Communicating with Power
Thursday, June 9, 2016 | Fukuoka, Japan
The role of new communication technologies—such as the internet, social media, and mobile phones—in political and civic engagement has generated significant interest not only from scholars, but also organizations, politicians, and ordinary citizens. While recent events in parts of the world, such as the Umbrella movement in Hong Kong, help recognize the potential of new communication media as agents contributing to macro-level political changes, these new communication tools are also utilized in more traditional political processes, such as electoral campaigns. Also important is everyday use of new communication technologies, which provides individuals with an opportunity to encounter public affairs news and discourse, enhance understanding of issues, and get involved in civic and political opportunities. Some of the critical elements deserving attention when evaluating the role of new media—perhaps underlying all of these processes and practices—would be values, traditions, and history that define each Asian country and the region.
This preconference aims to showcase innovative scholarly work examining various subjects concerning the role of social media, mobile phones, and other new communication technologies in the formation of democratic citizenship writ large—in Asia. The preconference seeks to address relevant topics in a particular Asian country, and comparative research on Asian countries or Asian and non-Asian countries. In particular, the preconference encourages a theory-driven analysis of the role of new media in real-world, offline civic and political action, including recent elections and civic mobilization for sustainable development in environmental, economic, and social well-being. In addition, scholars whose research concerns the overall ICA conference theme, Communicating with Power, in an Asian context were encouraged to submit a paper.
Conference Chairs
- Nojin Kwak, Department of Communication Studies, University of Michigan, USA
- Marko Skoric, Department of Media and Communication, City University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong
- Natalie Pang, Wee Kim Wee School of Communication and Information, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore
- Baohua Zhou, School of Journalism, Fudan University, China
- Tetsuro Kobayashi, City University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong
- Scott Campbell, Department of Communication Studies, University of Michigan, USA
- Junho Choi, Graduate School of Information, Yonsei University, Korea
