Fall 2018 Newsletter

Table of Contents
1. Communications Vision for 2019
2. AEJMC Midwinter Conference - March 1-2, 2019
3. Best Practices of Polling – Insider Insight from Polling Experts in Washington D.C
4. Q&A with Founding Editor of the Journal of Communication Technology

5. Best of the Web/Best of Digital 2019 Competition

1. Communications Vision 2019

Communication Technology Division Members:

Our division represents an enormous amount of energy when it comes to research. We receive some of the highest numbers of submissions for the conference, which has led us to the creation of our own Journal of Communication Technology. However, one of our current challenges is to communicate with you on a consistent basis in a way that builds unity among us. This coming year we have made plans to update our approach to communications. These plans include changes to the website, the creation, and distribution of a consistent newsletter, a switch from only a Facebook group presence to an official Facebook Page, and a more proactive approach in using Twitter. I will now briefly explain these changes and updates to each of the channels of communication.

The website will be updated to make it clear who we are, what we stand for, and what value members can realize from being a part of CTEC. If you see items on the website that need updating or if you have suggestions, please send me an e-mail (devinknighton@gmail.com). Although we may already be working to implement your recommendation, we still would love to hear from you and would hate to miss something. So, please don’t hesitate to reach out.

The newsletter will be published every three months except for the month of the main conference in August. The format will shift from the traditional PDF format to a more blog-like style, where each article can have its own unique URL. This change allows us to post links on social media to each newsletter article and provides a more natural way for you to share the content you find relevant and valuable.

Our social media accounts will also be updated. One of the challenges with our Facebook presence is that it is a group, which means the only way for us to make announcements is to use our own individual Facebook profiles as CTEC Officers to create posts. Given the fact that officers switch each year, we see the benefit of having a Facebook Page where we can post announcements from a CTEC profile, instead of an officer profile. The change creates more consistency in our voice and how we communicate with members. The current Facebook Group will continue to exist for now, which means you can continue to post comments, but we will connect the group to our official Facebook page. You can find the page under the username @AEJMCCTEC.

CTEC Members, we have a strong division with energy around research that is forward-looking and distinct. Your work is on the cutting-edge, and it is helping our profession move forward in this critical time when social media and technology are impacting every single industry. We want our communication with you to reflect that energy through an update to the website, consistent newsletters, and social media pages that reflect our voice.

Devin Knighton
Communications Committee Chair
AEJMC Communications Technology Division
devinknighton@gmail.com

2. AEJMC Midwinter Conference – March 1-2, 2019

The AEJMC Midwinter Conference is an annual forum for the presentation of research and debate, and will be hosted by Gaylord College at the University of Oklahoma March 1-2, 2019. Areas of research range from social media to augmented and virtual reality, human-computer interaction, computer-mediated communication, technology studies, big data, artificial intelligence, social network sites, crowdsourcing, digital news, crisis, and other technologically-mediated social interaction and networking at all levels of analysis. In particular, the Midwinter Conference provides a platform for presentations and extended discussions in a relaxed setting.

Abstracts accepted at the Midwinter Conference are also eligible for submission to the national AEJMC Conference held in August. Thus, it is a good opportunity for authors to receive feedback and fine-tune their papers before submitting them to the national conference. Especially, it is a great opportunity for scholars to showcase their current research interests and in-progress projects, and to meet other researchers in the communication technology field. Conference participants can benefit from the small, yet, in-depth group discussion setting and networking opportunities.

Outside the conference activities, conference participants will enjoy Gaylord College’s state-of-the-art teaching and research facilities, including world-class museums and art galleries as well as many winter diversions. The University of Oklahoma is located in Norman, 20 miles south of Oklahoma City, with easy access to the Will Rogers World Airport.

For more information about the conference, please visit the AEJMC website, http://www.aejmc.org/home/?s=midwinter, or contact Hyosun Kim at Hyosun.Kim@uwsp.edu.

