of Scientific and Academic Communication Associations (CONFIBERCOM).

Transcription

1 Communication research associations. Roles and challenges. Miquel de Moragas Emeritus Professor, Autonomous University of Barcelona President of the Spanish Association of Communication Research (AE-IC) (Basic research study undertaken as part of the project ref. CSO /COMU, funded by the Ministry of Science and Innovation, within the Sixth R+D+i Research Plan , led by María Dolores Montero for the implementation period ). I. INTRODUCTION This paper aims to analyze the role of academic communication associations in the context of current science policies, which among other factors are characterized by a new context of competitiveness, globalization and international influences, and in our case, a new centrality of communication phenomena in what is known as the information society. The paper seeks to break with some routines and critically reflect on the models, roles and responsibilities of academic associations, and their conferences in particular. This reflection must consider the various aspects of the work of associations and conferences (See Appendix I. Guide for an inventory and critical analysis of communication associations ) as well as other general factors, including: 1. National and international political circumstances, and their impact on the creation and development of academic associations. 2. The impact on associations of general academic development in the field of communication studies (creation of faculties, increase in the critical mass of researchers, new disciplinary approaches, etc.). 3. The distribution of roles between the various actors involved in science policies (universities, research groups, publishers, bodies evaluating scientific activity, thematic and territorial associations, etc.). 4. Areas of cooperation and currents of international influences. II. COMMUNICATION ASSOCIATIONS AND THEIR HISTORICAL CONTEXT. SOME EXAMPLES The IAMCR/AIERI, established in , was the world's first academic communication association. It was created in the aftermath of the Second World War 1

2 with the support of UNESCO, as communication was considered as a basic instrument of human rights, social organization and development. This political dimension, this commitment, has persisted since then, making it possible to accommodate critical thinking and ideological diversity at its conferences. Since 1957, the IAMCR/AIERI has held conferences in many countries of the world 2, in Eastern and Western Europe, in Asia, in Latin America and Africa, although none of its conferences have been organized in North America. Meanwhile, another of the major international associations, the International Communication Association (ICA), dates back to 1950, when it was founded as an association in the United States (the National Society for the Study of Communication, NSSC), based on an inclusive criteria in terms of the range of communication specializations, instead of the more media-based focus - on social communication - of the IAMCR. In 1969, the NSSC adopted the name "International Communication Association" (ICA) but retained its North American profile in its logics, its academic departments and the majority of its members. Since the 1990s, coinciding with the major globalization processes and the beginning of widespread internet use, the ICA has been committed to greater internationalization, which is reflected in the composition of its board and the nationality of its presidents 3. In 2004, the ICA said it had 4,000 members in 76 countries, and had become a major professional organization, with its own headquarters in Washington. The first academic communication associations in Latin America appeared in the 1980s. It is important to note that these projects were the result of initiatives inspired by the need to create a (Latin American) alternative to the functionalist research that predominated in the field of communication 4. This process began with the creation of the first national associations: AVIC (Venezuela) in 1976; AMIC (Mexico) in 1977; INTERCOM (Brazil) in The establishment of these associations led to the creation of the Latin American Communication Research Association (ALAIC) and the Latin American Federation of Faculties of Communication (FELAFACS), in 1978 and 1981 respectively. 2

