Thank you to everyone who submitted proposals for pre- and postconferences. I know it takes considerable effort to put together proposals and assemble a list of presenters. We have received a good number of strong submissions on important historical and contemporary issues. The proposals cover a range of exciting subjects across divisions and interest groups.
Several accepted proposals focus on communication and global human rights, the conference theme. A preconference on "Science Communication as a Human Right" is quite promising. It will address "the role of science communication as access and empowerment" from the perspective that science should benefit societies and communities, and the need for inclusion of various systems of knowledge. The postconference "The Impact of Public Relations and Promotional Communication on Human Rights, Inequalities and Social Justice: Interdisciplinary Reflections and Future Directions" will focus on the role of promotional communication for human rights and humanitarian organizations and activist movements. Both conferences will bring together insights and scholars from across areas of specialization at ICA. These two examples illustrate the kind of conversations I imagined we should have when I chose the conference theme.
I am also delighted that we will have pre-/postconferences with national, regional, and global foci. These are wonderful opportunities for ICA to convene exchanges on a range of topics among scholars from around the world. There will be pre/post conferences on Digital Asia, Arab Communications Studies, Korean Communication Research, Journalism Studies in the Global South, Media & Communication in Global Latinidades, and Global Communication and Human Rights in BRICS and Beyond.
Also, the "Inaugural Disability Communications and Media Preconference 2024" will take place at Gold Coast. The purpose of this preconference is to take stock of the field by examining whether disability communication and media research is an emerging or emerged area of research. I am very excited about this event, particularly considering the growing number of communication scholars interested in the subject, as well as the multiple intersections between disability studies and communication/media studies.
I also wanted to bring attention to the "13th Annual Doctoral Consortium of the Communication and Technology Division (co-sponsored by the Mobile Communication Studies Division) as well as to the PhD Mentoring Workshop: Environmental Communication. Also, the ICA 2024 Hackathon will be important to present and discuss open collaborative research practices.
Other pre-/postconferences will address important topics within and across divisions. Several meetings will focus on media/communication activism and social change/social justice, including "Reimagining Digital Activism: Navigating Complexities and Forging New Perspectives," "The Ascent of Community and Activist Media: Theorizing the Turn to Counter-power Media and Communication," "Communication for Social Change: Activism, Trust-building, Responsiveness, and Responsibility," and "Strengthening Communication for Social Justice through Education and Research." The fact that we have received a good number of submissions reflects continuous interest on these topics across divisions.
Other pre-/postconferences will focus on important subjects that have long attracted interest from researchers, such as youth participation, histories of communication and media studies, AR/VR research, news funding, international media assistance, environmental communication, and propaganda.
The preconference "Instructional Communication in the Age of Artificial Intelligence" will tackle new issues that we have been frequently discussing, especially in the past months: the uses and the impact of AI on pedagogy, communication, instructional design, and educational policy. I believe communication studies have much to contribute to these critical matters. Personally, I am intrigued by how we, as educators, keep up with constant changes, no matter how closely we follow developments. We will regularly discuss the implications for our teaching, learning, and policy. We are unlikely to settle on specific approaches for a long time (even for a single term) given fast changes in technology and policies within our respective institutions.
All in all, we will have an impressive list of pre-/postconferences that showcase the thematic diversity and global scope of our Association, something that I have always appreciated as a distinctive strength of our membership and annual meetings. I wish all the best to the organizers and participants.