Hallett Gives 2020 Mead Lecture in NCA
The Society for the Study of Symbolic Interaction-National Communication
Association Branch (SSSI-NCA Branch) is pleased to announce the
presentation of George Herbert Mead Lecture in the 2020 annual convention
of National Communication Association (NCA), November 17-20, by Tim Hallett
(Indiana University). The 2020 NCA Convention is to be held virtually, and
Hallett will present the lecture in synchronized presentation via zoom to
convention attendees. This event is co-sponsored by the Society for the
Study of Symbolic Interaction (SSSI).
Hallett's lecture is entitled, "Learning to Think Like an Economist without
Becoming One: Professional Education and Ambivalent Reproduction in a
Masters of Public Affairs Program."
It is available for viewing on YouTube, here.
Drawing from a 2-year ethnography of a
cohort of students at a highly regarded Masters of Public Affairs program,
this project focuses on the role of economic logics in the education and
professional socialization of future policy makers. In doing so, Hallett
and associate contribute to recent efforts to reimagine the literature on
professions by focusing on an important type of managerial profession and
one of the degree programs associated with this occupational group. Hallett
and associate ask and answer questions yet to be engaged in this new line
of work: How do people learn and acquire the institutional logics that they
deploy in their professional careers, and how do they come to think of
those logics as "professional"? More specifically, how do people learn
economic logics and come to view them in policy terms? How are these
would-be policy professionals made? These are questions of professional
socialization, and to answer them Hallett and associate utilize an
inhabited institutional approach that creates a dialogue between current
institutional understandings of the managerial professions and classic
symbolic interactionist research on occupational socialization. They argue
that a key part of the socialization of MPAs is to learn to think like an
economist without becoming one: in the context of the MPA program, to
become an economist would mean becoming an academic, a career that the
students eschew, whereas to become a professional is to put a way of
thinking to use through practical understandings and quantitative
methodological tools for developing and evaluating policies. The students
are ambivalent about economics, but they are primed to accept the
legitimacy of economics logics nonetheless.
George Herbert Mead Lecture Series is an annual presentation established by
the branch unit of Society for the Study of Symbolic Interaction (SSSI) in
NCA since 2008. The purpose of the lecture series is to promote the study
of symbolic interactionism in the field of communication.
The lecture serves to engage dialogues, discussions, and collaboration
efforts between sociologists and communication researchers. NCA is the
oldest academic organization in the field of communication, with a
membership of more than 9,000 worldwide. NCA Convention is attended by
more than 5,000 scholars, researchers, practitioners and students in the
field of communication annually.
Past Mead Lecture presenters include:
2008 Michael Katovich (San Diego)
2009 Gary Alan Fine (Chicago)
2010 Kathy Charmaz (San Francisco)
2011 Christopher Faircloth (New Orleans)
2012 Carolyn Ellis (Orlando)
2013Natalia Ruiz-Junco(Washington, DC)
2015 Michael Ian Borer (Las Vegas)
2016Beth Montemurro (Philadelphia)
2017 Michael Katovich (Dallas)
2018 Frank Page (Salt Lake City)
2019 Julie Wiest (Baltimore)
For more information about Mead Lecture Series, please contact Shing-Ling
Sarina Chen (sarina.chen [at] uni.edu), coordinator of SSSI-NCA Branch.
2019 Couch Center Awards Announced
- Hart Winner of 2019 Gronbeck Political Communication Research Award
- Guarneri Won 2019 Carey Media Research Award
- Howe and Bisel Won 2019 Saxton Applied Research Award
- Kenney and Akita Won 2019 Christians Ethics Research Award
- Schrock, McCabe and Vaccaro Won 2019 Maines Narrative Research Award
- Burkhard Won 2019 Norman K. Denzin Award
- Geiss Won 2019 Couch Internet Research Award
Hart Winner of 2019 Gronbeck Political Communication Research Award
Carl Couch Center for Social and Internet Research (www.cccsir.com) is pleased to announce the co-winners of 2019 Bruce E. Gronbeck Political Communication Research Award.
Roderick Hart (University of Texas, Austin) won the 2019 Gronbeck Award with his work, Civic Hope: How Ordinary Americans Keep Democracy Alive. In this work, Hart presents a history of what everyday Americans say – in their own words – about the government overseeing their lives. Based on an analysis of 10,000 letters to the editor from 1948 to the present published in twelve U.S. cities, Hart shows why the nation still thrives. Hart maintains that the vitality of a democracy lies not in its strengths but in its weaknesses and in the willingness of its people to address those weaknesses with surcease. Hart argues that the key is to sustain a culture of argument at the grassroots level.