3 These projects were joined by various Latin American initiatives, as well as Spanish and Portuguese groups, with the creation of the IBERCOM association of researchers in 1986, and more recently, in 2009, with the creation of the Latin American Confederation of Scientific and Academic Communication Associations (CONFIBERCOM). It was not until some years later, in 2005, when the European Union had 25 member states, that the European Communication Research and Education Association (ECREA) was established as a result of the merger of two previous organizations, both of which originated in central-northern Europe: the European Communication Association (ECA) (founded in 1998 and based in Frankfurt, and the European Consortium for Communications Research (ECCR), also founded in 1998 under the auspices of the IAMCR. In 2005, the two organizations convened the conference "Fifty Years of Communication Research in Europe: Past and Future, which was publicized as having the following objective: With this conference, communication researchers everywhere in Europe [will] celebrate the establishment of many university departments of our discipline half a century ago, as well as the 50th anniversary of leading journals of our field, such as Gazette and Publizistik 5. Unlike its Latin American namesake (ALAIC), ECREA is an association of researchers and research groups rather than an association of associations. Among the oldest European national associations is Germany's Die Deutsche Gesellschaft für association Publizistik-und Kommunikationswissenschaft (DGPuK) 6, which was founded in 1963, based on various origins and has a long tradition of studies of communication philosophy, advertising and journalism theory. NORDICOM, the organization of the Nordic region countries, was created in 1972, and the French association SFSIC was created in NORDICOM (Nordic Information Centre for Media and Communication Research), is an example of what we will call an "academic network", which is entrusted with the coordination, research, documentation and dissemination of initiatives, thanks to institutional support from the Nordic Council of Ministers. The SFSIC, or Société Française des Sciences de l'information et de la Communication was founded in 1975, at the same time as the initiative to create communication studies 3

4 in France promoted by pioneers such as Roland Barthes, Robert Escarpit, Abraham Moles and Terrou Ferrand, who was also the first President of IAMCR/AIERI. Later, the British "Association for the field of media, communication and cultural studies" was created in the 1990s 7. In Spain, for obvious political reasons, the establishment of communication research associations had to wait for the democratic transition - after Franco's dictatorship - which coincided with the rise to power of the Socialist Party (1982) and the need for reports on the state of communication applicable to new democratic communication policies. In the early 1980s, a group of communication researchers created the Association for Communication Research (AIC), of which the president was Bernardo Diaz Nosty. In the mid-1980s, this Association became the Spanish Association of Communication Researchers (AICE), and its president was Mariano Cebrián 8. The work of the AICE gradually diminished in the 1990s, until the organisation folded. At the same time, and in response to the need to create its own communication policies, including language policy, the Catalan Society of Communication of the Institute of Catalan Studies (IEC-SCC) was established in Catalonia (1984). The president was Miquel de Moragas, and the Galician Association of Communication Researchers (AGACOM) was founded a few years later, in 2000, albeit originally with the initials ASIG, and its president was Margarita Ledo 9. Spain's first thematic communication associations were established in the 1990s: the Spanish Society of Journalism in 1990, and the Association of Historians of Communication in The Association of Public Relations Researchers (AIRP) was founded a few years later, in 2004, and the Political Communication Association (ACOP) in In 2007, when communication studies had become widespread in almost all Spanish universities, and on the initiative of the Science Policy Committee of the Conference of Deans of Communication Faculties, the process of creating a countrywide Spanish association for communication researchers began, which led to the constitution of AE- IC in Its objectives 10 include the main functions that are today attributed to academic associations, which we analyze in more depth later. Also worthy of mention as regards the policy of cooperation between associations is the creation of the International Federation of Communication Associations, chaired by 4

5 Klaus Krippendorff, Professor at Annenberg School in Pennsylvania, and also a former president of ICA, from During his tenure, the Federation acted as an institution supporting and publicizing the activities of academic associations, through its newsletter 11. III. MAIN FUNCTIONS OF ACADEMIC ASSOCIATIONS (GENERAL AND TERRITORIAL) the number of thematic and territorial communication associations, of both a mixed (researchers and practitioners) and research nature has increased exponentially in recent years, as can be seen in the "Mapping of Communication Associations" by the ECREA, IAMCR and ICA 12, which is systematized very well in the study by Miguel Vicente for this event. One of the reasons that prompted the AE-IC to convene this first meeting of academic communication associations was the need to pause on the path to this growth, rethink our organizations and to critically review our roles in the context of the new research and development policies implemented in recent years. To that end, we propose to consider the following ten functions or, if you will, "best practices" attributable to academic communication associations: 1. Facilitate scientific exchange between experts and research groups This is undoubtedly the key role of academic associations. It should be noted, however, that how this role is performed has changed dramatically with the advent of the Internet, where information is accelerating and breaking territorial boundaries. In the early years of the IAMCR/AIERI, conferences were an opportunity to make "discoveries" (people, ideas, bibliographies). Today, however, the reason for these meetings is rather one of involvement, with a much larger number of agents and actors. The internet has not replaced the need for personal meetings, but has instead multiplied them, and made them more sustainable over time. Contacts are less ephemeral, and today facilitate the creation of groups and comparative and cooperative research. 2. Give the field of communication studies visibility and legitimacy This means responding to the disregard in which communication studies are still held by those responsible for scientific and educational policies, who in many cases apply nineteenth-century criteria for the classification of disciplines, which almost never include communication. The UNESCO catalogue of thematic descriptors is a 5

