[Air-L] ICA Young Scholars Preconference "Communicating the Power of Visuals" (Kyushu Sangyo University, Fukuoka, Japan, 9 June 2016)

[Giorgia Aiello]

Call for Papers


Communicating the Power of Visuals

ICA Young Scholars Preconference on Conceptualizing and Communicating Visual Communication Research Projects

Venue: Kyushu Sangyo University (Fukuoka, Japan)

Date: 9 June 2016

Sponsored by: Kyushu Sangyo University (Fukuoka, Japan), ICA Visual Communication Studies Division, Hans-Bredow-Institut for Media Research at the University of Hamburg (Germany)

Organizers

Michael Grimm (Hans-Bredow-Institut for Media Research at the University of Hamburg, Germany)
Akira Sano (Kyushu Sangyo University, Fukuoka, Japan)
Allison Kwesell (International Christian University, Tokyo, Japan)
Giorgia Aiello (University of Leeds, UK)

Rationale

Mediated images as means of communication are associated with specific characteristics, such as their holistic nature and analogical quality, which make visual communication especially powerful. But these characteristics also come with some particular pitfalls when it comes to conceptualizing visual communication scholarship and to communicating both methods and results, especially for young scholars who deal with mediated images in their first comprehensive research projects.

In conceptualizing visual communication research projects, young scholars must tackle pragmatic questions, such as how to access the visuals under study and how to make the analytical process as adequate and transparent as possible. But they also have to highlight the particular insights that the study of visuals can contribute to any given project.

In communicating visual communication research projects, young scholars are not only confronted with the challenges of the material under study (e.g.: How to present videos in presentations and publications? What are the legal standards for the use of mediated images in presentations and publications?). They also have to face structural aspects of the scientific community, since young scholars who study mediated images are scattered across ICA divisions and interest groups and thus primarily interact with scholars for whom visual communication is not a primary interest or is even “exotic”, so that young scholars usually have to go the extra mile in legitimizing the visual aspects of their research projects.

Aims

This one-day preconference will therefore set out to bring together young scholars – i.e. both current PhD students and early career postdoctoral researchers – from all ICA divisions and interest groups who focus on visual images in their research projects. The event aims to address the needs of these young scholars from different sub-fields in media and communication studies by: 1) summarizing key challenges in conceptualizing and communicating visual communication research projects; 2) demonstrating some of the most significant ways in which the study of visual images contributes, both theoretically and methodologically, to research from across ICA divisions and interest groups; 3) providing strategies for presenting and communicating research projects to cross-divisional, cross-disciplinary academic audiences and for making use of the specific power of visuals in presenting visual communication research projects; 4) providing a forum for cross-divisional networking between young and senior scholars; and 5) providing feedback on young scholars’ research projects (e.g. in order to polish their work for publication).

Format

This event follows the very successful cross-divisional ICA Young Scholars Preconference on Visual Methods<http://www.visualmethods.net> in San Juan 2015, which featured workshop sessions with 34 young scholars from seven countries and 11 senior experts from five countries. This year’s preconference will follow a similar format, but it will focus on a new, though complementary, set of issues and questions.


First, an opening keynote by distinguished visual communication expert David Perlmutter will give an overview of key issues in conceptualizing and communicating visual communication research projects.

Second, in poster sessions, young scholars will have the opportunity to present their research projects, discuss their challenges in conceptualizing and communicating their projects with other participants, network with peers, and receive substantial feedback on their projects from experienced senior scholars. All young and senior scholars will participate in the poster sessions, a format that provides a practice-oriented overview of a range of approaches to visual communication studies and common challenges.

Third, in subsequent parallel expert sessions, young scholars with methodologically and/or thematically related research projects will be grouped together and matched with senior scholars whose expertise matches their areas of research. The small groups will then discuss the challenges in conceptualizing and communicating visual research projects and possible solution strategies based on the research projects presented in the posters.

Finally, in a closing plenary, we will summarize key insights originating from discussions in the expert sessions and, together with all participants, we will discuss ideas and plans for future networking and research events.

