[Commlist] IAMCR 2020 online activities

Greetings and hoping everyone is proceeding safely in these challenging 
times.

Given the rapid and unpredictable developments associated with COVID-19 
at present, and the health and safety issues and constraints associated 
with travel and conference activity, IAMCR and our partners at Tampere 
University, are planning online activities described below in lieu of a 
face-to-face conference in Finland. We have been discussing these plans 
with the Local Organizing Committee in Tampere, Section and Working 
Group heads, and the International Council. The main points are as follows:

/*We will not hold an onsite face-to-face conference in July 2020*/
The first difficult conclusion was that we would not hold a traditional 
face-to-face conference in July 2020. The conditions are simply not in 
place and the uncertainty makes it impossible to proceed responsibly.

/*We will not postpone the July 2020 conference until later in the year*/
A second conclusion was to discard the idea of postponing the conference 
for a few months, which would be complicated for a variety of scheduling 
reasons, but especially because a postponed 2020 conference would be 
only months before the 2021 conference, to be held in July.

/*We are organizing online activities for July 2020*/
While we will not hold an onsite event in 2020, we believe that there 
are many reasons to hold an online event. These reasons include, but are 
not limited to making sure that IAMCR and the work of the sections and 
working groups continue to be present in the professional lives of our 
members; exploring new ways that IAMCR can help us exchange and learn 
from each other; ensuring that the 2,400 scholars who submitted their 
work to IAMCR 2020 have a chance to share it with their peers and to get 
the visibility and professional credit they need to advance in their 
careers; and creating new ways of working together as we reshape the 
association to better face new challenges that current events have so 
dramatically reminded us of.

/*But…*/
We do not believe that a “virtual conference” with hundreds of paper 
presentations streamed live in dozens of “virtual rooms” is a viable 
option for many reasons, for instance, differing time zones, internet 
access problems, the lack of interactivity and informal exchange, and 
the unlikelihood that any of us would be willing to spend a week 
watching presentations on a screen. At the same time, other models have 
demonstrated ability to help overcome these problems.

/*Our online plans are experimental, realistic and attractive*/
Our plans for online activities include two models – /*Online sessions 
and plenaries*/ and /*Online conference papers*/. Both of these models 
serve different but important functions, as explained below, with many 
details remaining to be worked out during the coming months.

Not all of our thirty-three sections and working groups will participate 
in these sessions. We are currently surveying them. We know that a 
majority will, however, a few have other plans or have decided to 
concentrate on working towards IAMCR 2021. We will let you know the 
results of the survey as soon as they are available.


*IAMCR 2020 online sessions and plenaries *
IAMCR 2020 online sessions and plenaries will be a series of 
high-quality pre-recorded and live sessions. At the core would be a 
series of sessions, one organised by each participating section and 
working group. These sessions may include presentations based on 
submitted abstracts, or the section or working group may decide to 
organise a panel around an entirely new theme, for example, about 
emerging scholarship around health communication and the coronavirus, or 
a panel made up of 4 or 5 selected members who are asked to talk about 
emerging research in different areas covered by the section or working 
group. Section heads will decide the themes, formats and speakers. There 
are many possibilities and creativity is encouraged.

Sessions will be 60 minutes. A typical session might include an 
introduction by the chair, 4 or 5 pre-recorded presentations, including 
slides, video clips, etc.. All sessions will be recorded and made 
available for viewing online during and after the event. For a period of 
several days after their initial airing, text-based questions, comments 
and dialogue will be facilitated via the platform.

Opening and closing “plenary” sessions, organised by the Tampere “hosts” 
of the conference, will also be featured.
The online sessions and plenaries will take place over several days 
beginning on 12 July, the same day that the Beijing and Tampere 
conference were scheduled to begin, and will be accessible online to all 
IAMCR members during the event and archived for later access. There will 
be no registration fee and the “conference” and archives will be fully 
accessible to all IAMCR members.


*IAMCR 2020 online conference papers*
IAMCR 2020 online papers will be oriented to IAMCR members who want to 
present and get feedback on their work and/or to get certification of 
their presentation of a conference paper. It will also be a valuable 
repository with a significant body of current work. Within this model, 
authors of accepted abstracts will be able to submit conference papers 
of 1,000 to 4,000 words. The submissions will be “curated” by the 
section or working group heads, who would classify them according to 
broad themes or organise them into “panels”. The papers will remain 
online for at least several weeks and the heads of the sections and 
working groups may name discussants and facilitate online comments and 
discussion. All IAMCR members with accepted abstracts will be able to 
“present” one conference paper. There will be a registration fee of $25 
for presenters and all IAMCR members not presenting will be able to 
access the presentations and comment for free.

/*Why have we selected these models? */
We think the above models are far superior to a “virtual conference” 
that uses a traditional conference model in a “virtual” space for 
several reasons, including, for*IAMCR 2020 online sessions and plenaries*:

  * having fewer sessions allows for focus on quality and creativity;
  * pre-recording presentations helps avoid last-minute technical
    problems that often plague fully live events;
  * incorporating live sections in the sessions allows for interactivity
    among presenters and with viewers. Even if one presenter is lost to
    a technical problem, the interactive component can still proceed
    with the others;
  * accessible options, such as live or automatic transcription or
    captioning can minimise language barriers.

*IAMCR 2020 online conference papers* offers a practical way for authors 
to present their conference papers online, while giving all IAMCR 
members the opportunity to browse the conference papers in the IAMCR 
2020 repository at their convenience.


*/Moving forward…/*
We realize that not everyone will be able or wish to participate in 
these activities, but they offer chances to come together as a genuinely 
international community of scholarship and engagement to exchange 
experiences, formulate questions and begin setting an agenda for the future.

The current pandemia around the world has placed us all under anxiety 
and obviously the stressful situation is not conducive to facing new 
challenges. On the other hand, the present, unprecedented situation has 
made media and communication issues more topical than ever. As 
communication scholars and practitioners, we have a moral and academic 
obligation to address them and considerable expertise to draw on.



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