6 paradigmatic example of this disregard and of the obsolescence of disciplinary criteria (Appendix 2). This task of providing visibility should not be seen as self-publicity, but instead, and above all, as a challenge that requires the utmost rigour in our work. To that end, the IAMCR/AIERI has created The Scholarly Review Committee (SRC), the main task of which is to ensure the academic rigour of its activities. This involves producing practical guides for its sections and working groups for the processes of assessment and the submission of communications. 3. Facilitate the creation of inter-centre groups The logics of modern scientific policy tend to prioritize competitiveness over cooperation. However, associations should encourage cooperation, both nationally and internationally. It is to that end that conferences should regulate the composition of their panels, with participation by groups from different universities and research centres. 4. Node creation and management of globality Globalization should not be understood in terms of unification but instead as the interconnection of nodes of influence, as described in more detail in the next section on networking between associations. 5. Neutralize the influence of hegemonic academic agents staff (foundations, publishers, select group of universities) Scientific research faces the dual tendency towards unification and quantification of assessment criteria for research, with criteria that are completely inadequate in terms of the evolution of research in the social sciences and humanities. Associations must provide a counterbalance to these logics, which end up being controlled by the "major" publishers. Associations must become involved in the debate on the need to reformulate these evaluation criteria, as proposed by the "San Francisco Declaration on Research Assessment." 13 Among other things, they must demand a reassessment of the value attributed to the presentation of papers at conferences when these papers meet the conditions of rigour in the assessment of their communications (blind evaluation), and propose a clear and sharp distinction between simple verbal presentation and the submission of full papers for publication. 6

7 6. Platform for obtaining academic merits Associations and their conferences are rather hastily accused of having become machines for issuing credentials and merits. Associations must avoid this utilitarian trend, which makes conferences into mere deposits of "papers" with no space for debate and exchange (which should also be reflected in the schedules and times for congress presentations). On the other hand, the need for researchers, especially younger researchers, to obtain these accreditations must be taken into account. The primary purpose of the association is to provide opportunities for its members to present their research and discuss it, but the objective of providing opportunities for its members professional advancement should also be considered. Indeed, associations must emphasize the value of their own accreditations, as they are academic institutions that are independent of publishers' industrial and commercial logics. 7. Revitalize the research community The field of study - communication - can also be considered a community of theoretical, cultural and social interests. Associations must be places for coexistence and memory. Likewise, they must also be committed to supporting new researchers, and must be involved in the recognition of merit within the community. 8. Facilitate generational exchange Another role of associations is to facilitate exchange and interplay between old and new generations of experts. In this respect, more firmly established researchers must be urged to make a voluntary commitment to participation in the association's various activities, and at conferences. Some associations thought that this integration would take place with the creation of (separate) sections for young researchers. Other associations (including AE-IC) believe that this integration can be facilitated by the participation of young and senior researchers on the same congressional panels and sessions. 9. Institutional advice. On science policy and communication policy First, advice on science policy. Communication associations have a twofold objective in this respect. They must not only assert the importance of communication research in today's society, but more fundamentally, stake a claim for a new way of understanding 7