Carl Couch Center wishes to thank members of the Gronbeck Award Review Committee in reviewing applications: Robert Hariman (Northwestern University), David Henry (UNLV), Thomas Hollihan (University of Southern California), and Judith Trent (University of Cincinnati).
Gronbeck Award is an annual competition established by the Carl Couch Center to recognize outstanding published works that interpret or address theoretical-conceptual, historical, and critical-cultural issues of political communication. Submissions are evaluated based on the quality of (1) originality, (2) organization, (3) presentation, and (4) advancement of knowledge. For more information about Gronbeck Award please contact Shing-Ling Sarina Chen at sarina.chen@uni.edu, or visit the Couch Center website at www.cccsir.com.
Guarneri Won 2019 Carey Media Research Award
Carl Couch Center for Social and Internet Research (www.cccsir.com) is pleased to announce the winner of 2019 James W. Carey Media Research Award.
Julia Guarneri (University of Cambridge) won the 2019 Carey Award with her work, *Newsprint Metropolis: City Papers and the Making of Modern Americans*. In this book, Guarneri uses New York, Philadelphia, Milwaukee, and Chicago as case studies to demonstrate how city papers became active agents in creating metropolitan spaces and distinctive urban culture. Guarneri illustrates the linked histories of newspapers and the cities they served.
Carl Couch Center wishes to thank the hard work of members of the Carey Award Review Committee: Dr. Matt Carlson (University of Minnesota), Dr. Kathy Roberts Forde (University of Massachusetts), and Dr. Linda Steiner (University of Maryland).
Carey Award is an annual competition established by the Couch Center to recognize outstanding works on topics that were central to Carey's scholarship. Submissions focus on technology, time & space and communication, the nature ofpublic life, the relation between journalism and popular culture – among others – taking these themes in new or
different directions. Applicationsare evaluated based on engagement with Carey's approaches and concepts, originality, and advancement of knowledge.
For more information about Carey Award please contact Shing-Ling Sarina Chen at sarina.chen@uni.edu, or visit the Couch Center website at www.cccsir.com.
Howe and Bisel Won 2019 Saxton Applied Research Award
Carl Couch Center for Social and Internet Research (www.cccsir.com) is proud to announce the winners of 2019 Stanley L. Saxton Applied Research Award.
William Howe, Jr. and Ryan Bisel (University of Oklahoma) won the award with their work, “Storytelling of Organizational Entry on Virtual Spaces: The Memorable Messages of “Awesome [Stuff] My Drill Sergeant Said.”
In this work, Howe and Bisel argue that potential organizational members are increasingly consuming socialization stories via virtual spaces. They indicate that virtual spaces represent a new and potent means by which members share memorable messages from their organizational experiences. They analyze storytelling about memorable socialization messages regarding basic training posted to a military-themed website. 200 stories were randomly selected for analysis. These stories were first evaluated inductively for common themes and then coded, based on military portrayal, and associated with viewer ratings. Statistical analysis revealed that viewers rated positive military portrayals more favorably than negative portrayals. Implications for military socialization, virtual spaces, and totalistic organizations conclude the essay.
Carl Couch Center wishes to thank the Review Committee members for their hard work to make this award possible, and they are: Steven Buban (Monmouth College), Michael Katovich (Texas Christian University) and Joel Powell Dahlquist (Minnesota State University, Moorhead).
Saxton Award is an annual competition, open to both students and the faculty who submit papers that focus on how theory, research, and/or practice contribute to addressing real, pragmatic, social problems. Papers may be theoretical, methodological, or empirical in nature. For more information about Saxton Award, please contact Shing-Ling Sarina Chen at sarina.chen@uni.edu, or visit the Couch Center website at www.cccsir.com.
Kenney and Akita Won 2019 Christians Ethics Research Award
Carl Couch Center for Social and Internet Research (www.cccsir.com) is pleased to announce the winners of 2019 Clifford G. Christians Ethics Research Award. Rick Kenney (Augusta University) and Kimiko Akita (Aichi Prefectural University, Nagakute, Japan) won the 2019 Christians Award with their work, “Made in Japan: Connecting the Dots through Contemporary Communitarianism’s Intellectual History.” In this work, Kenney and Akita evaluate communitarianism as a media ethic, and extend the communitarian ideal by connecting it to notions constructed by a Japanese philosopher,Tetsuro Watsuji, .
