The theme of the Chicago conference, Keywords in Communication, offers ICA members a chance to engage with some of the key terms that have evolved as central to our development as a field. In addition to the plenary and miniplenary sessions outlined in last month's newsletter, two kinds of programming address the theme directly, though multiple additional sessions on keywords populate the divisional and interest group programming too.

Theme programming this year comprises 10 regular theme sessions, including one poster session and 15 cross-unit sessions, formed by bringing together individuals from at least four divisions and interest groups to address a central term differently relevant to those on the panel. Theme programming is scheduled across the 5-day conference, offering ICA members multiple opportunities to think anew about the field and one's place in it through the prism of keywords.

Keywords identified by ICA members as relevant to our field include Aesthetics; Anonymity; Authenticity; Body; Community; Culture, Communication Competence, & Intercultural Communication; Democracy; Difference; Discourse; Effects; Evolution; Framing; Identity & Language; Key Visuals; Interview; Mediation & Emotion; Objectivity; News Images; Public Policy & Public Intellectuals; Publics; Technology; Uncertainty & Information Management; Urban Communication; and Women in a Digital World.

The cross-field conversations that this programming is poised to deliver are both broadly scoped and innovative. Theme programming ranges across attributes of the communication process - such as Anonymity, Authenticity, Objectivity, or Uncertainty; across ways of conceptualizing collectivity - such as Democracy, Community, or Urban Communication; across existing kinds of communication practice - such as The Interview, Public Policy & Public Intellectuals, Discourse, or News Images; and across aspects of the communication environment - such as Aesthetics, Effects, Difference, or Mediation & Emotion.

Particularly exciting are some of the unusual coconveners of the cross-unit conversations: Discussing The Body, for instance, are scholars from Phil Comm, GLBT, Health Comm, Pop Comm, CAT, and Feminist Scholarship, while Technology is discussed by conference-goers from Comm History, Game Studies, Mass Comm, LSI, CAT, and Phil Comm. Evolution is tracked by CLAP, Information Systems, Health Comm, Journalism Studies, and Mass Comm, while Framing is approached by individuals from Pol Comm, Vis Comm, Journalism Studies, Mass Comm, Pop Comm, and Feminist Scholarship.

Given that these cross-units introduced a new type of conference programming to ICA members, a shout-out in gratitude is due to all those who willingly took part. A full 22 of ICA's 24 divisions and interest groups co-sponsored these sessions, with particularly high participation from CAT, Mass Comm, Phil Comm, Pol Comm and Vis Comm. All told, 17 divisions and interest groups participated multiple times in co-sponsoring the cross-unit panels, ensuring that the conversations that ensue are as wide-ranging as possible across our association.

A list of the theme programming sessions, identified by title and place, follows. It includes some of our leading scholars alongside many new faces in the association. Please be sure to look for more information on this programming in the full conference program.

FRIDAY, MAY 22, THEME PROGRAMMING

Uncertainty and Information Management: Reflections on the Current and Future State of These Constructs - Friday, 9:00-10:15 (Cross-Unit Session - Grand Ballroom I)

Walid Afifi (chair)
Leslie A. Baxter
Dawn O. Braithwaite
Dale E. Brashers
Daena Goldsmith
Timothy P. Hogan
Artemio Ramirez Jr.
Joseph B. Walther

Keyword: Anonymity - Friday, 10:30-11:45 (Cross-Unit Session - Grand Ballroom I)

Craig R. Scott (chair)
Roderick P. Hart
Ronald E. Rice
Sandra Petronio
Martin Tanis

"Discourse" as a Key Communication Term - Friday, 10:30-11:45 (Theme Session - Chicago Ballroom D)

Robert T. Craig (chair)
Rob Asen
Lilie Chouliaraki
Douglas Vincent Porpora
Linda L. Putnam
Karen Tracy

Keywords in Communication: Effects - Friday, 1:30-2:45 (Cross-Unit Session - Grand Ballroom I)

Mary Beth Oliver (chair)
Annie Lang
David R. Roskos-Ewoldsen
Dhavan Shah
John L. Sherry

Public Policy, Public Intellectuals - Friday, 3:00-4:15 (Cross-Unit Session - Grand Ballroom I)

Sandra Braman (chair)
Patricia A. Aufderheide
Jan A. G. M. Van Dijk
Robert W. McChesney
Toby Miller
Graham Murdock

Identity and Language as Keywords in Communication Across and Between Groups: Roundtable Discussion Following IALSP - Friday, 4:30-5:45 (Theme Session - Chicago Ballroom D)

Margaret J. Pitts (chair)
Cindy Gallois
Mary Lee Hummert
Young Yun Kim
Scott A. Reid
Yan Bing Zhang
Bernadette Maria Watson (respondent)

SATURDAY, MAY 23, THEME PROGRAMMING

On Difference - Saturday, 9:00-10:15 (Cross-Unit Session - Grand Ballroom I)

Kumarini Silva (chair)
Carolyn M. Byerly
Donal Carbaugh
Vincent Doyle
Myria Georgiou

Communication and Authenticity - Saturday, 10:30-11:45 (Cross-Unit Session - Grand Ballroom I)

Alison Mary Henderson (chair and respondent)
Lee Edwards
Dawn R. Gilpin
Juan-Carlos Molleda
Simon Torp