8 disciplinarity in the social sciences and humanities as a whole, which rejects nineteenthcentury classifications of fragmented disciplinarity and is based on multidisciplinary and transversal research processes. They must also provide advice on cultural and communication policy, not only indirectly through research conducted and discussed at conferences, but also more directly by means of advice on national and international communication and cultural policies. For example, the IAMCR/AIERI has acted as an advisor to UNESCO on communication policy since its inception, and today this association works with international organizations on far-reaching issues such as Internet Governance for the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS). NORDICOM, another good example, participated (2007) in the International Clearinghouse on Children, Youth and Media at the request of UNESCO. 10. Confront the academic field with social commitments Some more conservative organizations strictly limit themselves to the tasks of academic coordination and exchange. Others - the majority - include a commitment to participate in the life of their societies and environments among their objectives. They may do so indirectly by encouraging their members to carry out research into critical issues and social concerns - e.g. the public communication system, human rights and gender equality, etc. - but also by adopting corporate positions in defence of the democratic values of communication, as stated, for example, in the statutes of the AE-IC, which stipulate its commitment to "Influence and participate in the public agenda on issues related to communication, promoting the democratization and professional development of the sector." IV. KEY ISSUES IN THE MANAGEMENT OF COMMUNICATION ASSOCIATIONS From the various (and numerous) issues shaping the agenda of communication associations which are systematized in Appendix I ("Guide for an inventory and critical analysis of communication associations"), we selected four issues that we consider critical or key issues in the management of general associations: The organization of conferences and accreditation of academic merits. Relations between associations (networking). Criteria for identification of the thematic sections and the organization of associations. 8

9 The associations' thesaurus and publications. The organization of conferences and accreditation of academic merits. In the first decade of the twenty-first century, the growth in the demand for communication studies became apparent (number of students, number of centres, number of lecturers), above and beyond the other social sciences and humanities. This increase in the demand for teaching has a direct impact on communication research, as it makes the teaching staff's professional consolidation conditional on reaching a minimum threshold of scientific achievements (publications, research projects, stages at specialized centres, conference participation, etc.). Platforms for "obtaining merit" have become insufficient for accrediting the new critical mass, and there are consequently long delays in the resolution of assessments of papers submitted to journals, as well as an increase in attendances at conferences, which are now becoming overcrowded. This process repositions academic conferences on communication. Associations and events that tend to prioritize their role as a platform for allocating merits are proliferating. Meanwhile, this proliferation is restricting conferences to a strictly academic sphere, they are losing significance as social events and therefore losing support from public institutions and private sponsorship. On the contrary, academic initiatives are beginning to encounter the "surprise" of having to pay rent in order to use iconic spaces. This means that conferences have to be financed by those attending, in a process that runs parallel to the increasingly common phenomenon of having to pay publishers for the publication of research results. This dynamic requires academic associations to make a very considerable effort to redefine their "congress models" (venue, fees, duration, evaluation criteria, schedules, etc.). Associations must avoid the tendency of some Organization Committees to lower academic requirements in order to increase participation, and funding for conferences as a result. Relationships between associations and networking Academic associations have been instruments for exchange and dissemination since they were founded, but this was particularly true for the hegemonic theoretical trends that were able to monopolize these conferences. 9

10 Academic associations can now use communication technologies to contribute to the diversification of theoretical currents and influences. Associations help to neutralize the homogenization of theoretical currents that are concentrated above all in the leading international academic journals. Hence the importance of collaboration between associations. Manuel Castells points out that all institutions can act as information nodes in the networked society, but he also notes that not all nodes have the same importance and functions, but instead that this importance derives from their ability to receive and send information. Many associations act as internal reference nodes (e.g. at a national level) but as yet explore their nodes in the international network to a limited extent. For example, the international policy of AE-IC is to act as a node for international relations between research carried out in Latin America and research closer to home taking place in Latin Europe. Other associations, such as NORDICOM, foster relations between Northern Europe and Eastern Europe; Portugal's SOPCOM is involved in the relationship between Lusophone countries; the ALAIC helps to facilitate the development of communicational thought that responds to the real challenges of Latin American societies and their specific problems. The network of nodes made up by the various associations can at least partially correct the unilateral lines of influence from the London - New York axis. Some associations have already specifically considered a new networking policy. NORDICOM has acted as a network for many years; the presidents of academic associations in Latin America, coordinated by ALAIC, recently signed a document of social engagement and collaboration in La Paz 14 ; a group of Latin American associations founded the CONFIBERCOM in Funchal in 2009; ECREA has gone beyond the traditional division into sections and working groups, and has begun to consider networking policies, and involvement in the hub of nodes of actors and strategic issues, by creating the Central and East-European Network, the Women's Network and the YECREA (Young scholars network) 15. Both the IAMCR/AIERI and the ICA are making major efforts to correct imbalances and move forward with the effective internationalization of their organizations. National and regional associations such as ECREA, CONFIBERCOM and ALAIC face the serious risk of isolationism if they are unable to reposition themselves within the 10

