The International Communication Association arrives in "The Athens of America," Boston, Massachusetts, from 26th May to the 30th for our 61st Annual Conference. The hub of the U.S. region known as New England, Boston is also one of the hubs of academia in the United States-over 50 institutes of higher education are located in the Boston metropolitan area-as well as an important center of finance, culture, and tourism based on its role in the nation's founding. The ICA Newsletter begins in this issue to explore the city, in preparation for the conference at the Four Diamond Westin Boston Waterfront.

Appropriately, the series begins at the South Boston Waterfront, the area of the city that hosts the ICA conference and a district in the midst of a profound transformation.

For many years, the South Boston Waterfront was known as the Seaport District-an undeveloped area along Boston Harbor, comprised of the Commonwealth Pier (a maritime cargo facility) and vacant lots being used as carparks. It was cut off from the heart of Boston by an elevated highway that made access difficult; even an attempt to build a stadium for the National Football League's New England Patriots fell flat. With the recent completion of a massive tunnel project ("The Big Dig"), however, the Waterfront is cleared of both the highway and construction hazards and is much more connected to the remainder of the city. This renewed access has paved the way for a development boom.

The center of that boom is the Boston Convention and Exhibition Center (BCEC), completed in 2004-in fact, much of the development in the area has come in response to Bostonians' concern about placing the new convention center in relative isolation. Built adjacent to the BCEC is its headquarters hotel, The Four Diamond Westin Boston Waterfront, where the 2011 ICA Conference ("Communication @ The Center") will be held; steps away is the long strip that was once the elevated Central Artery. That strip is being reconstructed as a park and public space, part of the city's Rose Kennedy Greenway. Just beyond it, down D Street, is ground zero for the South Boston Waterfront's development.

Amongst the office buildings and condominium high-rises cropping up along the waterfront, there are two major hotels located here: the Renaissance Boston Waterfront, the secondary hotel for the ICA conference; and the Seaport Hotel, which is associated with the vast exhibition hall known as the Boston World Trade Center. Between the two hotels lie two small parks, Eastport Park and South Boston Maritime Park; Eastport is an open-air sculpture garden, while Maritime is a landscaped lawn with benches, a fountain, and a little café. There's another important outdoor space nearby, too: the Bank of America Pavilion, a 5,000-seat amphitheater whose stage faces the Harbor. According to its reputation, there is not a bad seat in the house.

There are also a few genuine tourist destinations on the Waterfront. Perhaps the most prominent of these is the Institute of Contemporary Art/Boston, also known by those mystical initials "ICA." (Indeed, be careful how you tell Bostonians what's brought you to the area, lest you confuse them!) Founded in 1936 in Back Bay as the Boston Museum of Modern Art, the ICA moved to the new Waterfront property at the end of 2006. The museum only started its permanent collection in 2000 but quickly amassed major works by dozens of contemporary artists (including Shepard Fairey, Nan Goldin, and Cindy Sherman) in addition to limited exhibitions.

Members who will be bringing their families to the conference may be more interested in the Boston Children's Museum, a few blocks northeast of the BCEC at Fort Point Channel. Distinguished by the giant Hood Milk Bottle in the plaza outside (it is actually a snack bar), the Children's Museum features 16 permanent exhibits devoted to educating of children. Among the more popular exhibits are "Arthur & Friends," featuring the characters from the popular children's books; "Japanese House," a real-life two-story house that once stood in Kyoto, Japan; and "New Balance Climb," a three-level climbing structure that challenges kids to strategize their next moves and choose their paths carefully.

The other tourist attraction on the Waterfront is actually one with deep roots in Boston's industrial history: The Boston Fish Pier. Built and opened in 1914, it is the oldest continuously operating fish pier in the United States. Seafood is, of course, Boston's major culinary staple, and much of the business behind that staple takes place at the Fish Pier. Along with the processing facilities, tourists can walk to the end of the pier and watch fishing boats come in and unload their haul, or go inside and watch the daily fish auctions-where seafood restaurateurs and grocers come to place wholesale bids on the catches of the day, in a scene not unlike the floor of the New York Stock Exchange.

Indeed, a substantial number of restaurants, seafood and otherwise, are in the vicinity of the Fish Pier. Immediately flanking it are No Name Restaurant, built to serve the fishermen and sailors working at the Fish Pier and running nearly as long as the Pier itself; the Whiskey Priest, a Irish pub and grill that adheres to South Boston's heavy Irish tradition; and Salvatore's, an upscale Italian restaurant overlooking the waterfront. Within a short walk are several popular seafood places. Anthony's Pier 4 is a favorite, a family-owned survivor of the Waterfront's old incarnation built in 1963. Near the Children's Museum is The Barking Crab, essentially a seaside crab shack-and one of the most beloved casual dining spots in town. 606 Congress is a Zagat-rated gourmet bistro in the ground floor of the Renaissance Boston Waterfront; while there are other options on their menu, seafood is the specialty. Most interesting, however, may be the ground-floor restaurant in the offices of Legal Seafood, the U.S. restaurant chain based here in Boston. The Legal Test Kitchen is the company's culinary laboratory, where new seafood innovations are prepared and offered to Waterfront customers for the sake of testing the creations. For seafood fans, it's a unique opportunity.

The South Boston Waterfront has come a long way in only a few short years, from a forgotten corner of the city to Boston's new frontier of development and tourism. While it's becoming ever more bustling and adventurous in and of itself, it's also easy to access other cosmopolitan sections of the city from the Waterfront, a fact that bolsters "Communication @ the Center" as the theme of ICA's 2011 conference to be held in the area. Look for profiles of those adjacent parts of Boston to come in future issues of the Newsletter.