2014: Volume 7, Issue 1

2013: Volume 6, Issue 2

2013: Volume 6, Issue 1 -- Journalism and New Media

The Seventh Annual Conference of the Global Communication Association
Ottawa, Canada, 22-24 November 2013

 The Communication Galaxy:
Discoveries, Boundaries, and Opportunities

The Global Communication Association (GCA) is pleased to announce that its Seventh Annual Conference (22-24 November 2013), and First in North America, will be hosted by the School of Social Communication and Leadership, Faculty of Human Sciences, Saint Paul University, Ottawa, Canada. Established in 2007, the GCA promotes academic research in global studies among major universities around the world. It facilitates joint projects and research opportunities among scholars, researchers, and students. Particularly, it explores the myriad opportunities and challenges in the areas of teaching, learning, communication development, globalization, mass media, and international cooperation.

The legendary Canadian scholar Marshall McLuhan’s The Gutenberg Galaxy (1962) prophetically predicted the future of global media communications when he voiced in one of his most-frequently quoted passage of his book: “if a new technology extends one or more of our senses outside us into the social world, then new ratios among all of our senses will occur in that particular culture. It is comparable to what happens when a new note is added to a melody. And when the sense ratios alter in any culture then what had appeared lucid before may suddenly become opaque, and what had been vague or opaque will become translucent” (1962: 41). Indeed, McLuhan’s work revealed the “magical” world: the new media of communication—radio, television, film, photography, satellites, computers, Internet, and social media.

This conference builds on McLuhan’s notions of “galaxy” and “global village” where he argued that with the new technological advances of the media (especially television during his time), societies are restoring the “tribal” character that existed before the invention of print. The world has become a “global village” where people send and receive messages instantly. In 1970, McLuhan told Ed Fitzgerald of CBC television: “You could say that with the satellite, the global village has become a global theatre . . . [with] everybody on the planet simultaneously participating as actors” (Benedetti & DeHart, 1997: 66).

A fundamental goal of this conference, therefore, is to showcase the various spheres of our current global communication galaxy, evident in the multi-disciplinary framework of human communication, and to demonstrate different emerging issues in the practice of media and technology. Given the cross- and inter-disciplinary nature of this conference’s theme, scholars, activists, and professionals are invited to submit papers that draw on the various understandings of our communication galaxy, and address (but not limited to) the following topics:

• Access to information, free speech, and freedom of expression
• Communication and media ethics
• Crisis communication
• Globalization, culture, and digital divide
• Health communication
• Identity, ethnicity, hybridity, gender, and Diaspora
• Imperialism and communication history
• International, transnational, and intercultural communication
• Media labour, literacy, activism, and hacktivism
• New media, ICTs, and international development
• Political economy of media and communication
• Religion and media
• Social change, democracy, and media reforms
• The right to communicate and communication rights

Submissions

Submissions of individual papers and proposed panels can be in English or French, but must be original work which has not been previously published or presented in any language or format. All submissions must be sent electronically as Word Document attachments to Dr. Aliaa Dakroury, Conference Chair, at gca2013ottawa@gmail.com.

• Papers: Proposals of individual papers should include: 1) the paper’s title; 2) name(s), affiliation(s), and rank(s)/status(es) of author(s); 3) contact information (e-mail, tel., fax, and address); and 4) a 250-400 word abstract of the proposed paper. The abstract should outline the research question, main argument, theoretical framework, methodology, analysis and discussion, and potential contribution to the communication and media literature.
• Panels: Proposals of panels (maximum 4 papers) should include: 1) the panel’s title; 2) name(s), affiliation(s), and rank(s)/status(es) of the panel’s chair (or co-chairs); 3) the titles of all papers; 4) names, affiliations, and ranks/statuses of the panelists; 5) contacts information (e-mail, tel., fax, and address) of all chairs and presenters; and 6) a 500-800 word abstract of the proposed theme of the panel. The abstract should outline the overall theme of the panel and summaries of each individual presentation (i.e., research question, main argument, theoretical framework, methodology, analysis and discussion, and potential contribution to the communication and media literature).

Publications and Guidelines

All submissions will be refereed by the conference scientific committee, and accepted papers and panels will be published in the conference proceedings. Selected submissions will be considered for publication as refereed journal articles and book chapters. The refereed journal articles will be published in the Fall 2013 (15 December 2013) and the Spring 2014 (15 June 2014) issues of the Global Media Journal -- Canadian Edition (GMJ--CE). The refereed book chapters will be published in an edited book in 2014. The full papers for the conference proceedings, the refereed journal articles, and the refereed book chapters must follow the guidelines available at http://www.gmj.uottawa.ca/for-authors_e.html.

Important Dates

• 1 May 2013:      Submission of proposals         
• 1 June 2013:     Notification of decision
• 1 Sep. 2013:     Full papers for conference proceedings
• 15 Sep. 2013:   Revised articles for the Fall 2013 issue of GMJ--CE
• 15 Mar. 2014:   Revised articles for the Spring 2014 issue of GMJ--CE
• 1 May 2014:      Expanded chapters for the edited book

For more information and regular updates, please visit www.globalcomassociation.com or email the conference organizing committee at gca2013@ustpaul.ca.

Top ^^

Research on the Internet has garnered more attention than any other technology in our history. Researchers have examined cyberspace from different angles; including, the technology itself, its creators, its users, its content, and its socioeconomic outputs. Journalism scholars have examined issues of convergence, production, alternative forms of journalism, content and the evolution of business models, only to name a few. However, research in this area is still evolving as social applications of new media are growing. Social networking sites are now an integral part of modern life. As far as journalism is concerned, the uses of these tools and user-generated content are still being explored.

The socio-economic constraints on this profession force managers and owners to make difficult decisions involving journalists’ workloads, work environments, and required skills which often include the ability to produce content for many platforms and sometimes in multiple languages. These challenges certainly affect content, production, and consumption.

Papers are invited for this issue of the Global Media Journal -- Canadian Edition that will focus on journalism trends and new media in the 21st century. The guest editor welcomes theoretical, analytic, critical, empirical, or comparative submissions that discuss the most recent debates and discourses about, but not limited to, the following topics:

• journalism history
• new media evolution
• journalism ethics
• responsibility and accountability
• freedom of expression and new media journalism
• relationships between journalists, their organizations, and their audiences
• implications of new technology and social media for journalism
• citizen and user-generated content and journalism challenges
• economic, political, and social situations impacting new media journalism
• digital policy and journalism industry
• progress of new media journalism
• journalistic innovations 
• journalism production
• events shaping new media journalism

The Global Media Journal -- Canadian Edition (http://www.gmj.uottawa.ca/) welcomes high-quality, original submissions on related topics to the above theme. Submissions are expected to develop communication and media theories, report empirical and analytical research, present critical discourses, apply theories to case studies, and set out innovative research methodologies. The Journal is bilingual (English and French) open-access online academic refereed publication that aims to advance research and understanding of communication and media in Canada and around the globe.

Deadline: March 15th, 2013

Submissions: Papers (5,000 to 7,500 words), review articles of more than one book (2,500 to 3,000 words), and book reviews (1,000 to 1,200 words).

Method: All manuscripts must be submitted electronically as Word Document attachments, directly to Dr. Geneviève A. Bonin (gbonin@uottawa.ca).

Guidelines: Available at: http://www.gmj.uottawa.ca/for-authors_e.html

Decision: April 30th, 2013

Publication: June 15th, 2013