11 cooperation network, if their dynamics are not supplemented by other international networking. The recent organizational initiatives by groups linking ALAIC and ECREA, and the panels of exchange between the IAMCR/AIERI and the ICA are examples of this interconnection between nodes. The first International Meeting of Academic Communication Associations. Rationale and challenges in globalization," which will be held during the AE-IC pre-congress in 2014 is an obvious response to this same objective. Thematic sections and organization of associations One of the main challenges in the field of communication is precisely to establish a typology of the various specialities and subfields. This is a major challenge for academic associations, because this should simultaneously resolve epistemological issues and organizational issues. The thematic classifications historically adopted by academic communication associations are a response to a mixture of various types of criteria: theoretical and disciplinary aspects, the thematic priorities of hegemonic academic groups, political, social and cultural issues that demand researchers' attention, and gender or generational perspectives, among others. There are many similarities in the classification analysis adopted by various international associations, but there are also some peculiarities of historical development in their respective research traditions. The result is a patchwork of proposals that highlight the complexity - which could be called "post-disciplinary" - of the field of communication studies. A detailed analysis of these classifications is required in order to move towards new types of classification in our field and consequently demand a review of some codes, e.g. the current Unesco codes, to which reference has already been made. To do so, the thesaurus produced by Unesco itself for searching for documents and publications in the fields of social sciences and humanities could be used. This thesaurus includes 7 categories, including "communication and information" (Appendix 3). 11

12 Although this is a documentalist approach, from the perspective of documentary information theory, the thesaurus contains the vast majority of sub-topics that occupy the research agenda of the various communication associations. The classification of the field of communication studies in the UNESCO classification codes of the social sciences and humanities (Appendix 2) is much worse, as it considers communication as if we were still in the pre-industrial era. Remedying this situation is a primary challenge for the coordinated action of communication associations. Thesaurus of associations and publications The publication policy of academic communication associations has five main components, which are not all applied by the respective associations: Publication of the book of abstracts of their conferences Publication of the proceedings book (all the presentations) of their conferences Journal of the association Publication of "readers" in collaboration with commercial publishers. Publication of monographs in collaboration with commercial publishers. The association's own self-published publications. With printed or online versions in all cases, but with a tendency to increase online publications. The large international associations, such as the IAMCR/AIERI and the ICA, have reached various agreements with major international publishers particularly interested in thematic magazines, reference books and manuals. ICA, the association that is most active in joint publication, has an important agreement with Wiley-Blackwell, the publisher of over 600 scientific-academic journals, and one of the world's most important companies in these publications, with which it copublishes 5 major "peer-reviewed journals" Journal of Communication; Communication Theory; Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication; and Communication, Culture, and Critique, which it distributes to its members. IAMCR/AIERI - also with the multinational Wiley-Blackwell - co-publishes the "Global Handbooks in Media and Communication Research Series", and some monographs with the multinational Hampton Press. 12

