Strategic Communication Conference - Abstracts due Dec 1st, 2010
TEXT
There are two weeks left to submit an abstract for the 2010 ICA
pre-conference on Strategic Communication in Boston, Mass., and the Handbook
of Strategic Communication that will be based on this major event for
researchers in the field of organizational communication, public relations,
advertising, integrated communication, corporate communication, political
communication etc. Please read the call below and consider to submit until
December 1st, 2010.
Call for abstracts and papers / ICA 2011 Pre-conference
=======================================================
"Strategic communication - A concept at the center of applied
communications"
ICA 2011 - Annual Conference of the International Communication Association
Boston, Massachusetts, USA, 26-30 May 2011
Abstracts to be submitted until Dec. 1, 2010 / Full papers due May 15, 2011
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Strategic is a much contested, albeit neglected, concept in communication
studies. One of the reasons for this neglect is that strategic communication
may be associated with persuasion in its most negative sense (e.g. Habermas,
2006). However, others argue that strategic intent is inherent in all
communication (Foucault, 1984; Lyotard & Thébaud, 1985). From this
perspective strategic communication extends well beyond its practical
application in various fields of practice. In particular, thinking about
communication at the center of society requires reflections on the
frameworks of power and interests in which communication is enacted.
The focus of this preconference will be on the philosophical, theoretical,
and applied nature of strategic communication. For the purposes of this
conference strategic communication is defined as "the purposeful use of
communication by an organization to fulfill its mission ... It further
implies that people will be engaged in deliberate communication practice on
behalf of organizations, causes, and social movements" (Hallahan,
Holtzhausen, Van Ruler, Verèiè, & Sriramesh, 2007, p. 3-4). Organizations
refer to corporations, for-profit and nonprofit organizations, activist
groups, nongovernmental organizations, organizations promotion various forms
of social change, political parties or movements, and government
organizations. It also includes communicative entities such as entertainers,
performers, sports personalities, and others who form part of the pastiche
of popular culture.
Sample questions to be addressed are the following:
- Which concepts of strategy are inherent in communication science, and
which can be transferred from other disciplines like philosophy and
management science?
- How is the strategic dimension of communication reflected in fields such
as political communication, health communication, organizational
communication, public relations, advertising, and popular culture?
- How is it possible to identify strategic and non-strategic approaches in
message design, use of online media, etc.?
- Are there new approaches to strategic communication when the paradigms of
rational planning are challenged by participative cultures driven by the
social web?
- What do we know about empirical insights in strategic communication in
different regions of the world?
Researchers can apply methodologies from narrative analysis to quantitative
research.
To accommodate as many participants as possible the one-day conference will
offer up to two concurrent sections, particularly with the aim of
accommodating participants from outside the USA.
This pre-conference has been approved by the ICA 2011 organizing committee
and is part of the official ICA 2011 conference program.
Submission procedures
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Abstracts of no more than 500 words plus a short CV of the authors have to
be submitted by Dec. 1, 2010, via e-mail to
mailto:(derina.holtzhausen /at/ okstate.edu) and mailto:(zerfass /at/ uni-leipzig.de).
Participants will be notified of their acceptance by mid-January. Full paper
submissions are required by May 15, 2011.
Authors must state that they will attend the pre-conference and present
their paper in case of acceptance. Please check
http://www.icahdq.org/conferences for information (regularly updated) on
registration, accommodation, travel grants etc. The pre-conference will most
be staged all day on Thursday, May 26, 2011.
Accepted authors of selected papers will be invited to publish their work in
the Handbook of Strategic Communication, currently in the planning stage.
Possible division involvement
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Communication and Technology
Communication Law and Policy
Global Communication and Social Change
Health Communication
Instructional and Developmental Communication
Mass Communication
Organizational Communication
Philosophy of Communication
Political Communication
Public Relations
Visual Communication Studies
Panel organizers and chairs
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Dr. Derina Holtzhausen (Ph.D. University of Johannesburg; M.A. University of
South Africa; B.A. University of Pretoria) is professor and director of the
School of Media and Strategic Communications at Oklahoma State University,
USA. She teaches courses in public relations, strategic communication
management, and research at undergraduate and graduate level and serves as
the editor of the International Journal of Strategic Communication. Before
joining the University of South Florida in 1997, Dr. Holtzhausen, a native
South African, practiced communication in that country for 25 years as a
journalist, a partner in an advertising and publicity agency, and a
communication executive in both the public and private sectors. She is a
recipient of the Pathfinder Award from the U.S. Institute of Public
Relations for her original research agenda on postmodern public relations
and is a fellow of the Journalism Leadership in Diversity (JLID) and
Journalism and Mass Communication Leadership Institute of the AEJMC/ASJMC.
Since moving to the United States 13 years ago she has published 24 articles
and book chapters and presented more than 30 papers. Her upcoming book
titled Public Relations as Activism. Postmodern Approaches to Theory and
Practice is currently in press. E-Mail: (derina.holtzhausen /at/ okstate.edu)
Dr. Ansgar Zerfass is Director of the Institute of Communication and Media
Studies and Professor of Communication Management at the University of
Leipzig, Germany. Prior to joining the faculty, he worked in management
positions at various companies and institutions for ten years. He holds a
doctorate in business administration and a postdoctoral lecture
qualification (Habilitation) in communication science. Ansgar Zerfass is
engaged in various professional organizations and academic bodies, e. g. as
executive director of EUPRERA, the European Public Relations Education and
Research Association, and as associate editor of the International Journal
of Strategic Communication (Routledge Publishers). He is author and editor
of 24 books, several national and transnational empirical studies and more
than 125 journal articles and book chapters. E-Mail: (zerfass /at/ uni-leipzig.de)
References:
Foucault, M. (1984). What is Enlightenment? In P. Rabinow (Ed.), The
Foucault Reader. (pp. 32-50).
New York: Pantheon.
Habermas, J. (2006). Political communication in media society -- Does
society still enjoy an epistemic dimension? The impact of normative theory
on empirical research. Communication Theory, 16(4), 411-426.
Hallahan, K., Holtzhausen, D. R., Van Ruler, B., Verèiè, D., & Sriramesh, K.
(2007). Defining strategic Communication. International Journal of Strategic
Communication, 1(1), 3-35.
Lyotard, J.-F., & Thébaud, J. L. (1985). Just gaming (W. Godzich, Trans.).
Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.
