010). Theory Development Strategies in Communication Science. Paper accepted for presentation at the upcoming annual meeting of the International Communication Association, Singapore.

Sohn, D. & Geidner, N. W. (2010). Collective dynamics of the spiral of silence: The role of quasi-statistical monitoring. Paper accepted for presentation at the upcoming annual meeting of the International Communication Association, Singapore.

COPS Alum Lindsay Hoffman Making Her Mark at University of Delaware

OSU COPS alumnus Lindsay Hoffman was recently named the Coordinator of Research in Politics and Technology for the new Center for Political Communication just established at UD (www.udel.edu/cpc). She will be coordinating research funding for faculty and students, as well as organizing scholarly and public presentations of research associated with the Center. Moreover, Dr. Hoffman is co-P.I. on a $50,000 grant from the University of Delaware Interdisciplinary Humanities Research Center for a project titled: “Political Communication and Engagement in the 21st Century.” http://www.udel.edu/udaily/2010/dec/ihrc121409.html

COPS Winter 2010 Schedule of Events

1-8 Teresa Myers Job Talk

1-22 Erik Nisbet, “Anti-Americanism as Media Effect? Media selection, exposure and public opinion about the United States in the Middle East”

2-5 Ivan Dylko, “Explicating Political User-Generated Content and Theorizing About Its Effects on Democracy Using Mix-of-Attributes Approach”

2-19 Discussion of series of Journal of Communication works on the future of political communication effects research:

• Bennett, W. L., & Iyengar, S. (2008). A new era of minimal effects? The changing foundations of political communication. Journal of Communication, 58, 707-731.
• Holbert, R. L., Garrett, R. K., & Gleason, L. S. (2010). A new era of minimal effects? A response to Bennett and Iyengar. Journal of Communication, 60, 15-34.
• Bennett, W. L., & Iyengar, S. (2010).The shifting foundations of political communication: Responding to a defense of the media effects paradigm. Journal of Communication, 60, XX-XX.

3-5 Jay Hmielowski, “Developing a Measure of Affinity for Political Humor” and Megan Hill, “Striking Similarities: Making the Match between Cable TV News Personalities and Interpersonal Communication Style”

3-12 Visitation Day for Prospective Graduate Students for Incoming 2010-2011 class

Recent COPS Alumnus Heather LaMarre Inaugural AEJMC Scholar

Congratulations to Heather LaMarre (Assistant Professor, University of Minnesota; PhD, OSU, 2009) for being among the inaugural recipients of the AEJMC Scholars Program. LaMarre's project, "Citizen Journalism and Social Media in the 2010 Election: A Multi-Method Approach to Understanding Emerging Trends and Innovations in Mass Communication Campaigns" has been funded with $2500 through the program.

Landreville accepts University of Wyoming position

I am pleased to announce that PhD candidate and COPS member Kristen Landreville has accepted a tenure-track assistant professor position in the Department of Communication and Journalism at the University of Wyoming. Kristen will continue with us at The Ohio State University as she finishes up her dissertation through the upcoming Winter and Spring quarters, but will then be heading out West to begin her career. Please join me in offering Kristen our best wishes. Congrats, Kristen!

Poli Comm @ AEJMC

AEJMC tweeted the following last night:

"AEJMC has also approved the creation of a Political Communication Interest Group to start in October 2010."

A sport communication interest group was also created.

LaMarre and Landreville Manuscript Published in Mass Communication & Society

The Autumn 2009 issue of the journal Mass Communication & Society just crossed my desk. In it is an interesting paper by COPS alumnus and current University of Minnesota professor Heather LaMarre and COPS' own Kristen Landreville. Their paper, "When is Fiction as Good as Fact? Comparing the Influence of Documentary and Historical Reenactment Films on Engagement, Affect, Issue Interest, and Learning" is part of a special symposium in the issue on documentary films. Congratulations Heather and Kristen!

A Whirly MAPOR

COPS members returned from the Midwest Association for Public Opinion Research (MAPOR) conference in Chicago this past weekend a little smarter -- and a little sore. In addition to the usual attendance at sessions and making paper presentations, some of us made a brief side trip Friday evening to play a game of "Whirlyball." I've appended a few photos below; in the photos are Kim Rios Morrison, Elizabeth Stoycheff, Whitney Walther, Katie Benski, and Ivan Dylko; other attendees were COPS members John Tchernev, Kyle Messer, and myself. Everyone had lots of fun playing Whirlyball -- despite issues of whiplash! Also, Ivan Dylko made an important impact with his presentation -- generating a posting on the Media Convergence blog acknowledging his contribution.

Hayes and Myers podcast from Boston University

COPS members Andrew Hayes and Teresa Myers were interviewed last week by Boston University's Jim Shanahan (Professor of Communication) about their two recent studies on war casualties and public opinion. The podcast can be listened to online or downloaded from iTunes. Click here.

Nov. 23: U.S. Census Bureau director to address Faculty Club gathering

Robert M. Groves, director, U.S. Census Bureau will deliver "An Overview of the 2010 Decennial Census" from 1:30-2:30 p.m. Monday (11/23) at the Faculty Club Grand Lounge. President Gee will introduce Groves, who will speak briefly about the upcoming census, then take questions from the audience. The reception is open to the community, and is presented by the Initiative in Population Research and the John Glenn School of Public Affairs. Light refreshments will be served. Read more: http://ipr.osu.edu/announcements/events/

COPS Faculty panelists on "Informing Communities: Sustaining Democracy in the Digital Age"

Two COPS faculty, Dr. Michael McCluskey and Dr. Osei Appiah, are panelists for "Informing Communities: Sustaining Democracy in the Digital Age," a symposium being held at the OSU Moritz School of Law on Friday, November 20th. The symposium is sponsored by Literacy Studies at OSU and will discuss the Report of the Knight Commission on the Information Needs of Communities in Democracy (see www.knightcomm.org for more information). Dr. McCluskey will be on a panel discussing "Maximizing the Availability of Relevant and Credible Information" and Dr. Appiah will be on a panel focused on "Enhancing the Information Capacity of Individuals."

COPS members head northwest to Chicago this week to attend the Midwestern Association for Public Opinion Research meeting. Those who attend the conference will see us bring the same kind of enthusiasm and excitement to Chicago as we brought to Ohio Stadium this weekend. Pictured here are COPS members Tucker Gordner (O), Chip Eveland (H), Andrew Hayes (I), and John Tchernev (O) after OSU beats Iowa to secure an invitation to the 2010 Rose Bowl.

OSU - Iowa Bet is On

COPS members, the stakes for the OSU - Iowa game this weekend just got bigger. Not only will this game determine whether OSU or Iowa will represent the Big 10 in the Rose Bowl, but there is also public humiliation (or at least embarrassment) on the line. Please see above the wager I've made with friend Julie Andsager, Professor at the University of Iowa. In short, the loser must wear some team apparel of the winning team during a MAPOR presentation, and photos will be taken and publicly displayed. Since I have absolutely no desire to wear Iowa gear next week, please devote all your cognitive engergy to support a Buckeye win on Satursday. GO BUCKS! P.S. Here's a link to Dhavan Shah of UW-Madison wearing an OSU cap to teach his class after losing a similar bet a few years ago.