72ème Congrès de l'ICA - One World, One Network‽

Posted on 30 October 2021

Thématiques
News from our international partners

Event dates

From 26/05/2022 at 30/05/2022

Event place Paris , France

Theme Call for Papers

The ICA 2022 conference theme One World, One Network‽ invites reimagining communication scholarship on globalization and networks. The use of the interrobang glyph – a superposition of the exclamation and question punctuation marks – seeks to simultaneously celebrate and problematize the “one-ness” in the theme.

Arguably nothing celebrates the “one-ness” of the world more than our existential commitment to the sustainability of our planet. Indeed, the blue marble photograph of Earth taken by the crew of Apollo 17 in 1972 is one of the most reproduced images in history. In other areas, “One World” remains a contested slogan. Marshall McLuhan invoked visions of a “global village” in the 1960s. A 1980 UNESCO report titled “Many Voices, One World” introduced the phrase “New World Information and Communication Order” to recommend changes to address inequities in global media representations. The proliferation of the Internet, social media, and mobile technologies since the turn of the 21st century has generated a robust debate on the promises and perils of globalization.

Communication scholars have also interrogated the “one-ness” of networks among individuals, families, children, organizations, communities, cultures, media systems, and nation-states, among others. More recently, scholars have explored the communicative implications of networks in the human brain as well as networks of humans and autonomous agents (robots, AI). Networks offer evocative metaphors, theories, and analytical tools to help us understand communication processes and structures that undergird a wide range of domains. Communication scholars have deployed network approaches to understand education, healthcare, sustainability, policy making, as well as work and organization. They have probed the interplay between networks and journalism, media governance, popular culture, visual representations and online gaming. And, they have explored how networks enable and undermine social support, social justice, and social movements. Networks also offer us a lens to problematize – and address – issues such as the geo-political fragmentation of the Internet (“Splinternet”), cyberattacks, disinformation, exclusion, extremism, hate, marginalization, oppression, polarization, and racism. In addition to helping us reimagine our engagement with globalization and networks, advances in technologies are spurring new computational modes of intellectual inquiry alongside more established empirical, interpretive, discursive, rhetorical, and critical approaches.

The theme invites research, reflection, and critique of the “One World, One Network‽” discourse in communication studies on questions including (but not limited to) the following :

How do we theorize and model interdependent networks nested at many levels (from brain cells to societies) to better understand and enable how communicative processes and structures shape our world ?
How do global networks organize and mobilize socio-political contestations online and offline ? How can networks of resistance, solidarity, and counter-power through regional formations both beyond and beneath the nation-state shape “Another World” ?
How are advances in artificial intelligence, robotization, the Internet of Things, genetic engineering, and neuroscience, among others, contributing to the future trajectories of algorithmically infused societies and networks, at work and play, around the world ?
How are media systems – old and new – nurturing networks of “intimate publics” and “counter publics” among communities around the globe ?
How and why do some networks infiltrate mainstream media systems with disinformation, propaganda, and hate while other networks find themselves ignored, censored, or targeted ?
How are networks contributing to images of the Global South produced and consumed in the Global North – and vice versa ? How do these asymmetries shape inequities in our responses to global challenges such as pandemics and sustainable development ?
How can networks change the lived experiences – training, mentoring, publishing, co-authoring, and recruiting – of under-represented scholars around the world in the field of communication ? How do we square the circle of “oneness” while promoting visibility of minoritized positions ? What must we do to decolonize communication scholarship and address methodological imperialism ? How do we expand the notion of “One World” to also signal, inclusively, “All Our World(s)” ?

Submission guidelines for the ICA 2022 Conference Theme :

All individual and panel Conference Theme submissions must focus on globalization and networks and intellectually engage with at least two or more divisions/interest groups ; all Conference Theme submissions must include a (maximum 100-word) narrative articulating this inter-divisional/interest group engagement. In addition, all submissions are encouraged to reflect diversity in terms of the region, ethnicity, gender, and career stage of those contributing as well as those cited. Engagement with other academic disciplines (including those beyond the social sciences and humanities) and non-academic entities is also encouraged. Submissions are invited for in-person presentations as well as remotely originating from either a Regional Hub meeting or individually.

NEW : Multi-lingual submissions and presentations. Submissions are invited in languages preferred by scholars. Provisions will be made to provide automated or human-in-the-loop translations for purposes of review and for audiences. If submitting in another language besides English, please list in parenthesis of the title.