Carl Couch Center wishes to thank members of the Christians Award Review Committee: Ronald Arnett (Duquesne University), Deni Elliott (University of South Florida, St. Petersburg), Robert Fortner (Calvin College), Melba Velez Ortiz (Grand Valley State University), and Lee Wilkins (University of Missouri).
Christians Award is an annual competition established by the Couch Center to recognize outstanding ethics research that interpret or address important theoretical issues in the areas of ethics, mass communication theory, and the relationship between media and technology and culture, interpret and apply concepts employed in Christians' work in new and insightful ways. Submissions are evaluated based on the quality of (1) mastery of Christians’ approaches and concepts, (2) originality, (3) organization, (4) presentation, and (5) advancement of knowledge.
For more information about Christians Award please contact Shing-Ling Chen at sarina.chen@uni.edu, or visit the Couch Center website at www.cccsir.com.
Schrock, McCabe and Vaccaro Won 2019 Maines Narrative Research Award
The Carl Couch Center for Social and Internet Research (www.cccsir.com) is pleased to announce the winner of 2019 David R. Maines Narrative Research Award.
Douglas Schrock (Florida State University), Janice McCabe (Dartmouth College), and Christian Vaccaro (Indiana University of Pennsylvania) won the 2019 Maines Award for their work, “Narrative Manhood Acts: BattererIntervention Program Graduates’ TragicRelationships.” In this article, the authors analyze how twenty graduates of a Batterer Intervention Program constructed autobiographical stories about their relationships with women they assaulted. They focus on the presentation of gendered selves via narrative manhood acts, which they define as self-narratives that signify membership in the category “man” and the possession of a masculine self. Their study demonstrates the usefulness of narrative analysis for research on batterers’ accounts and manhood acts, and also shows how oppositional genre-making can be a method to resist organizational narratives.
Couch Center wishes to thank the hard work of the Maines Award Review Committee members to make the award evaluation posssible—Elaine Jenks (West Chester University), William Rawlins (Ohio University), Jim Thomas (Northern Illinois University) and Jeff Ulmer (Pennsylvania State University).
The Maines Award is an annual competition, open to both students and the faculty who submit papers that (1) interpret or address Maines’ pragmatist approaches, (2) apply Maines’ narrative concepts to a social/communication event, (3) develop aspects of Maines’ scholarship in new directions, or (4) integrate the humanistic development of narrative and Maines' pragmatist conceptual and theoretical direction. For more information about Maines Award, please visit the Couch Center website at www.cccsir.com, or contact Shing-Ling Sarina Chen at sarina.chen@uni.edu.
Burkhard Won 2019 Norman K. Denzin Award
Carl Couch Center for Social and Internet Research (www.cccsir.com) is pleased to announce the winner of 2019 Norman K. Denzin Qualitative Research Award.
Tanja Burkhard (University of Pittsburgh) won the 2019 Denzin Award with “A New Spelling of My Name”: Becoming a (Black, feminist, immigrant) Autoethnographer through Zami. In this article, Burkhard provides the historical context for the reception of Audre Lorde’s biomythography Zami’s by Black women across the African diaspora as a backdrop for an autoethnographic engagement of the book.
Carl Couch Center wishes to thank members of Denzin Award Review Committee: Bryant Alexander (Loyola Marymount University), Bob Rinehart (The University of Waikato, New Zealand), Stacy Holman Jones (Monash University, Australia), Marcelo Diversi (Washington State University, Vancouver).
Denzin Award is an annual competition established by the Couch Center to recognize outstanding works that (1) interpret or address Denzin’s theoretical or interpretive approaches, (2) demonstrate creative narrative ethnographies/autoethnographies as advocated by Denzin, (3) apply Denzinian concepts to a communication event, be it social or mediated, etc., (4) synthesize Denzinian ideas with other lines of scholarship, or (5) develop aspects of Dezinian scholarship in new directions, to be considered for Denzin Award.
For more information about Denzin Award please contact Shing-Ling Chen at sarina.chen@uni.edu, or visit the Couch Center website at www.cccsir.com.
Geiss Won 2019 Couch Internet Research Award
The Carl Couch Center for Social and Internet Research (www.cccsir.com) is pleased to announce the winner of 2019 Carl J. Couch Internet Research Award.
