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Preconference Schedule and Registration Now Open
You can now view the online schedule and register for the CHIG-sponsored preconference Historiography as Intervention, organized by Travers Scott and Devon Powers.
The precon will be held May 24, 2012, from 8:30-17:30 at the conference hotel, the Phoenix Sheraton Downtown, in Phoenix, Arizona, USA.
The day’s planned events include:
- Keynote address by Anna Everett, Professor of Film and Media Studies, University of California at Santa Barbara
- Invited scholar panel, “What Counts as Communication History?” featuring Norma Coates, Associate Professor, Don Wright Faculty of Music and Faculty of Information and Media Studies, University of Western Ontario; Robert McChesney, Gutsgell Professor of Communication, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign; and David Serlin, Associate Professor of Communication, University of California San Diego
- Interactive Korsakow System documentary by Mary Elizabeth Luka
- Paper presentations from South Africa, Israel, Mexico, Canada, and the United States on recovered histories, critical practice, policy engagements, and interdisciplinarity
You can view the schedule and find registration instructions here
Preconference Deadline Extended to December 1
The CHIG-sponsored preconference, “Historiography as Intervention,” has extended its deadline for abstract submissions. The new deadline is December 1, 2011.
The call for papers and other information about the preconference can be found here.
New for Arizona: Innovative Methods Workshop
Each ICA division and interest group is programming an ‘extended session’ for Phoenix, designed to run two-and-half-hours and to feature a non-traditional format. The CHIG extended session, ‘Innovative Methods in Communication History: A Workshop,’ is designed to showcase and circulate innovative methods being used by historians of communication. The workshop will feature three rounds of short presentations (5 to 7 minutes), followed in each round by a 20-minute breakout session. Presenters will provide a brief overview of their methods, including concrete examples. In the breakout sessions, presenters will spread out to assigned stations, where attendees will have the chance to ask questions and, when relevant, to view narrated demonstrations. We are excited about the potential of this new format in general, and the methods showcase in particular.
See the CHIG call for papers for submission details.
ICA and CHIG Elections Underway
Elections for ICA officers and for CHIG vice-chair are now underway. Voting is online, at
http://www.icahdq.org/elections/Annual2011/
Be sure to vote soon, since polls close on Friday, October 14 at 12:00 noon, EST.
The statements of the CHIG vice-chair candidates are on the election website, and are copied below:
John Laprise (Northwestern U, USA)
I’m John Laprise and I would like to be vice chair of the Communication History Interest Group. I strongly believe in the importance of our group in the broader scheme of the ICA and look forward to becoming a full-fledged Division. I view myself as a historian of technology focusing on the interrelationship between government, ICT, and national security. And while the national security component is not a factor here, I am all too keenly aware of bureaucratic function and dysfunction. Going forward, our Interest Group will be likely taking on a more prominent role within the ICA and it will be increasingly important to effectively manage and coordinate efforts within our Group and with other Divisions. My academic work will usefully inform my administrative work. Expansion of the group is also important. As historians, I believe that we have a built-in advantage in that we are, on one level, storytellers. If we tell an interesting story our audience will be captivated, no matter their discipline. We have a great opportunity to expand our ranks within ICA by generating interest in history and telling stories that inform. Externally, we also can bring communications historians to our ranks from other organizations such as SHOT and ICOHTEC, where they practice unaware of our existence. Finally as an international faculty member working, I am well-positioned to invite communication historians globally to join us and share their work.
Rick Popp (U of Wisconsin – Milwaukee, USA)
I’m assistant professor of media studies at the U of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. My research focuses on the history of consumer culture. Recently, I’ve had articles appear in Technology & Culture, Book History, CSMC, and Journalism History. Next year, LSU Press will publish my study of postwar tourism marketing, The Holiday Makers. Along with ICA, I’ve been involved with ASA, SHARP, AEJMC, AJHA, and NCA.
My enthusiasm for CHIG dates to its founding and I’m excited about serving the group in a more formal capacity. CHIG has emerged as a dynamic research forum for media scholarship steeped in innovative historiography. At the core of CHIG’s dynamism are its cross-disciplinary character and international makeup, which together infuse it with fresh thinking from across academia and around the world.
Because CHIG has thrived so early, Interest Group status will likely yield to full divisional standing before long. When that happens, it will be important for CHIG to remain intellectually nimble while also capitalizing on its new institutional clout. Embracing the group’s core characteristics will allow us to do so. We should continue to actively build ties beyond the traditional bounds of North American communication scholarship. Preconferences provide a great opportunity to invite noted scholars from other disciplines (history, anthropology, sociology) into the fold. Giving priority to preconference and panel themes that find creative ways to make CHIG’s internationalism a starting point can also keep our programming lively. Such approaches could include, but certainly aren’t limited to, defining connections via transportation networks, in the manner of a field like Pacific Studies; or, taking an inquiry like Sidney Mintz’s Sweetness and Power as a model, tracing global flows of capital and culture.
ICA Submission Site Now Open
ICA has officially opened its submission site for the 2012 Arizona conference!
See CHIG’s official call for papers here.
You have until 11pm on November 1 to submit your panel, paper, or—a new format for Arizona—an extended session. (See the call for papers for more details.)
CHIG Top Paper Awards
Congratulations to the 2011 recipients of the CHIG top paper awards!
Top Student Paper: “‘Predatory Interests’ and ‘The Common Man’: Scripps, Pinchot, and the Nascent Environmental Movement, 1908 to 1910,” by Edgar Simpson (Ohio University)
Top Paper: “To Give the Gift of Freedom: Gift Books and the War on Slavery,” by Meaghan Morissa Fritz (Georgetown University) and Frank E. Fee, Jr. (University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill)
Minutes from the Business Meeting in Boston
Thanks to Deb Lubken, the CHIG secretary, for compiling the minutes from our Business Meeting in Boston.
The minutes can be downloaded here. Thanks Deb!
ICA Boston is Days Away
The International Communication Association’s ICA meeting in Boston is just days away. Here are a few CHIG-related highlights:
BUSINESS MEETING
- FRIDAY (MAY 27th)
- 4:30 pm to 5:45 pm
- Westin Waterfront, Bulfinch Room
The business meeting is open to all members of ICA, and we strongly urge you to attend. We will recognize the Interest Group’s top paper awardees, and discuss (no doubt ambitious) plans for the future.
You can download last year’s minutes here.
And download the tentative agenda for this year’s meeting here.
RECEPTION
We have a genuinely posh reception this year, immediately following the business meeting:
- FRIDAY (MAY 27TH)
- 6pm promt
- Westin Waterfront’s Waterfront Terrace
There will be complimentary drinks and hot hors d’oeuvres, thanks to the reception’s sponsor, Polity, and to our co-hosts in Popular Communication, Philosophy of Communication, and Ethnicity and Race in Communication.
SESSIONS
We have a record 10 panels and sessions scheduled for Boston, as well as five papers in the Interactive Poster Session. The full schedule, broken down by day, can be found here.
And a pdf version here.
We hope to see crowds at all the CHIG events and sessions!
CHIG Has a New Website!
The Communication History Interest Group website has received a much-needed makeover. Among other new pages, you’ll find session schedules for the Mediating War & Technology Preconferene and the main CHIG sessions.