In the News
Dr. Radhika Gajjala (Professor at the School of Media and Communication, Bowling Green State University) lead a workshop on feminist approaches to using web scraping tools.
Dr. Shardé M. Davis, Associate Professor in Communication at the University of Connecticut, long-time member of NCA, and also The Creator of the viral Twitter hashtag #BlackintheIvory, edited a new book that spawned from the hasghtag entitled, Being Black in the Ivory: Truth-Telling about Racism in Higher Education (University of North Carolina Press, 2024). It officially released on Tuesday, February 27th, and is currently available for purchase at www.BlackintheIvory.net.
The Washington DC bookstore, Politics & Prose, is hosted a book event on March 2nd at 5pm that features a #SistahScholar conversation between Davis and Dr. Marnel Niles Goins, NCA President. They discussed the book, their experiences working in academia as Black women faculty, what changes they've (not) seen since the summer of 2020, and much more.
The nonprofit Ku‘ikahi Mediation Center will host a free talk on March 21 as part of its “Finding Solutions, Growing Peace” Brown Bag Lunch Series."
Talks are held on the third Thursday of each month from 12 noon to 1 p.m. via Zoom.
This month’s speaker is Dr. Colby Miyose on the topic “Understanding & Empathizing with Differing Conflict Styles.”
Mark Ward Sr., professor of communication at the University of Houston-Victoria, was quoted as an expert on televangelism and religious media in an Associated Press story, picked up by news outlets nationwide, on the shooting at Joel Osteen’s Lakewood Church in Houston.
Books
Journalism has been in a state of disruption since the development of the Internet. The Metaverse, what some describe as the future of the Internet, is likely to fuel even further disruption in journalism. Digital platforms and journalism enterprises are already investing substantial resources into the Metaverse or its likely components of augmented reality, virtual reality, and artificial intelligence. Although research shows most of the public has little knowledge of the Metaverse, many are keenly interested in what it or its components may bring. Gartner (2022) predicts that a quarter of the public will spend at least one hour per day in the Metaverse by 2026. Journalism may be an important part of this future. This book will provide a critical examination of the implications of the Metaverse for the continuing transformation of journalism in the digital age.
John V. Pavlik is professor of journalism and media studies in the School of Communication & Information at Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey.
Envionmental Preservation and Grey Cliffs Conflict Negotiating Common Narritives, Values, and Ethos by Kristin D. Pickering
Based on a qualitative, ethnographic, observational case study approach, Environmental Preservation and the Grey Cliffs Conflict presents an analysis of the conflict negotiation between the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and a local community that struggled to address a deteriorating Corps-managed recreational lake area in Tennessee known as “Grey Cliffs.” Viewing the dispute from the perspective of a new member of the community and a specialist in technical communication and professional writing, Kristin Pickering provides a unique perspective on this communication process.
Though environmental degradation and unauthorized use threatened the Grey Cliffs recreational lake area to the point that the Corps considered closure, community members valued it highly and wanted to keep it open. The community near this damaged and crime-ridden area needed help rejuvenating its landscape and image, but the Corps and community were sharply divided on how to maintain this beloved geographic space because of the stakeholders’ different cultural backgrounds and values, as well as the narratives used to discuss them. By co-constructing and aligning narratives, values, and ethos over time—a
difficult and lengthy process—the Corps and community succeeded, and Grey Cliffs remains open to all. Focusing on field notes, participant interviews, and analysis of various texts created throughout the conflict, Pickering applies rhetorical analysis and a grounded theory approach to regulation, identity, sustainability, and community values to analyze this communication process.
Illustrating the positive change that can occur when governmental organizations and rural communities work together to construct shared values and engage in a rhetoric of relationship that preserves the environment, Environmental Preservation and the Grey Cliffs Conflict provides key recommendations for resolving environmental conflicts within local communities, especially for those working in technical and professional communication, organizational communication, environmental science, and public policy.
Franklin J. Boster, Christopher J. Carpenter, Michael R. Kotowski, and Allison Z. Shaw, The Science of Gaining Compliance (San Diego, CA: Cognella, 2024). ISBN: 978-1-7935-7191-5 (print); 979-8-8233-5716-6 (ebook)
Jake Harwood and Christine Kunkle, Understanding Communication and Aging: Developing Knowledge and Awareness, Third Edition (San Diego, CA: Cognella, 2024). ISBN: 978-8-8233-0332-3 (print); 979-8-8233-4627-6 (ebook)
Arthur Jensen and Sarah Trenholm, Interpersonal Communication, Eighth Edition (San Diego, CA: Cognella, 2024). ISBN: 978-1-7935-4208-3 (print); 979-8-8233-5694-7 (ebook)
Joseph P. Mazer, Brandon C. Boatwright, and Nathan J. Carpenter, Social Media Research Methods (San Diego, CA: Cognella, 2023). ISBN: 978-1-5165-8182-5 (print); 978-1-5165-8183-2 (ebook)
Deanna D. Sellnow and Michael G. Strawser (Editors), Teaching Communication, Volume I: Foundations (San Diego, CA: Cognella, 2024). ISBN: 978-1-7935-2330-3 (print); 979-8-8233-4657-3 (ebook)
John C. Sherblom and Judith Rosenbaum, Computer-Mediated Communication: Approaches and Perspectives, Second Edition (San Diego, CA: Cognella, 2024). ISBN: 979-8-8233-0798-7 (print); 979-8-8233-6021-0 (ebook)
Heather Walters, Communication Ethics: Promoting Truth, Responsibility, and Civil Discourse in a Polarized Age (San Diego, CA: Cognella, 2024). ISBN: 978-1-7935-7114-4 (print); 979-8-8233-5582-7 (ebook)
Awards
Shana Heinricy, the Media Literacy Project’s communications and marketing director recently published a chapter in an award-winning book, Perspectives on Human-Animal Communication: Internatural Communication, edited by Emily Plec.
Shana’s research and chapter on the representations of animals in animation on television helped win the highest honor available for environmental communication, the Christine L. Oravec Research Award in Enviornmental Communication. The award is given by the Environmental Commmunication Division of the National Communication Association. Shana’s chapter is entitled “Absorbent and Yellow and Porous is He: Animated Animal Bodies in Spongebob Squarepants.”
Dr. Julie-Ann Scott-Pollock, UNCW professor of Communication Studies and Performance Studies, is one of 17 outstanding faculty members selected by the University of North Carolina Board of Governors to receive a 2024 Award for Excellence in Teaching.
David Yastremski, an English Language Arts teacher and speech and debate coach at Ridge High School, was recently recognized by two national organizations for his work with speech and debate education.
Yastremski has been selected to receive a 2024 National Federation of High Schools (NFHS) Citation for his outstanding contributions to high school activity programs.
Andre E. Johnson, the Benjamin W. Rawlings Jr. professor of rhetoric and media studies in the department of communication and film at the University of Memphis in Tennessee, has received the 2023 Orlando L. Taylor Distinguished Scholarship Award in Africana Communication. Presented annually by the National Communication Association, the prize honors a scholar whose work has contributed to the study of African American or African Diaspora communication and culture.
Joe Edward Hatfield, assistant professor in the Department of Communication at the U of A, was selected as the 2024 recipient of the Janice Hocker Rushing Early Career Research Award from the Southern States Communication Association.