3. The Best Practices of Polling – Insider Insight from Polling Experts in Washington D.C

The Professional Freedom and Responsibility Panel of the Communication Technology Division held the “Best Practices: Contemporary Polling and Reporting Methods Among Industry Leaders” panel session at the 2018 AEJMC conference in Washington, D.C. This panel brought together experts from leading polling firms and newspaper companies to discuss best practices in public opinion polling and reporting in the current media and political landscape. Taking advantage of the conference’s location in Washington, D.C., which is home to the world’s most distinguished polling firms, this panel invited five experts to share their insider perspectives: Jennifer Agiesta (CNN), Emily Guskin (The Washington Post), Ruth Igielnik (Pew Research Center), Stephanie Marken (Gallup), and Kyley McGeeney (PSB).

The rise of communication technology has profoundly influenced the ways in which public opinion data is collected and reported. Innovative techniques, such as computer-assisted telephone interviewing (CATI) and computer-assisted self-interviewing (CASI) have been developed, and have helped significantly increase the efficiency and effectiveness of pre-existing methods of polling. One major challenge that the panel members addressed was the discrepancy between the actual polling outcomes, the media reports, and the public’s interpretation about the outcomes and reports. As some news organizations do not specifically train reporters about how to interpret the margin of error or statistical significance, for instance, reporters could experience difficulties in grappling with the polling outcomes. While discussing the success or failure of public opinion polls in predicting the results of the 2016 U.S. Presidential Election, the panel highlighted the collective efforts of polling companies to critically review their polling outcomes in comparison to the election results. Together with the audience, which included not only academics but also journalists and media professionals, the panelists discussed some of the challenges and biases that emerged in different stages and levels of polling at the 2016 Presidential Election, particularly in the national polls versus state-level polls.

Given that familiarity with public opinion research methods among reporters will help interpret polling outcomes with greater accuracy and applicability, the panel finally emphasized the importance of continuing education for students and journalists, not only on the recently developed polling techniques and technologies, but also the industry’s standards on sampling and conducting surveys.

Soo Young Bae, Ph.D.
University of Massachusetts-Amherst,
Professional Freedom and Responsibility Chair

4. Q&A with Founding Editor of the
Journal of Communication Technology

In 2018 the division published the inaugural issue of the Journal of Communication Technology: http://www.joctec.org/. To give you firsthand insights into what you can expect from the journal and look for in future issues, Pamela Jo Brubaker, the 2018-2019 CTEC division head, corresponded with Jacob Groshek, the journal’s founding editor.

Pamela Brubaker, 2018-2019 CTEC Division Head: What inspired the creation of the Journal of Communication Technology?
Jacob Groshek, Journal Editor: Back in 2010, Marcus Messner, Homero Gil de Zuñiga and I started on this adventure to publish our own journal for the Comm Tech division of AEJMC, it seemed so simple and obvious that we needed another point of entry to tackle challenging problems germane to the field but that had broader implications as well. The process wasn’t any easy one, and it definitely took far more time than any of us could have imagined, but I’m proud that together with other past CTEC Heads we’ve been able to successfully launch the journal.

PB: What topics of scholarship does the journal cover?
JG: Since communication technology has come to fulfill a central, social role in virtually all forms of mediated communication, the journal welcome scholarship from a broad area of inquiry, including emerging media, social media, mobile communication virtual reality, augmented reality, and virtually any device or platform that helps facilitate communication. Studies can be grounded in a variety of paradigms including advertising, science, networks, health, politics, history, policy, public relations, management, economics, ethics, minorities, and visual communications.

Within the inaugural issue we covered a broad range of topics, including the use of social media data for research, the use of data visualizations for analyzing social trends, challenges in cybersecurity, ICT complexity, and an overview of methodological approaches in communication technology research.

PB: How is the journal contributing to the body of knowledge among communications scholars?
JG: The role of the Journal of Communication Technology is to be a space that facilitates discussion and cultivates understanding of the ways in which communication technologies are changing not only media processes and content, but also audiences, institutions, and society at large.

