I was chatting with some ICA members during the coffee/tea break at the second European Communication Research and Education Association (ECREA) conference in Barcelona, Spain, a few days ago when one of the conference participants excused herself to return to her hotel room. I, along with others, assumed that she was going to enjoy some of the sights in the old section of Barcelona or walk along the walkways by the sandy beaches to enjoy the blue water and sunshine.
But that was not her intent at all. She was hurrying back to her room to complete and submit her competitive paper and panel reviews for her ICA division! She had read and written comments on all of her papers. She simply needed to go online and provide some brief recommendations and assessment scores. It struck me then, as it has during my other travels since becoming President, that we have an incredibly dedicated membership.
In every city I have visited to promote our discipline, I have been greeted by ICA members. It has been a wonderful experience to learn how the usefulness of our discipline translates into practices in particular locales. It also has been intriguing to see where communication processes align with our own divisions or interest groups and where the main issues covered by our units might still be emerging. From the vantage point of these travels, we clearly are contributing in many different ways to the well being of people around the globe. And we are at a fascinating time in our own history as these global intersections are informing and shaping our work.
Reviewing submissions is one way--among many others--in which our members contribute their time and expertise. For the upcoming Chicago 2009 conference, 2,616 scholars generously offered to review. Some of these researchers actually review for three or more divisions. Indeed we estimate that there are probably several hundred people reviewing for more than one division. These reviewers aren't only new communication faculty members-they also are past Presidents and members of other disciplines invited to contribute their expertise. In these and so many other ways, our members are indeed the foundation of ICA.
Our reviews, as you know, are instrumental in designing a high-quality conference program. As you'll see in Barbie's column, she is working to alter our algorithm to move our rate from the usual 45% acceptance to 48%. Although these figures may preclude the acceptance of some admittedly fine research, they also enable us to prepare a conference whose size complements our members' desires for social and professional networking. I was intrigued to hear that about a third of the submissions for the ECREA conference were programmed.
Some other things that happened during the ECREA conference were discussions about expanding the map of communication around the globe. If you check out the Links section of our website (see http://www.icahdq.org/membership/worldmap.asp), there is a world map that lists regional communication associations. There also is a listing of international communication associations. If you know of other scholarly associations that should be included and/or would like to work on the Mapping our Discipline project, please let me know. We envision its usefulness as a resource for research and practice in the future. There will be a meeting at the Chicago conference about the project.
In addition, there are discussions under way about the qualities that characterize our scholarship and its assessment beyond ISI impact factors. We are developing a session on different assessment schemes from the EU, US, and Asia.
As this is my last column for 2008, I wish our members a wonderful 2009 and an enjoyable academic break!
