President's Message: The Development of ICA Newsletter 2.0

by Cynthia Stohl, ICA President, U of California - Santa Barbara

September is a time of beginnings and transitions.  For most of us in the Northern Hemisphere, summer holidays are over and the academic year is just starting.  For those in the Southern hemisphere, it is the beginning of spring and the sprint toward the end of classes has commenced.   For ICA, it is the beginning of our election cycle for President, board members, and division and interest group leadership. September is also the time when memberships are renewed. In our membership brochure, we discuss the many ways ICA fosters excellence in scholarship, professional development, and international connectivity.  We catalogue several new features of our expanded website and the many changes we have implemented to provide our diverse membership with the variety of valued resources and services they want. 
 
One of the greatest challenges for any global organization, as the continuing feedback and work on our website illustrates, is to make internal communications timely, relevant, interesting, and useful for all its members.
 
In the next few months, we will be exploring new ways to improve the quality, value, and interest of our newsletter for our members.  In 2007 the newsletter began to be published exclusively online.  Some editorial changes were made but the format remained essentially the same. The newsletter has been used to highlight important ICA events, provide a monthly update from the President, and inform members about deadlines, conference events, new opportunities, division and interest group news, and job opportunities. As our members' interests have evolved, some have suggested that that it might be useful to begin to expand, possibly reshape and reconfigure our newsletter to better serve the membership.

These suggestions have addressed both content and format.  Some possibilities for expanded content that have been suggested include:

1. Book Notes on the latest communication books being published across divisions and regions. 
   
2. Opinion pieces on current issues facing our academic community including topics such as open source publishing, digitalization and plagiarism, online courses, global rankings of universities, departments, and publications, new business models in education.
   
3. "How to" articles by members, with topics ranging from grant applications involving international collaborators, navigating institutional review boards, to how to get a job, prepare for administration, or create the most updated syllabi.
   
4. Articles chronicling scholar's recent experiences related to topics such as the challenges of engaged scholarship and the benefits and dangers of  media coverage of  one's research.
   
5. Commentaries/debates on contemporary events and their relevance for communication scholarship.  For example, what does "Twittergate," the latest  brouhaha created when Valerie Trierweiler, the companion of French  President Hollande tweeted her support for the rival of the President's  ex-partner, suggest  about  the role  of social media in politics.
   
6. Research notes from international collaborations
   
7. Interviews with communication scholars and practitioners
   
8. News highlights of members' research
   
9. Updates on emerti professors

New interactive formats are also possible and other types and forms of information such as video and live feeds are being considered. For example, the newsletter section could be continually updated with the latest news relevant to field and our profession.   Before we begin to make changes, we would like to get your ideas and suggestions about what you would like to see in the newsletter.  Please email me at cstohl@com.ucsb.edu or contact our Communication Director JP Gutierrez at jpgutierrez@icahdq.org.  We look forward to hearing from you.