New Library website

Graham Walden, the Communication Librarian, has created an OSU Library web page dedicated to survey research.  The page includes many of the resources that we discussed in COPS a couple years ago.  You can find it here:

http://library.osu.edu/find/subjects/survey-research/

Update on PolNet Conference

Scott McClurg

1:29pm Feb 8

DEADLINE FOR POLNET 13 HAS BEEN EXTENDED!

"Important Announcements Regarding the 6th Annual Political Networks Conference and Workshops, June 26-29 in Bloomington, IN:

**The application deadline has been extended to February 15!

**The NSF has recently renewed support for this conference and for generous graduate fellowships.

**The fellowship application deadline will be March 1; and the website will include an application feature very soon. Contact Bruce Desmarais (desmarais@polsci.umass.edu), Fellowship Committee Chair, for more information.

**The workshops will cover novice and advance network topics and will continue to be a highlight of the conference and a valuable training opportunity--at a bargain. Workshop details will be forthcoming on the website.

** Keynote speakers include Dr. Brint Milward and Dr. Robert Huckfeldt.

**Visit polnet2013.indiana.edu for more information. **Apply Today**"

Polnet conference at IU in June

Hi everyone,

Just got this message from Scott McClurg. I strongly endorse this conference if you're interested in networks. It's much like MAPOR, where you get close contact with the biggest names in the game. I went last year and thoroughly enjoyed it; I'm only not going this year due to travel conflicts...

As you may or may not know, this year's Political Network Conference is very close to SIU -- its in Bloomington, Indiana.  It should be relatively inexpensive and we will have scholarships for students (I'm trying to find more information on how to apply).  I know all of you have some interest in SNA and are using it in your dissertations (in some form).  I encourage you to apply for funding and attending.  The deadline is coming up soon, but this is a good way to have people see your research.  If you're just interested in more training, its good for that as well.  Details are here:

http://polnet2013.indiana.edu

Aaron, Alison, Darren, Chip, Jeff -- plz. forward to interested graduate students. Or, come yourselves!

Jayeon Lee and Lehigh University

Congratulations is to be offered as well to Jayeon "Janey" Lee who has accepted a tenure-track Assistant Professor position in the Department of Journalism & Communication at Lehigh University.  Jayeon's dissertation is focusing on social media and the effects of journalists presenting varied personal and professional attributes in this environment.

Congratulations to Steve and Andrea

Congratulations go out to Steve Kleinman and Andrea Quenette, both of whom have secured positions as assistant professors for next year. Steve will be joining the faculty of Indiana University of Pennsylvania in the Department of Communications Media. Andrea will be joining the faculty of the University of Kansas in the Department of Communication Studies. Steve and Andrea are both working feverishly on completing their dissertations -- Steve on factors affecting willingness to communicate about politics interpersonally, Andrea on the communication and political correlates of political cynicism -- before they move on from OSU and the COPS group. Please join me in congratulating them on their accomplishments thus far!

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.