PB: What do scholars have to gain by submitting to the Journal?
JG: My hope is that this journal will give scholars a better understanding of communication technology scholarship and its impacts from virtually any approach and throughout all of its sub-disciplines.
The journal strives to be a home for all theoretical and methodological perspectives. We offer not only expert review, but also fast turnaround and flexibility with content and format. We do our best to innovate and accommodate quality work that makes a valuable contribution to this field and so welcome unconventional submissions in form and style.

PB: Tell me more about the growing area of communication technology.
JG: Communication technology has come to fulfill a central, social role in virtually all forms of communicative media. It touches every industry and every sector. With the rise of technological advances, it is becoming a more integral part of people’s day-to-day routines, and yet so much of what is happening because of communication technology, for example the dramatic rise of over the top (OTT) television distribution, is affecting our everyday lives but remains seriously understudied.

PB: What is the future of the Journal?
JG: I suppose that remains to be seen. We’ve been fielding more and more submissions recently and I have express my deep thanks to our Editorial Assistant, Brittany Andersen. I think from here onwards, we need to have the support of more Associate Editors who are looking to make a meaningful contribution to the body of knowledge in our field. I fully expect that this journal will publish some groundbreaking work that shifts the paradigm. I hope everyone reading this interview will seek to get involved in some way – through submitting, reviewing, or even just reading and citing what we publish. At some stage, we hope to have an impact factor that places us amongst the leading outlets in our field. Welcome!!

Jacob Groshek, Ph.D. (Indiana University), is an associate professor at Boston University. He is the founding editor of the Journal of Communication Technology and served as the AEJMC 2012-2013 CTEC Division Head.

Pamela Jo Brubaker, Ph.D. (The Pennsylvania State University), is an assistant professor at Brigham Young University. She is the current AEJMC 2018-2019 CTEC Division Head.

5. Best of the Web/Best of Digital 2019 Competition

As this year’s deadline is approaching, I would like to draw CTEC members’ attention to the Best of the Web/Best of Digital competition. For those of you who are not familiar with this competition, here’s an overview of the competition, guidelines, and examples.

What is Best of the Web/Best of Digital?

The “Best of the Web/Best of Digital” competition is an annual Web and app design contest co-sponsored by the Communication Technology (CTEC) and Visual Communication (VisComm) Divisions of the Association for Education in Journalism & Mass Communication (AEJMC). Web or app entries submitted to this competition must advance education or research in journalism and/or mass communication. The contest is open to faculty and/or students who work for or attend an institution that is accredited by the Accrediting Council on Education in Journalism and Mass Communication (ACEJMC) or are current (paid) members of the AEJMC. University and college staff are not eligible.

Overview
The competition consists of four categories: Individual/Team/Single class designation for Web and app, and Multiple class/Institution designation for Web and app. The Individual/Team/Single categories consist of entries that have been designed and/or created by an individual, a small team or a single class. The Multiple class/institution categories consist of entries that have been designed and/or created by several classes collaborating on a single project or by a school or department collaborating on a single project.

Web and app design professionals and academics with a background in Web and app design technology are responsible for judging the competition. Judging primarily focuses on the design, presentation, and technological components of the project.

The link to submit entries will be available on March 11, 2019, and will be located here: www.aejmcbestofweb.com/submit.

The submission deadline for this year’s competition is April 14, 2019. There is no entry fee.

Please spread the word among your colleagues and students. We particularly encourage submissions in the app categories. For more information, please contact Michael Fagans at mfagans@olemiss.edu or Su Jung Kim at sujung.kim@usc.edu. We also welcome professionals and academics with a background in in Web and app design technology who would like to volunteer to be a judge for the 2019 competition. Please contact Su Jung Kim if you are interested.

See you in Toronto!

Su Jung & Michael
Best of the Web/Best of Digital Competition Chairs