Carley Geiss (University of South Florida) won the 2019 Couch Award for her work, “Exploring Cultural Conventions of Compassionate Healthcare through Virtual Narrative Ethnography.” In this study, Geiss illustrates how public organizational narratives about compassionate healthcare reflect and reinforce cultural systems of meaning. Using virtual narrative ethnography of Schwartz Center of Compassionate Healthcare, Geiss demonstrates the construction of a formula story that operates through (1) characterization of the “compassionate-worthy patient,” (2) a plot of empathetic connection and compassionate action between patients and providers, and (3) morals that communicate personal, clinical, and institutional benefits of compassion in healthcare.
Couch Award is an annual competition, open to students who submit papers that (1) use a symbolic interactionist approach inInternet studies, (2) explore the interfacebetween deliberate social interaction and structured (or automated)interactions sponsored or enacted by various technological features, and(3) examine not only how identities, relations, and social formations arenegotiated through social interactions, but also how these interactions aremediated further through the use or capacities of various technologies.
For more information about Couch Award, please visit the Couch Center website at www.cccsir.com, or contact Shing-Ling Sarina Chen at sarina.chen@uni.edu.
COUCH CENTER NOTES
April, 2018
- 2017 Carl Couch Internet Resarch Award Announcement
- 2017 James W. Carey Media Research Award Announcement
- 2017 Clifford G. Christians Ethics Research Award Announcement
- 2017 Norman K. Denzin Qualitative Research Award Announcement
- 2017 Bruce E. Gronbeck Political Communication Research Award Announcement
- 2017 David R. Maines Narrative Research Award Announcement
- 2017 Stanley L. Saxton Applied Research Award Announcement
- 2017 Steve Jones Internet Research Lecture Series Announcement
- 2017 G. Jon Hall Online GIFT Forum Announcement
- 2017 NCA Convention Events: a. 2017 Ellis-Bochner Autoethnography and Personal Narrative Research Award Announcement
- 2017 Couch Center President's Awards Announcement
- 2017 SSSI-NCA Service Award Announcement
b. 2017 Bill Ayers Communication Forum: Communicating for Social Justice
c. 2017 George Herbert Mead Lecture Series: Symbolic Interaction and Communication
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Julien is Winner of 2017 Couch Award
DECORAH, Iowa -- Chris Julien, a Ph.D. student in Sociology at The Pennsylvania State University, is the winner of the 2017 Carl J. Couch Internet Research Award. The Couch Award is presented annually by the Carl Couch Center for Social and Internet Research (www.cccsir.com) and recognizes excellent student-authored papers.
Julien's paper, "The Information-Technological Media of Imgur, Reddit and Twitter," uses Couch’s foundational work on information technologies to evaluate some sociological research since the time of his writing, and to argue that each unique website studied constitutes a distinct information-technological medium.
Julien holds a BA in Religious Studies from Grove City College in Pennsylvania, and recently completed his MA in Sociology at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro.
The Couch Award was established by the Couch Center in 2002 as the centerpiece of an extensive awards program. Competition is open to graduate or undergraduate students of all disciplines, and winners are selected by a committee of university professors. The winner receives a cash award as well as the opportunity to present the paper at the international conference of the Association of Internet Researchers in October.
The Carl Couch Center for Social and Internet Research is a non-profit organization established to promote the scholarship of the late Carl J. Couch and his academic associates. The Center provides networking opportunities for students and scholars who conduct social and Internet research inspired by Couch's work.
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Pooley wins of 2017 James Carey Award
Dr. Jefferson Pooley, associate professor and chair of media and communication at Muhlenberg College in Allentown, Pennsylvania, is the winner of the 2017 James W. Carey Media Research Award competition sponsored by the Carl Couch Center for Social and Internet Research (www.cccsir.com). Pooley is the author of the book, James W. Carey and Communication Research: Reputation at the University’s Margins, published in 2016 by Peter Lang.
The Carey Award, established in 2004, is presented annually from among nominated or submitted books or journal articles published in the previous year. The award honors the late Dr. James W. Carey (1934-2006). Dr. Carey was recognized as one of the North American pioneers in applying cultural approaches to the study of mass media.
To be worthy of the award, the work must be of highest quality and employ Carey's theories to focus on communication and public life, journalism, or popular culture. The winning entry this year was chosen from an exceptionally strong field of works submitted by a long list of outstanding scholars.
As the book cover notes, "Pooley provides a critical introduction to Carey’s work, tracing the evolution of his media theorizing from his graduate school years through to the publication in 1989, of his landmark Communication as Culture. The book is an attempt to understand the unusual if also undeniable significance that Carey holds for so many communication scholars, as well as making his work accessible to advanced undergraduate and postgraduate students."
