SOJC faculty, students and alumni take ICA conference by storm

ICA ConferenceStory by Andra Brichacek

Many of the UO School of Journalism and Communication's faculty members, graduate students and alumni are on their way to San Diego, California, this week for the 67th Annual International Communication Association Conference.

 

The theme of this year's conference, which takes place May 26-29, is "Interventions: Communication Research and Practice." This encompasses a range of communication practices that engage with political events, social phenomena, or industrial or socio-cultural practice, including insights from diverse voices, marginal positions, emerging organizational practices, and digital technologies to broaden and enrich dialogue. At the event, communication scholars will present traditional research papers and panels as well as practice-based work, such as zines, blogs, websites, media products and artifacts, online games, Twitter campaigns and more.

"The ICA is an opportunity for our faculty to present research and contribute to the body of knowledge for communications,” said the SOJC’s Edwin L. Artzt Dean Juan-Carlos Molleda. “This helps keep the SOJC top of mind as a preeminent journalistic and communications institution, which helps us continue to attract top-rated talent, both graduate students and faculty. The ICA also presents opportunities to foster research collaborations across the country and the world."

During the conference, Professor H. Leslie Steeves, the SOJC’s senior associate dean for academic affairs, will accept the association’s Teresa Award for the Advancement of Feminist Scholarship, which recognizes a body of work that contributes significantly to the development, reach and influence of feminist research.

“This year’s conference is particularly special, as Associate Dean Steeves will be honored for her work in feminist scholarship,” Molleda said. “The Teresa Award is a tremendous honor. I am proud of Dr. Steeves’ accomplishments, which are help reinforce the school’s reputation for academic excellence.”

Media studies doctoral student Bethany Grace Howe also won the ICA LGBQT Studies Top Student Paper award for “From Company Mandated Equality to Employees’ Perceived Equality: How Internal Public Relations Makes a Difference to Transgender Employees.”

Several faculty members will be presenting at preconferences on Thursday, May 25, as well. Associate Professor Seth Lewis, the SOJC’s Shirley Papé Chair in Electronic Media, co-organized the “Communicating with Machines: Interventions with Digital Agents” preconference, which focuses on communication “with and between humans and digital interlocutors that has the potential to engage, alter and disrupt ‘normal’ events, practices and phenomena.”

For a complete list of speakers and times, view the online conference program (search “U of Oregon” for UO presenters). Here is a summary of SOJC faculty and student participation:

May 25 (preconference)

  • Julianne Newton, "Embracing the Paradox of the Dynamic Cyborg," in “Communicating with Machines: Interventions with Digital Agents” preconference
  • Seth Lewis (with Andrea Guzman), “Journalism and AI: Theorizing Human-Machine Communication in the Newsroom,” in “Communicating with Machines: Interventions with Digital Agents” preconference
  • Donna Z. Davis, “The Other: An Exploration of Relationship Effect from Alternative Embodied Forms in Social Virtual Worlds," in “Communicating with Machines: Interventions with Digital Agents” preconference
  • Nicole Dahmen, respondent at “Strategic Environmental Communication and Exploration of Research in Crisis, Risk and Disaster Communication” preconference
  • Leslie Steeves and Tewodros Workneh (SOJC Ph.D. alumnus), "Appraising Journalism Interventions in Subsaharan Africa: A Critical Study of the Norwegian Model,” in “African Media Studies in the Digital Age” preconference
  • Biswarup Sen and Patrick Jones, “Broadcasting Democracy: India’s First Election,” in “Tryst with Democracy: 70 Years of Media in Independent India — Successes, Challenges, Interventions” preconference

May 26

  • Janet Wasko, “‘Though This Be Madness, Yet There Is Method in It’: Thoughts on How We Study the Political Economy of Media/Communications,” in “Making the Implicit Explicit: Rethinking Method and Methodology in the Political Economy of Communication” panel
  • Seth Lewis (with Matt Carlson, Sue Robinson and Daniel A. Berkowitz), "From Studies of Journalism Studies: Defining a Field and Its Core Propositions," in “The Study of Journalism as a Field: Capturing a Moving Target” paper session
  • Seth Lewis (with Brendan R. Watson, Michaele Myers, Jisu Kim and Daniel A. Berkowitz), “Sounding Off on News Commenting: What Value Does It Have for Civic and Political Participation?” in “The Virtuous Circle? The Nature of the Relationship Between Exposure to News and Political Engagement” paper session
  • Heather Shoenberger and Nicole Dahmen (with Eunjin Kim and Erika Katherine Johnson), “#Authenticity in Ads: Exploring Effects of Perceived Authenticity, Model Size and Social Cues on Body Image State, Social Media Engagement,” in “To Understand Communication and Social Networks I” paper session

