[ecrea] BledCom 2019 on the ECREA mailing list

*BledCom 2019: Trust and Reputation*

The 26th International Public Relations Research Symposium (BledCom) 
will be held on *July 4, 5, & 6, 2019 in Rikli Balance Hotel (formerly 
Hotel Golf) Lake Bled, Slovenia*.

The main 2019 conference theme is *»Trust and Reputation«*. Trust is a 
foundation of social (and organizational) order and also serves as the 
underpinning of healthy relationships, exchanges and transactions. There 
is a growing concern globally that social and organizational trust is 
eroding, and that it has become harder for organizations to build and 
protect relationships with stakeholders many of whom themselves seem to 
be in conflict. In such a challenging environment, how does/should 
public relations (re)build trust and reputation to help us function as 
social beings operating in harmonious societies?

Please note that as has been the norm in the past, BledCom welcomes ALL 
papers that are relevant to public relations and communication 
management beyond papers that discuss the conference theme.

*Abstract submission deadline is 14 January 2019.*Call for Papers: 
http://www.bledcom.com/archive-news/bledcom-2019-call-papers-trust-and-reputation

+++

Call for Papers for BledCom 2018: A World in Crisis: The Role of Public 
Relations
4. 7. 2017

BledCom is 25! What began as an annual gathering of scholars and 
practitioners in public relations and related disciplines to discuss 
contemporary communication and management problems has blossomed into 
what it is today. As the oldest conference in our field that is not 
affiliated with a professional or academic association, we have come 
much farther than we had expected in 1994!

So far, eight books and nine special issues or sections of peer-reviewed 
journals have been published based on previous symposia 
(www.bledcom.com.).  We attribute this success to the hundreds of 
colleagues who have participated over these years and of course our 
sponsors.  We thank you all for sustaining this boutique conference for 
a quarter of a century.

Conference dates:

The 25th silver anniversary edition of International Public Relations 
Research Symposium (BledCom) will be held on July 5, 6, & 7, 2018 in 
Hotel Golf Bled, Slovenia.

Location:

Picturesque Alpine Lake Bled in Slovenia

Theme: A world in Crisis: The Role of Public Relations

In his 1992 book, American political scientist Francis Fukuyama 
confidently declared that the fall of the Berlin Wall had signaled “the 
end of history” as Western values of liberal democracy, free markets, 
and open society had triumphed and therefore would henceforth be adopted 
by the rest of the world.  What an illusion! Less than twenty years into 
the 21st century, the list of countries one does not associate with a 
liberal democratic system (China, Hungary, Poland, Russia, Turkey, the 
Philippines…) has been growing as does their apparent influence over 
global affairs.  Even the USA, considered the leader of globalism in the 
20th century, appears to have embraced protectionism and economic 
nationalism typified by the slogan “America first!”  A combination of 
political and technological creative destruction appears to be making 
societies progressively less open where individuals are voluntarily 
ceding control over their privacy to government and corporations (such 
as Amazon, Apple, Facebook and Google) to the levels that George Orwell, 
the author of dystopian novel 1984, couldn’t even imagine).

The world appears to be in a permanent crisis. Trust in authorities and 
institutions is falling while at the same time organizational appear to 
be making optimistic promises of their commitment, engagement, and even 
enthusiasm. What is going on?

Public relations has always been involved in sense-making and 
reflection, relationship management and storytelling. How much has it 
contributed to the present VUCA (volatile, uncertain, complex, 
ambiguous) state of affairs and what is its role in the near future? 
These are questions we think we need to discuss during the 25th 
anniversary of the International Public Relations Research Symposium – 
BledCom 2018.

The following are a few of the many  topics subsumed in this theme:

    a world in turmoil and the role of public relations;
    crisis management;
    crisis communication;
    corporate crisis communication;
    government and public crisis communication;
    non-profits – their role in today’s world;
    communication and the erosion of trust in (public) authorities;
    agnotology, fake-news, post-truth and post-democracy;
    communication and (corporate, political, social) sense-making;
    journalism and media in crisis?;
    social media and their role in creating the present state of affairs;
    strategic communication in a VUCA world.

Call for Abstracts and Panels:

We invite abstracts that are between 500 and 800 words (including title 
and keywords) with up to 5 references. Please use the following 
guidelines to present your abstract and kindly supply the word count at 
the end of the submission.

Please note that as has been the norm in the past, BledCom welcomes ALL 
papers that are relevant to public relations and communication 
management beyond papers that discuss the conference theme.

Format for the Abstract:

Introduction and purpose of the study (and research question if there is 
one) – helps summarize the purpose and rationale of your study. 
Literature review – Helps place your work in context with the existing 
body of knowledge. Methodology – Define the main method used for 
gathering data including sample size, and state the rationale for using 
this method. Results and conclusions – Helps summarize the answers to 
the research questions while also outlining the implications of the 
results.  Also summarize the limitations of the study and offer 
suggestions for future research. Practical and social implications – 
Offer the potential implications both for practice and society. Also 
provide us with 3 to 5 keywords that highlight your study. Abstracts 
should come as blind copies without author names and affiliations, who 
are to be identified on on a separate cover page. Please use the 
suggested headings to structure the abstract. A list of literature is 
not necessary, but if it is provided it is included into the word count.

Panel proposal are also welcome. The proposal should describe the title 
and focus of the panel, name of the chair of the panel, and names of 
every member of the panel and title or focus of each presentation.

Deadline:

Both paper abstracts and panel proposals should be submitted via email 
to (bledcom /at/ fdv.uni-lj.si) no later than 1 February 2018. Decisions will 
be made by 1 March 2018. Full papers of no more than 6.000 words will be 
due by 1 September 2018.

Program Committee:

    Dejan Verčič, University of Ljubljana, Slovenia
    Ana Tkalac Verčič, University of Zagreb, Croatia
    Krishnamurthy Sriramesh, Purdue University, USA



---------------
The COMMLIST
---------------
This mailing list is a free service offered by Nico Carpentier. Please
use it responsibly and wisely.
--
To subscribe or unsubscribe, please visit http://commlist.org/
--
Before sending a posting request, please always read the guidelines at
http://commlist.org/
--
To contact the mailing list manager:
Email: (nico.carpentier /at/ vub.ac.be)
URL: http://nicocarpentier.net
---------------