A member of the review committee commented, "One of the virtues of Jeff’s book is that its organization matches the way Carey thought about his intellectual life. Carey would choose, for some number of years, to think about a topic through the work of a particular group of thinkers whose perspectives and voices he found congenial. That is a different and more literary approach to talking about theory than most scholars take. He was less interested in parsing all the nuances of different schools of thought and more concerned with capturing the essence of a writer’s voice and insight. Jeff’s book accurately captures and makes sense of that trajectory of thought."
The committee also wishes to honorably mention Dr. Holly Kruse, associate professor of communication at Rogers State University in Claremore, Oklahoma for her book, Off-Track and Online: The Networked Spaces of Horse Racing, for outstanding application of Carey’s theories.
The Carl Couch Center for Social and Internet Research is a non-profit organization established to promote the scholarship of the late Carl J. Couch and his academic associates. Couch is recognized as the founder of The New Iowa School in sociological and communication inquiry, and was a pioneer in the qualitative research of information technologies.
The Center provides networking opportunities for students and scholars who conduct social and Internet research, inspired by Couch's work.
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Mark Ward Won 2017 Christians Ethics Research Award
Carl Couch Center for Social and Internet Research (www.cccsir.com) is pleased to announce the winner of 2017 Clifford G. Christians Ethics Research Award. Mark Ward (University of Houston-Victoria) won the 2017 Christians Award with his work, The Electronic Church in the Digital Age: Cultural Impacts of Evangelical Mass Media. This two-volume set investigates the evangelical presence in America as experienced through digital media, examining current evangelical ideologies regarding education, politics, family and government.
Carl Couch Center wishes to thank members of the Christians Award Review Committee: Ronald Arnett (Duquesne University), Deni Elliott (University of South Florida, St. Petersburg), Robert Fortner (Calvin College), Melba Velez Ortiz (Grand Valley State University), and Lee Wilkins (University of Missouri).
Christians Award is an annual competition established by the Couch Center to recognize outstanding ethics research that interpret or address important theoretical issues in the areas of ethics, mass communication theory, and the relationship between media and technology and culture, interpret and apply concepts employed in Christians' work in new and insightful ways. Submissions are evaluated based on the quality of (1) mastery of Christians’ approaches and concepts, (2) originality, (3) organization, (4) presentation, and (5) advancement of knowledge. For more information about Christians Award please contact Shing-Ling Chen at sarina.chen@uni.edu, or visit the Couch Center website at www.cccsir.com.
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Anne Harris Won 2017 Norman K. Denzin Award
Carl Couch Center for Social and Internet Research (www.cccsir.com) is pleased
to announce the winner of 2017 Norman K. Denzin Qualitative Research Award.
Anne Harris (Monash University, Melbourne, Australia) won the 2017 Denzin Award
with her article, “Love Has a Body that Feels Like Heat.” In this
article, Harris argues that genderlessness or postgendered orientations are
not the same as genderqueer affect/s. She contends that Donna Haraway’s
figure of the cyborg helps imagine what a genderqueer affect might be. Harris
indicates that genderqueer experience (including affect) can help individuals
move beyond the limitations of gendered as well as epistemological dualisms.
Harris believes that affect transcends the reductive notions of materiality
that return us always to dualistic constructions, including gendered ones. Harris
further concludes that Kathleen Stewart’s attention to affect—both
experienced as well as embodied, a doing as well as a thing—provides a
way into and out of the genderqueer body that is not dependent upon its materiality.
Carl Couch Center wishes to thank members of the Denzin Award Review Committee:
Bryant Alexander (Loyola Marymount University), Bob Rinehart (The University
of Waikato, New Zealand), Stacy Holman Jones (California State University, Northridge),
Marcelo Diversi (Washington State University, Vancouver).
Denzin Award is an annual competition established by the Couch Center to recognize
outstanding works that (1) interpret or address Denzin’s theoretical or
interpretive approaches, (2) demonstrate creative narrative ethnographies/autoethnographies
as advocated by Denzin, (3) apply Denzinian concepts to a communication event,
be it social or mediated, etc., (4) synthesize Denzinian ideas with other lines
of scholarship, or (5) develop aspects of Dezinian scholarship in new directions,
to be considered for Denzin Award. For more information about Denzin Award please
contact Shing-Ling Chen at sarina.chen@uni.edu, or visit the Couch Center website
at www.cccsir.com.