May 27

  • Donna Z. Davis, “The Promise and Peril of Social Engagement in Virtual Reality,” in “Examining the Impact of Virtual Reality on Behavior and Human-Computer Interaction” panel
  • Nicole Dahmen, Jesse Abdenour and Krystal Noga-Styron (with Karen Elizabeth McIntyre), "Covering Mass Shootings: Journalists' Perceptions of Coverage and Factors Influencing Attitudes" in “Journalistic Norms in the Face of Terror and Extreme Violence” paper session
  • Janet Wasko, participant in “Debating the Question of Issuing Political Statements at ICA” panel
  • Janet Wasko, chair of “IAMCR: Transforming Culture, Politics & Communication: New Media, New Territories, New Discourses” panel
  • Gabriela Martinez, "New Discourse in the Age of YouTube: The Guatemalan Genocide," in “IAMCR: Transforming Culture, Politics & Communication: New Media, New Territories, New Discourses” panel
  • Jeremy Swartz, "What Is...? IAMCR @ ICA," in “IAMCR: Transforming Culture, Politics & Communication: New Media, New Territories, New Discourses” panel
  • Kim Sheehan and Tobias Hopp (SOJC Ph.D. alumnus), “Citizens’ Use and Value Perceptions of Political Poll Aggregation Websites,” in “The Perception of Public Opinion” paper session

May 28

  • Juan-Carlos Molleda (with Angeles Moreno), Latin-American Communication Monitor, in “Comparative Research in Public Relations: Exploring Challenges and Opportunities” roundtable
  • Damian Radcliffe and Thomas Schmidt (with Christopher Ali), “Searching for Sheboygans: On the Future of Small-Market Newspapers,” in “Researching Ecologies of News: The Role of Markets and Communities” paper session
  • Ricardo Valencia and Patrick Jones, "Ecologies of Dissent and Resistance: The Committee in Solidarity with the People of El Salvador and the Case for Networked Public Relationship Management," presented in “Activist Interventions: Community Resilience and Resistance” paper session
  • Autumn Shafer, chair of “Evaluating Health Communication Interventions” paper session
  • Autumn Shafer (with Rebecca R. Ortiz), "Unblurring the Lines of Sexual Consent with a College Student-Driven Sexual Consent Education Intervention," in “Evaluating Health Communication Interventions” paper session
  • Autumn Shafer (with Trevor Bell), “Using Theory of Planned Behavior to Improve Adolescent and Young Adult Type 1 Diabetes Management,” in “Testing Theories of Health Behavior Prediction in Novel Contexts” paper session
  •  Regina Lawrence, chair of “Making Sense of Election 2016: How the Media Mattered in the U.S. Presidential Election” panel
  • Regina Lawrence (with Amber Boydstun), "Trump, Media and Celebrity: Did the Press Fail?" in “Making Sense of Election 2016: How the Media Mattered in the U.S. Presidential Election” panel
  • Donna Davis, Heather Shoenberger and Wes Pope; “If a Tree Falls in a Forest: Experimental Investigation of Level of Immersion in a PSA and Resulting Prosocial Behavior,” presented in CAT interactive paper session
  • Bethany Grace Howe, “From Company Mandated Equality to Employees’ Perceived Equality: How Internal Public Relations Makes a Difference to Transgender Employees,” in “From PR and Persuasion to Amorous Apps and Trans TV: The Latest in LGBTQ Studies” extended session
  • Thomas Schmidt, chair of “Expanding the Journalistic Repertoire: Opportunities and Challenges of Emerging News Logics” panel
  • Thomas Schmidt, “The Narrative News Logic and the Role of Storytelling in News Work,” in “Expanding the Journalistic Repertoire: Opportunities and Challenges of Emerging News Logics” panel
  • Seth Lewis, respondent in “Studying Online News Flows: The Role of Audiences” paper session

May 29

  • Nicole Dahmen, “Restorative Narrative as Contextual Reporting: Model for Journalistic Sustainability in the Landscape of Modern Storytelling,” in “Constructive Uses of Journalism” paper session
  • Nicole Dahmen (with Paige Brown and Ember Jones), “Science Imagery on Instagram: Fostering Public Engagement in Science,” in “For (All) the Times of Your Life: Photo-Sharing Platforms” paper session
  • Leslie Steeves and Tewodros Workneh (SOJC Ph.D. alumnus), “Appraising Journalism Education Interventions in Sub-Saharan Africa: A Critical study of the Norwegian Model,” in “Development Assistance and Independent Journalism: A Research Network Discussion” panel
  • Kyu Ho Youm, chair of “Doing Justice to Journalism: Legal Challenges in the News” paper session
  • Seth Lewis, “Can an Algorithm Commit Libel? Applying Media Law to Automated Journalism,” in “Doing Justice to Journalism: Legal Challenges in the News” paper session
  • Juan-Carlos Molleda, “Online Media and Platforms Aid a Dying Democracy in Latin America: The Case of Venezuela,” in “Communication Interventions in Fostering Democratic Societies: Countries in Transition” roundtable 
  • Patrick Jones, “Voting, Inc.: International EVMs and Indian Democracy,” in “Technology and Democracy” paper session

Andra Brichacek is the SOJC Communication team’s writer, editor and editorial content planner. She has nearly 20 years’ experience creating content for print and online media and has specialized in education since 2008. Follow her on Twitter @andramere.