13 Meanwhile, ECREA started (2013) a new project consisting of the call to its members to propose publishing "readers" with Routledge (monographs are excluded): the Routledge Studies in European Communication Research and Education Series. Without going into considerations of the financial difficulties of these projects, and considering a possible extension of this strategy to other associations, we believe that it is necessary to point out that this joint publishing policy may have its risks and contradictions by trying to combine two actors (publishers and associations) in the communication research system, and due to the risk of increasing the concentration of evaluations, with the loss of autonomy by the academic associations. Very few organizations have their own indexed journal. The exceptions are Latin American associations such as ALAIC or INTERCOM (Brazil), which have their own journal: Revista Latinoamericana de Ciencias de la Comunicación by ALAIC, and Jornal Intercom by INTERCOM. It is also true of the (online) journal of the Société française des Sciences de l'information et de la Communication, Revue Française des SIC, and the journal Comunicació of the Catalan Communication Society. I believe that the main asset of the academic associations is the papers presented to their general conferences and seminars, a repository which if duly published and placed online would constitute an important resource for the dissemination of ideas and knowledge. This documentary archive, in our opinion, should guide associations' editorial policy (abstracts, proceedings, journal, readers, monographs). However, this academic capital is surprisingly not used by most of the associations concerned. One explanation for this phenomenon may lie in the inequality of the merits attributed to publications in journals and proceedings of conferences. This inequality in favour of journals is also responsible for the increasing demand from participants at conferences for their papers NOT TO BE PUBLISHED in the books of conference proceedings so that they can be published more profitably, in terms of accreditation, in a "peerreviewed journal." Meanwhile, AE-IC provides free online access to its repository of papers (about 1,200 submissions at its last four conferences, from 2008 to 2014). This asset is the foundation on which we aim to organize its publications policy, and its new journal (RAEIC), anticipated for

14 APPENDIX I Guide for an inventory and critical analysis of communication associations Type of association By field and territory Global associations International associations National associations Associations in language areas By theme General associations Thematic associations Congress models Mechanisms for the choice of venue The host city and institution The venue Maximum number of accepted papers Maximum number of attendees The local organizers, their mission and legacy Frequency of conferences Dissemination of results (proceedings, other publications) "Call for papers" processes Mechanisms and format for presenting proposals (abstract or full paper) Assessment (blind peer review, selection by the editors of sections) Conditions of evaluators (curriculum vitae, conflicts of interest) Publications Congress abstract books Presentations at conferences and seminars Readers Monographs Journal of the association Identification of associations Historical evolution Statutes, organization Financing (fees, subsidies) Schedule of conferences and meetings Other activities The development of the congress Programme and abstract book Plenary and semiplenary sessions. Invited papers Communications in parallel sessions Time for discussion and debate Publications and proceedings of conferences Historical archive of Conferences (presentations, images, logistics and organization) Sections and working groups Sections (classification criteria) Working groups (classification criteria) Special sections (youth, gender) Use of information technologies In the preparation and dissemination of the congress During the congress In the legacy of the congress Federations, networks and cooperation projects 14

15 APPENDIX 2. Unesco Codes. Communication is absent among the social sciences Anthropology Political Science Economic Sciences Demography Psychology Sciences of Arts and Letters Philosophy Ethics and communication? Geography Sociology Integrated communication in different areas. Misplaced themes and many gaps In Sociology (630000) Cultural Sociology Cultural Evolution Cultural Relations Folklore Language and Culture Other (Cultural Sociology) Sociology of Mass Media Social Communications Signs Sociolinguistics Symbols Other (Social Communications) In Psychology (610000) Advertising Public Opinion Symbolic Communication In Technological Sciences (330000) Cable Television Cinematography Telephone Television In Pedagogy (580000) Audiovisual Media In Political Science (590000) Cultural Policy Communications Policy Information Policy Public Opinion Information Mass Media Press Propaganda Other (Public Opinion) In Anthropology (510000) Cultural Anthropology Symbolism In History (550000) History of Journalism In Economic Sciences (530000) Advertising 15