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Hariman and Lucaites Won 2017 Gronbeck Political Communication
Research Award
Carl Couch Center for Social and Internet Research (www.cccsir.com) is pleased
to announce the winners of 2017 Bruce E. Gronbeck Political Communication Research
Award.
Robert Hariman (Northwestern University) and John Lucaites (Indiana University)
won the 2017 Gronbeck Award with their work, The Public Image. In this book,
Hariman and Hucaites make the case for a fundamental shift in understanding
photography and public culture. In place of suspicions about the medium’s
capacity for distraction, deception, and manipulation, they suggest how it can
provide resources for democratic communication and thoughtful reflection about
contemporary social problems.
Carl Couch Center wishes to thank members of the Gronbeck Award Review Committee:
David Henry (UNLV), Thomas Hollihan (University of Southern California), Mary
E. Stuckey (Georgia State University), and Judith S. Trent (University of Cincinnati).
Gronbeck Award is an annual competition established by the Carl Couch Center
to recognize outstanding published works that interpret or address theoretical-conceptual,
historical, and critical-cultural issues of political communication. Submissions
are evaluated based on the quality of (1) originality, (2) organization, (3)
presentation, and (4) advancement of knowledge. For more information about Gronbeck
Award please contact Shing-Ling Chen at sarina.chen@uni.edu, or visit the Couch
Center website at www.cccsir.com.
McGinty Won 2017 Maines Narrative Research Award
The Carl Couch Center for Social and Internet Research (www.cccsir.com) is pleased to announce the winner of 2017 David R. Maines Narrative Research Award.
Patrick McGinty (Western Illinois University) won the 2017 Maines Award for his work, “Ruinous Reification: The Astructural Bias in Symbolic Interactionism.” In this article, McGinty analyzes the current state of the astructural bias in symbolic ineractionism as it relates to three inter-related processes over time. His argument fames the historical development of the astructural bias concept in a socially conditioned way from it emergence through its rejection and ultimately including conclusions about contemporary state of the astructural bias as evidentced in symbolic interacitonist literatures of the last couple of decades.
Couch Center wishes to thank the hard work of the Maines Award Review Committee members to make the award evaluation posssible—Elaine Jenks (West Chester University), Jim Thomas (Northern Illinois University), Jeff Ulmer (Pennsylvania State University) and William Rawlins (Ohio University).
The Maines Award is an annual competition, open to both students and the faculty who submit papers that (1) interpret or address Maines’ pragmatist approaches, (2) apply Maines’ narrative concepts to a social/communication event, (3) develop aspects of Maines’ scholarship in new directions, or (4) integrate the humanistic development of narrative and Maines' pragmatist conceptual and theoretical direction. For more information about Maines Award, please visit the Couch Center website at www.cccsir.com, or contact Shing-Ling Chen at sarina.chen@uni.edu.
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Wolfe, Black and Welser Won 2017 Saxton Applied Research
Award
Carl Couch Center for Social and Internet Research (www.cccsir.com) is proud to announce the winners of 2017 Stanley L. Saxton Applied Research Award.
Anna Wolfe (Texas A&M), Laura Black (Ohio University) and Howard Welser (Ohio University) won the awrd with their work, “Living and Working in a ‘Hipster Rockwell’ Town: Examining Discourse of Belongingness among Rural Young Professionals.” In this work, they studied localized discourses of belonging by exmaining rural young professionals’ sense of connection to their places of work and residence. Their study finds that people who report low levels of emotional connection and membership in either their workplace or their community of residence are 11 times more likely than their more connected neighbors to express intention to leave wintin the next five years. Their study examines the dynamics underlying these results and outlines practical implications for community leaders hoping to combat local manifestations of brai drain.
Carl Couch Center wishes to thank the Review Committee members for their hard
work to make this award possible, and they are: Steven Buban (Monmouth College)
Michael Katovich (Texas Christian University)and Joel Powell Dahlquist (Minnesota
State University, Moorhead).
Saxton Award is an annual competition, open to both students and the faculty who submit papers that focus on how theory, research, and/or practice contribute to addressing real, pragmatic, social problems. Papers may be theoretical, methodological, or empirical in nature. For more information about Saxton Award, please contact Shing-Ling Sarina Chen at sarina.chen@uni.edu, or visit the Couch Center website at www.cccsir.com.
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2017 Steve Jones Internet Research Lecture Features Larry
Smarr
The 2017 Steve Jones Internet Research Lecture will feature Larry Smarr, Director of the California Institute for Telecommunications and Information Technology (Calit2), at UC San Diego. Smarr, a physicist and leader in scientific computing, supercomputer applications, and Internet infrastructure, will address, “Building the Pacific Research Platform: Supernetworks for Big Data Science.”