Key Concepts in News and Journalism: Objectivity and its Adjacent Concepts - Saturday, 10:30-11:45 (Theme Session - Chicago Ballroom D)

Howard Tumber (chair)
Brian McNair
David E. Morrison
Marina Prentoulis
Rodney Evan Tiffen
Howard Tumber
Silvio R. Waisbord

Keyword: Technology - Saturday, 1:30-2:45 (Cross-Unit Session - Grand Ballroom I)

Deborah Lubken (chair)
Nick Couldry
James D. Ivory
Patricia G. Lange
Joseph Turow
Joseph B. Walther

Framing as a Keyword in Communication Research: New Directions in Research, Conceptualization, and Methodology - Saturday, 3:00-4:15 (Cross-Unit Session - Grand Ballroom I)

Dietram A. Scheufele (chair)
Robert M. Entman
Maria Elizabeth Grabe
Cynthia A. Lucia
Jorg Matthes

Keywords in Communication: Conceptualizing Publics in Public Relations - Saturday, 3:00-4:15 (Theme Session - Chicago Ballroom D)

Katerina Tsetsura (chair)
Vilma L. Luoma-aho
Charles Self
Bey-Ling Sha
Erich James Sommerfeldt
Derina R. Holtzhausen (respondent)

 

SUNDAY, MAY 24, THEME PROGRAMMING

Putting the Aesthetic Back into Communication, and Vice Versa - Sunday, 9:00-10:15 (Cross-Unit Session - Grand Ballroom I)

Nick Couldry (chair)
Mark B. Andrejevic
Georgina E. M. Born
David Hesmondhalgh
Frederick C. Turner

Body Talk - Sunday, 10:30-11:45 (Cross-Unit Session - Grand Ballroom I)

Nick Couldry (chair)
John Nguyet Erni
Lisa Henderson
Jennifer Horner
Janice Radway
Carrie Rentschler
Thomas Streeter

Keyword: Urban Communication - Sunday, 10:30-11:45 (Theme Session - Chicago Ballroom D)

Cees J. Hamelink (chair)
Gene Burd
Nico Carpentier
Susan Drucker & Gary Gumpert
Harvey Jassem
Steve Macek
John Pauly
Cees J. Hamelink (respondent)

Interactive Plenary Poster Theme Session - Sunday, 12:00-1:15 (Halsted)

Paul Mason Fotsch (chair)
Dal Yong Jin
Paul Kelvin Jones
Jin Kim

Keyword: The Interview - Sunday, 1:30-2:45 (Cross-Unit Session - Grand Ballroom I)

Peter D. Simonson (chair)
Sonia Livingstone
Michael Schudson
Peter D. Simonson
Ingrid Volkmer

Public Deliberation and the Engaged Citizenry: "Democracy" as a Keyword in the Internet Age - Sunday, 1:30-2:45 (Theme Session - Chicago Ballroom D)

Marco Adria (chair)
Maria Bakardjieva
Laura W. Black
Joseph N. Cappella
Yuping Mao

Key Visuals: Concepts, Methods, and Theories - Sunday, 3:00-4:15 (Cross-Unit Session - Grand Ballroom I)

Peter H. Ludes (chair)
Giorgia Aiello
Erik P. Bucy
Robert Hariman
Peter H. Ludes

Keywords: Culture, Communication Competence, & Intercultural Communication - Sunday, 4:30-5:45 (Cross-Unit Session - Grand Ballroom I)

Claudia L. Hale (chair)
William L. Benoit
Ling Chen
Ronald L. Jackson II
Marion G. Mueller
Margaret J. Pitts

Keyword: Community - Sunday, 4.30-5.45 (Theme Session - Chicago Ballroom D)

Kevin Howley (chair)
Bernadette Barker-Plummer
Fiona Jeffries
George McKay
Victor W. Pickard

MONDAY, MAY 25, THEME PROGRAMMING

The Power of News Images: Multidisciplinary Perspectives - Monday, 9:00-10:15 (Cross-Unit Session - Grand Ballroom I)

Maria Elizabeth Grabe (chair)
Renita Coleman
Doris Graber
Michael S. Griffin
David D. Perlmutter
Robert F. Potter

Women in a Digital World: Conceptual Models of Inclusion - Monday, 9:00-10:15 (Theme Session - Chicago Ballroom D)

Zizi A. Papacharissi (chair)
Paul M.A. Baker
Ellen Balka
Abbe E. Forman
Jarice Hanson
Eszter Hargittai

Evolution - Monday, 12:00-1:15 (Cross-Unit Session - Grand Ballroom I)

Maria Elizabeth Grabe (chair)
Matthew John Kobach
Annie Lang
Bryant M. Paul
Robert F. Potter

Mediation and Emotion - Monday, 12:00-1:15 (Theme Session - Chicago Ballroom D)

Maria Mirca Madianou (chair)
Lilie Chouliaraki
Nick Couldry
Paul Frosh
Maria Mirca Madianou

Each of these instances of theme programming offers a chance for ICA members who might not otherwise have the opportunity to discuss together a repertoire of terms, concepts, problems and ideas that they hold in common but regard in different ways. Please join them in their attempts to give the words that ground our field more resonance, coherence, relevance, applicability and future orientation. Do try and attend as many of the theme programming options as you can, with an eye to further articulating to each other what is central and important about the field of communication.