NEW : Contributors of individual and panel submissions to Conference Theme will be requested to self-assess diversity. At the time of submission, individuals who seek to contribute to the conference theme will self-assess : (i) the extent to which the submission focuses on a specific region of the world or is global in its scope ; (ii) the extent to which the submission references and builds on scholarship diverse in terms of region, ethnicity, gender, and career stage ; (iii) the extent to which coauthors (if any) reflect diversity in terms of region, ethnicity, gender, career stage, other academic disciplines (including those beyond the social sciences and humanities), and non-academic entities (e.g., civil society, government, industry, NGOs, policy makers). In addition to the above, contributors to all panel conference theme submissions will be requested to self-assess, at submission, the extent to which the pane as a whole reflect diversity in terms of region, ethnicity, gender, career stage, other academic disciplines (including those beyond the social sciences and humanities), and non-academic entities (e.g., civil society, government, industry, NGOs, policy makers). These self-assessments will be used along with other criteria in making decisions about submission acceptances.

Panel conference-theme submissions are encouraged to : (i) showcase and/or critique ongoing inter-divisional communication scholarship relevant to the conference theme ; (ii) propose the development of an inter-divisional research agenda relevant to the conference theme ; and/or (iii) assemble a blue-sky session for individuals to workshop nascent ideas that could lead to the future development of an inter-divisional research agenda relevant to the conference theme.

In addition to submissions to be presented during the conference, contributors are invited to submit proposals for pre- and post- Conference-theme workshops that could be in-person, online or hybrid, in and around Paris as well as from locations around the world.

NEW : Digital Artifacts Exhibition on Conference Theme : Contributors are invited to submit “Digital Artifacts” relevant to the conference theme. The exhibit will launch online in early 2022 and continue past the conference. Submissions can be in the form of artwork, information visualizations, oral histories, performance art, installation art, interactive, multimedia, 3-D, augmented reality, and virtual-reality offerings that highlight aspects of the conference theme. The digital exhibition platform will offer opportunities for online dialog and will be recognized with special ICA-wide awards. Submissions should use the main conference submission platform and include a document with up to 100 words describing the digital artifact being submitted, including the modality, motivation for the piece, connections to the « One World, One Network » conference theme, and 1-2 images from the artifact that you can share. Please also include a bio (up to 100 words per author).

Submissions to theme sessions must follow all general guidelines put forward by ICA. Proposals for papers, panels, material and digital artifacts, as well as pre- and post- conference workshops on the conference theme are invited from all sectors of the field and will be evaluated competitively by anonymous reviewers selected by the Conference Theme Committee. Submissions deemed to fit only the interests of one division or interest group rather than the conference as a whole will be forwarded to that group for consideration. Papers or panels submitted to the theme must not be submitted simultaneously for consideration to any division or interest group.

Panel proposals on the conference theme must include a 400-word rationale explaining how the panel fits the conference theme, a 100-word rationale articulating how the panel intellectually engages with multiple divisions/interest groups, plus a separate 150-word summary of the rationale to appear in the conference program. .

Generals proposals

As always : Papers, posters, panels, Blue Sky workshops, and pre-conference and post-conference workshops that apply to general communication topics not having to do with the conference theme are also welcome. These are organized within the 33 ICA divisions and interest groups’ calls for papers, the submission guidelines for which will be enumerated on the ICA website in August.

All panel submissions (general and theme) should include contributions from at least two different countries ; not more than one contributor from a single faculty, department or school ; and generally, must actively seek panelist diversity. Paper and panel submissions that involve direct collaboration with community partners, both in work and in authorship, are encouraged.

NEW : Non-Conference Theme Inter-Divisional/Interest Groups Panels. In addition, proposals are invited for panels that address significant issues across divisions/interest groups that are not directly related to the conference theme. Proposals must provide a 400-word rationale for the intellectual and/or societal significance of the panel, a 100-word rationale articulating how the panel intellectually engages with multiple divisions/interest groups, plus a separate 150-word summary of the rationale to appear in the conference program. Inter-divisional non-conference theme panels will NOT count toward the slots allocated for each Division/Interest Group.

To summarize, the 2022 ICA Call for Papers invites multi-lingual contributions to : (i) Conference Theme ICA-wide individual submissions, (ii) Conference Theme ICA-wide Panel Submissions, (iii) Conference Theme ICA-wide Digital Artifacts, (iv) Conference Theme ICA-wide pre- and post-Conference workshops, (v) Non-Conference Theme ICA-Wide Inter-Divisional/IG panels, (vi) Non-Conference Theme Division/IG individual, panel and pre-/post conference workshop submissions,(vii) Sponsored Panels, and (viii) Blue Sky sessions.

NEW : ICA 2022 Conference Theme Podcast miniseries. Stay tuned for an ICA conference theme podcast miniseries, where the first episode features a discussion among the six conference-theme co-chairs and each of the remaining six episodes is hosted by one of the conference-theme co-chairs.