Smarr’s lecture will be presented during the 2017 annul conference of International Communication Association (ICA), on Friday, May 26, 11:00 – 12:15 pm in Hilton San Diego Bayfront, 3, Aqua 313.
In the lecture, Smarr will discuss the exponential rise of Big Data which is demanding new technological solutions in visualization, machine learning, and high performance cyberinfrastructure. Smarr believes that the rise of artificial intelligence will both be powered by these developments and be essential for deriving understanding from the tsunami of data. Smarr will illustrate how NSF-funded Pacific Research Platform, which provides an Internet platform with 100-1000 times the bandwidth of today's commodity Internet to all the research universities on the West Coast, is being designed from the application needs of researchers from particle physics to climate to human health. Even fields like archaeology, digital libraries, and social media analysis are engaged.
Carl Couch Center for Social and Internet Research (CCCSIR, www.cccsir.com) established Steve Jones Internet Research Lecture Series in 2003 to bring leading Internet researchers to annual ICA conventions to promote the development and interest of Internet research. With the interdisciplinary nature of Internet research, the lecture series would like to bring researchers from various disciplines as well as industry leaders to establish dialogues with communication researchers about topics and issues of Internet research. The theme of Steve Jones Lecture Series is " The Internet as Culture.”
This event is co-sponsored by University of Illinois, Chicago, and the International Communication Association. For more information about this event, please contact Shing-Ling Sarina Chen, sarina.chen@uni.edu.
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2017 G. Jon Hall Online GIFT Forum Features Teaching Public
Speaking Online
Veteran instrcutors gathered in the 2017 annual conference of Iowa Communication Assocition, and discussed the pros and cons, as well as the dos and don’ts of teaching publica speaking online, in the G. Jon Hall Online GIFT Forum, on Friday, September 29, 2017.
Speakers included Mari Burs (Iowa Lakes Community College), Michelle Grace (University of Dubuque) and Jennifer Hough (Western Iowa Tech Community College). The panel was chaired by Melissa Beall (University of Northern Iowa), with Marilyn Shaw (University of Northern Iowa) serving as the respsondent.
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Patrick Santoro Won 2017 Ellis-Bochner Award
The Society for the Study of Symbolic Interaction (SSSI), National Communication Association (NCA) Branch, is pleased to announce the winner of 2017 Ellis-Bochner Autoethnography and Personal Narrative Research Award.
Patrick Santoro (Governors State University) won the 2017 Ellis-Bochner Award with the article, “Queerscape: Embodying Landscape and Rupture in Auto/ethnography.” In this work, Santoro focuses on his two-year fieldwork in rural Old Shawneetown, Illinois, where he navigated the natural landscape and human landscape. Both landscape contexts, Santoro argues, position geography as a catalyst for the autobiographical, complicating issues of ethnographic dialogue, ethics and risk.
SSSI-NCA Branch wishes to thank the hard work of the Ellis-Bochner Award Review Committee : Ron Pelias (Southern Illinois University), Christopher N. Poulos (University of North Carolina, Greensboro), Carol Rambo (University of Memphis), and Elissa Foster (DePaul University).
Ellis-Bochner Award is an annual competition established by the SSSI-NCA Branch to recognize best published article, essay, or book chapter in autoethnography and personal narrative Research. Submissions are evaluated based on the quality of (1) originality; (2) creativity and quality of narration; (3) evocative writing; (4) engagement with human emotionality and subjectivity; and (5) significance of contribution to the field and/or to social justice.
For more information about Ellis-Bochner Award please contact Shing-Ling Sarina Chen (University of Northern Iowa) at sarina.chen@uni.edu.
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Bill Ayers Communication Forum:
Reason and Responsibility in Dark Times-- Appropriate Responses and Reactions
to Trumpism
The 2017 Bill Ayers Communication Forum was held in the annual convention of National Communication Association (NCA) on Friday, November 11, 2017, 9:30 – 10:45 AM, in Dallas, TX.
As people are looking for spaces to debrief and understand the storms of last November, panelists discussed appropriate responses and reactions to Trump and Trumpism. Issues addressed included: research and scholarship in treacherous times; reason and truth under siege; where do we go from here?; responding to the new realities; the univeristy in the New World Order.
The form was chaired by Kristina Horn Sheeler (Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis). Panelists included Sheeler, J. Michael Hogan (Penn State University) and Jennifer Mercieca (Texas A&M University).