16 APPENDIX 3 UNESCO thesaurus documentary categories 17 Education, Science, Culture Social and human sciences Politics, law, economics Information and Communication Countries and groups of countries Information sciences Documentary information systems Treatment of documentary information Communication research and policy Sources of information Information technology (software) Information management Information industry Information technology (hardware). 16

17 APPENDIX 4. About classification of thematic sections IAMCR / AIERI classify its 15 sections and 16 working groups in five major areas: 1. Media Production & Consumption 2. Media, Communication, Participation & Community 3. Media and Communication Policy & Law 4. Education & Journalism 5. Cross-Cutting Theme ICA is organized into 21 divisions and 4 groups, that we can classify as follows: 1. Social groups (Children, Adolescents and the Media) 2. Thematic criteria (Healt Communication) 3. Epistemological criteria (Philosophy, Theory and Critique), 4. Disciplinary criteria (Communication History) 5. Sectorial issues (Visual Communication Studies), 6. Social aspects (Ethnicity and Race in Communication) ECREA is organized into 17 sections and 8 groups, that we can classify as follows: THEMATIC Digital Convergence Models of Communication Aspects of the communication Epistemological and disciplinary Social groups and media Sociocommunicative phenomena Issues Communicative practices Classification by media SECCIONES TEMÁTICAS Y DE LOS GRUPOS DE TRABAJO (*) DE ECREA Digital Culture and Communication Interpersonal Communication and Social Interaction Audience and Reception Studies Communication History Communication Law and Policy Philosophy of Communication Advertising research (*) Diaspora, Migration and the Media Children, Youth and Media (*) International and Intercultural Communication Science and Environment Communication Communication and Democracy Gender and Communication Crisis communication (*) Media & the City (*) Political Communication Organisational and Strategic Communication Film Studies Journalism Radio Research Studies Media and Religion (*) Mediatization (*) Digital Games Research (*) Media Industries and Cultural Production (*) Television Studies AE-IC is divided into 7 cross sections, corresponding to major fields of research. Four of these sections correspond to basic elements of the communication process (B, C, D, E), other sections are transversal (A and F), while one of them responds to emerging issues of digital convergence processes (G). Secciones temáticas de AE-IC A. Teorías y métodos de investigación en comunicación. B. Estudios de audiencia y recepción. C. Estructura y políticas de la comunicación. D. Estudios sobre el discurso. E. Producción y circulación de contenidos. F. Comunicación estratégica y organizacional. G. Comunicación y cultura digital. 17

18 1 Nordenstreng, Kaarle (2008), Institutional networking: the story of the International Association for Media and Communication Research (IAMCR), in Park, D. W., & Pooley, J. (Eds.), The history of media and communication research, New York: Peter Lang. 2 The countries that have organized a congress of the IAMCR/AIERI are: France (3), Spain (Navarre, 2 in Barcelona) Yugoslavia (2) Brazil (2) Great Britain (2), Italy, Portugal, Switzerland, Austria, West Germany, East Germany, Poland, Czechoslovakia, Argentina, Venezuela, Mexico, India, Korea, Australia, Singapore, Egypt, Sweden, Turkey, South Africa. 3 Consecutively, Francois Heinderyckx of the Université Libre de Bruxelles and Peter Vorderer of the University of Mannheim (President-elect). 4 Moragas, Spà, Miquel de (2011), La investigación sobre comunicación y cultura en América Latina, in Interpretar la comunicación, Barcelona: Gedisa. 5 ECA, Newsletter, Volume 2, Issue 1, Winter AICE published the journal CINCO between 1988 and 1989, organized the first debates on issues related to communication policies and produced the first reports on the state of research and the situation of media, receiving various commissions from government and institutions as Fundesco. It held three international symposia. The symposium in 1989 was dedicated to Communication Policies. The last one was held in The Association's initials were originally ASIG, which it changed in 2006 to AGACOM - the Galician Association of Communication Researchers This organization's current president is Mario Plenković, of the University of Zagreb. This association's activities can be found and assessed at San Francisco Declaration on Research Assessment. (in Spanish) Central and East-European Network; Women's Network: YECREA (Young scholars network)