A Word from our Co-Chairs.......
Human communication and technology research is a vital and growing field in the communication arena. For more than 30 years, researchers, from a wide variety of disciplines, have expanded our knowledge and uncovered new and more exciting challenges. With the 2007 NCA Convention only a few months away, we wanted to give you a preview of what may be one of the most important sessions for our division, if not the conference itself. At last year’s business meeting, many in attendance wanted to see the division attain a more prominent place among the major NCA divisions. One way that we felt that this could be accomplished was to create a premier panel that would not only have substantial issues relevant to our division, but to have some of the leading scholars in the field lead, what we hope will be, a unique discussion with the audience members.
With that goal in mind, we think the members of HCTD and NCA in general will be pleased with what we have assembled. This panel was created to bring together 10 prominent scholars in the field of human communication and technology research to discuss where we have been, what we are doing, and what directions we would like to take towards the future.
More than just a panel, this gathering will begin online prior to the conference with the presentation of position statements from each of the panelists. These statements will address an issue of importance to the panelist and will also include a list of research priorities they feel are key to the future of the field. The statements will address a wide variety of issues ranging from theoretical advancements and challenges, to methodological approaches, and the role of communication in connecting our interdisciplinary interests. Statements will be posted on the HCTD website and announced to the membership in the pre-conference edition of the newsletter.
The NCA panel session will be devoted to a presentation of these statements and the research priorities during the first part of the session. This will be followed by a “round-table” discussion amongst the panelists and the audience in the second half of the session. Both the panelists and the audience will have the opportunity to rank these priorities and focus their energies for future research. It is hoped that the discussion, that begins prior to and during the conference, will continue afterwards as well. Currently we are in the proposal stage for a special issue in a prominent communication journal as an outlet for this session.
While this format certainly offers the potential for a great session, without the prominent scholars we have brought together, it just would not be the same. Each of them has made significant contributions to the field in areas of research and leadership, and all were very excited about the opportunity to contribute to the panel. We believe that with their contributions, this will be an amazing session, and we hope you will agree
- Susan Barnes, Rochester Institute of Technology
- Nancy Baym, University of Kansas
- Noshir Contractor, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign
- Janet Fulk – University of Southern California
- Michele Jackson, University of Colorado, Boulder
- Malcom Parks, University of Washington
- M. Scott Poole, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign
- Ronald Rice, University of California – Santa Barbara
- Craig Scott – Rutgers University
- Joseph Walther – Michigan State University
We encourage you to make plans to attend this double session, scheduled for Friday, November 16, from 3:30 – 6:15p. In addition we invite you to read through the panelists statements and bring some of your own ideas and priorities for the field to make your own contribution to the discussion. This is a major opportunity for the division, its members, and the field to really shine. We look forward to seeing you there in November.
Scott C. D’Urso and Yun Xia
HCTD – Co-Chairs