Senior Experts

Several senior scholars with extensive experience in different areas of visual communication research will participate in the preconference. The range of approaches and perspectives provided by senior scholars will offer the best fit for each young scholar’s research interests and needs. Among the confirmed senior experts are:

  *   Giorgia Aiello<http://media.leeds.ac.uk/people/giorgia-aiello/> (University of Leeds, UK)
  *   Kari Andén-Papadopoulos<http://www.ims.su.se/forskning/forskningsomr%C3%A5den/journalistik-medier-och-kommunikation/kari-and%C3%A9n-papadopoulos-1.85225> (Stockholm University, Sweden)
  *   Lilie Chouliaraki<http://www.lse.ac.uk/media@lse/whosWho/AcademicStaff/LilieChouliaraki.aspx> (London School of Economics and Political Science, UK)
  *   Paolo Favero<https://www.uantwerpen.be/en/staff/paolo-favero/> (University of Antwerp, Belgium)
  *   Stephanie Geise<https://www.uni-erfurt.de/kommunikationswissenschaft/personen/personenuebersicht/dr-stephanie-geise/> (University of Erfurt, Germany)
  *   Laurie Gries<http://comm.colorado.edu/people/faculty/laurie-gries/> (University of Colorado, USA)
  *   Katy Parry<http://media.leeds.ac.uk/people/katy-parry/> (University of Leeds, UK)
  *   Luc Pauwels<https://www.uantwerpen.be/en/staff/luc-pauwels/> (University of Antwerp, Belgium)
  *   David Perlmutter<http://www.depts.ttu.edu/comc/utilities/get_biog.php?record=208> (Texas Tech University, USA)
  *   Catherine Preston<https://film.ku.edu/catherine-preston> (University of Kansas, USA)

Submissions

We invite young scholars from all ICA divisions and interest groups to submit extended abstracts on both completed and ongoing projects. We welcome submissions on all aspects of the visual communication process (production context, media context, reception context) and on all visual methods, as well as on a broad range of topics, such as visual political communication, visual science and health communication, visual popular communication etc.

Extended abstracts should briefly summarize relevance, theory, methods and results (where applicable), and strongly focus on the discussion of the challenges in conceptualizing the visual aspects of the project and communicating it to other researchers.

Extended abstracts should be limited to a maximum of 1,000 words (double-spaced; illustrations, tables and references do not count against this total of words). Please remove all identifying information from the document and include a separate title page indicating the name(s) of the author(s), the affiliation(s) of the author(s), the title of the project, and the status quo of the project (e.g. completed project, work in progress).

Please send your submissions via e-mail to m.grimm at hans-bredow-institut.de<mailto:m.grimm at hans-bredow-institut.de> no later than 29 January 2016. Decisions will be made by 29 February 2016. The preconference will be open to a maximum of 40 young scholars. Participants will be selected based on the quality of their extended abstracts. In the review process, we will also consider that a reasonable range of topics will be covered by the poster presentations and that participants can be grouped in clusters with similar interests.

Venue

The preconference will be hosted on the campus of Kyushu Sangyo University<http://www.kyusan-u.ac.jp/E/> in Fukuoka. Transportation from the main conference hotel to the university campus and vice versa will be provided for all participants with a chartered bus (about 15-30 minutes each way).

Fee

There will be a US$ 30,- fee for preconference participants to cover transportation and catering costs. Depending on the availability of additional funding for the preconference, we may also be able to offer a discounted fee at the time of registration.

Website

Please also visit the accompanying website www.visualcommunicationstudies.net<http://www.visualcommunicationstudies.net> for any updates on the preconference.

Contact

Please do not hesitate to contact us in case you should have any questions regarding the preconference.

Michael Grimm
Hans-Bredow-Institut for Media Research
at the University of Hamburg (Germany)
m.grimm at hans-bredow-institut.de<mailto:m.grimm at hans-bredow-institut.de>