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Katovich Gave 2017 Mead Lecture in NCA Convention
Michael Katovich (Texas Christian University) gave 2017 George Herbert Mead Lecture in the annual convention of National Communication Association (NCA), November 16-19, 2017, in Sheraton Dallas, Dallas, Texas. Denise Polk (West Chester University) presided the lecture.
Katovich's lecture was entitled, "Morality and Evil in the Specious Present: G. H. Mead and ‘The Man in the High Castle’”. In the lecture, Katovich focused on Mead’s famous (and slippery) notion of the specious present as it applies, specifically, to decisions made by the heroine (Juliana) in the cinematic adaptation (Amazon TV) of Philip Dick’s novel, “The Man in the High Castle.” Katovich argued that Julia’s view of right/wrong is grounded in her ongoing and emergent experiences in the present. Katovich indicated that although Julia is aware that the present is defined in temporal terms—informed by the past and structured by anticipated futures—she nevertheless becomes so involved in her immediate perceptions that she ends up alienating all opposing factions, including the faction to which she apparently belongs, known as “The Resistance.”
George Herbert Mead Lecture Series is an annual presentation established by the branch unit of Society for the Study of Symbolic Interaction (SSSI) in NCA since 2008. The purpose of the lecture series is to promote the study of symbolic interactionism in the field of communication. The lecture serves to engage dialogues, discussions, and collaboration efforts between sociologists and communication researchers. NCA is the oldest academic organization in the field of communication, with a membership of more than 9,000 worldwide. NCA Convetion is attended by more than 5,000 scholars, researchers, practitioners and students in the field of communication annually.
Past Mead Lecture presenters include:
2008 Micheal Katovich (San Diego)
2009 Gary Alan Fine (Chicago)
2010 Kathy Charmaz (San Francisco)
2011 Christopher Faircloth (New Orleans)
2012 Carolyn Ellis (Orlando)
2013 Natalia Ruiz-Junco (Washington, DC)
2015 Michael Ian Borer (Las Vegas)
2016 Beth Montemurro (Philadelphia)
For more information about Mead Lecture Series, please contact Shing-Ling Sarina Chen (sarina.chen@uni.edu), coordinator of SSSI-NCA Branch.
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Johns, Denzin and Katovich Won 2017 Couch Center
President's Award
Carl Couch Center for Social and Internet Research (www.cccsir.com) is proud
to announce the recipients of the 2017 President’s Award, the highest
honor presented by Carl Couch Center to recognize individuals who have made
sustaining contributions to social research.
Mark D. Johns won the 2017 President’s Award for his sustaining effort
in promoting the research of information technologies as extrapolated by Carl
Couch. One of his most outstanding achievements is editing the 2nd edition of
INFORMATION TECHNOLOGIES AND SOCIAL ORDERS, by Carl Couch, for publication in
2017, more than 20 years after the book’s initial publication in 1996.
His effort contributes to the longevity of Carl Couch's works in information
technologies.
Norman K. Denzin and Michael Katovich won the 2017 President’s Award for
their sustaining works for more than 30 years in promoting the New Iowa School
of sociological thought. One of the most lasting achievements in this endeavor
of theirs is their work in publishing THE ROMANCE OF DISCOVERY, by Carl Couch,
more than 25 years after Couch penned the manuscript. Their commitment to preserve
and advance Couch's scholarship is recognized by this award.
The inaugural 2016 Couch Center President's Award winners were Robert A. Hintz,
Jr. and Stephen G. Wieting.
For more information about Couch Center President’s Award, please contact
Shing-Ling Sarina Chen, sarina.chen@uni.edu.
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JENKS RECEIVED 2017 SSSI-NCA SERVICE AWARD
The Society for the Study of Symbolic Interaction (SSSI), National Communication Association (NCA) Branch, is proud to recognize the outstanding service of Elaine Jenks for SSSI in annual NCA conventions.
SSSI-NCA appreciates Jenks’ sustaining services over the years to help foster the development of the study of symbolic interaction in NCA conventions. SSSI-NCA is a strong unit in NCA today, thanks to her commitment to the discipline and her selfless service for her colleagues.
The Award was presented in the Ethnography Division Business Meeting during the 2017 annual NCA Convention in Dallas, TX, on Friday, November 17, at 2 pm, in Sheroton Dallas.
For more information about SSSI-NCA Unit, and the Service Award, please contact Shing-Ling Sarina Chen (sarina.chen@uni.edu), coordinator of SSSI-NCA.
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