Panel call, AEJMC 2023 meeting - Oct. 7 deadline

 COMJIG members, note. Please contact COMJIG vice chair Aaron Atkins (datkins@weber.edu) with your ideas.

Deadline: Submission of all panel proposals to DIG leaders – Oct. 7

Note: These instructions only refer to panels. Pre-conference Workshops (Sessions) will be handled separately.

· The deadline for submission to your DIG (division or interest group) is Oct. 7. This deadline is shared for all AEJMC DIGs and cannot be extended by DIG leaders, so there is equity across the Association. We will actively promote this deadline on AEJMC’s social platforms.

· What should be included in the panel proposal call?

o Short overview of your DIG’s focus, prior panel topics and what topics you’d like to see this year

o List of proposal requirements

§ Title for the proposed panel

§ Narrative description of the proposed panel (DIGs can set the length/parameters)

§ Rationale for why the proposed panel fits with your DIG’s audience

§ Names of suggested panelists, with institutional/professional affiliations and contact information

· In creating suggestions for panelists, incorporate diverse voices, paying attention to the race and gender of presenters. In addition, think about the types of schools represented on your proposed panel and the position/rank of presenters. Would the panel be strengthened by adding a graduate student, a term (non-tenure track) professor or a colleague who has expertise on the topic but doesn’t normally attend AEJMC? Drawing on a wide range of sources helps produce innovative and inclusive panels that share new ideas.

· Also, remember that the conference is being planned (again) as an in-person gathering in Washington, D.C. – so if you are including industry or professional experts, those who live in the city or nearby might be good choices.

· Members should indicate whether or not they have contacted potential panelists about their willingness to participate, provided the panel is successfully programmed into the conference.

o Instructions on how members can submit panel ideas, along with contact information for your vice chair (email)

o Description of how your panels will be reviewed by DIG leadership

· What should I keep in mind while corresponding with my DIG’s members about panels?

o Once you collect proposals from your members (by Oct. 7), you will then select the best ideas that you’d like to see make it on the program. Later in October, you will make “deals” or partnerships with other DIGs on your programming.

§ Because of the deal-making structure, panels are not guaranteed a place on the program until the deal-making has concluded and the schedule has been formalized (in late winter) with the Central Office.

§ Once a deal has been made, DIG leaders will work together to verify that the panel has equitable representation (roughly equal numbers of panelists) from both DIGs that made the deal.

· When populating panels, try to avoid repetition of DIG members on more than one panel.

COMIG seeks panel proposals for AEJMC New Orleans 2021

 Dear Community Journalism folks, 

 

We need your help brainstorming and planning panels for COMJIG for AEJMC 2021. We want our conference programming to be about you and relevant to you. So, think about the topics that interest you, the concerns you would like discussed at a national level and ideas that have emerged in your classrooms or excited your students. 

 

There are several large issues facing community journalism right now and, as an interest group, we want to include and represent as many unique voices as possible in our conference programming. 

 

Here is a template to guide you through the process of pitching panels. 

• Panel Title: Give your idea a creative name. 
• Panel Type:  
• If your panel idea is more academic in nature, pick Research.  
• If it's more about involving students or revolves around pedagogical practice, pick Teaching.  
• If it's about freedom of speech, the journalism profession, or ethical issues, then PF&R (Or, professional freedom and responsibilities) is what you want to select. 
• Panel Sponsorship: If you think there is another AEJMC division or interest group that might be interested in collaborating with COMJIG for the idea you have suggested, please list them. Consider which groups might compliment the idea of what will be talked about during the panel you’re proposing. We will follow up with the division or group you suggest when finalizing the panel proposals. 
• Description of Panel: In 150-250 words, describe what this panel is about and the discussion points you would like covered. Consider that we’ll use this description to help attract other divisions or interest groups.  
• Possible Panelists: Consider an array of diverse people and perspectives when pitching who you think would be good to invite. You don’t need to have your panelists locked down yet, you can treat this as who’d you like if the panel is accepted.  
• Moderator: You can recommend someone else or yourself for moderating the panel, should you intend to attend AEJMC in New Orleans next year.• Contact: Provide the best way for me to get in touch with you should I need additional information or clarification for the panel you have proposed. 

Please provide the information outlined in a Word document and email it to me at christina.smith1@gcsu.edu by September 10. 

 

I am excited to hear ideas from all of you. It is with your input and ideas that we will be able to create a program that truly represents the voice of its members. Once the program has been finalized, we will send you the details via email and post it on our blog as well as our Twitter and Facebook pages. 

 

Thank you for your continued support of COMJIG! 

 

Christina C. Smith 

Vice Chair 

Community Journalism Interest Group 

AEJMC's COMJIG announces paper call for August 2020 conference

AEJMC's Community Journalism Interest Group invites scholarly submissions from faculty and graduate students for paper and poster sessions to be presented at the 2020 AEJMC national conference in San Francisco, California, USA. The papers should advance theory and/or practice in community/local journalism and can use a variety of methods and approaches. The deadline for paper submissions is April 1, 2020. 

Scope: The concept of community has expanded to more than just a group defined by physical proximity. In the digital age, communities also are defined by the strength of social relationships amongst individuals and the interests that bring them together, irrespective of their geographic location. COMJIG encourages submissions that address this diversity within and about communities and the role(s) journalism plays in reporting about as well as informing these communities. COMIG also encourages submissions that provide action-oriented insight into trends and issues facing community journalism outlets that would be of use to practitioners in community journalism industries.

Research topics may include, but are not restricted to:

·       How and if news organizations—print and digital-- fulfill a community’s critical

information needs

·       How news organizations build audiences within their communities with or without

use of technologies such as social media

·       How community newspapers thrive or struggle to survive in present times and changes,

if any, in community journalistic practices in the digital age

·       How journalism entrepreneurs juggle advertising with community news reporting

·       The effects of the closure of community news outlets—print and online – on communities, specifically those in news deserts

·       How news organizations create and engage with communities through innovative practices

·       Conceptual ideas that push the meaning and our understanding of community

in new directions

·       Conceptual ideas that explore the meaning and interpretation of “local news”

in a global era

Awards: The Group awards top papers in the faculty and student categories. The authors of these papers will be invited to publish their manuscripts to COMJIG’s official, peer-reviewed publication, Community Journalism. Others also are encouraged to send their work to the journal for consideration.

Submission guidelines:

Format: Paper submissions should include a 100 to 150-word abstract and should not exceed 8000 words, including references, tables and notes. All papers should conform to APA style, Sixth edition. Papers must be typed in 12-point font using Times New Roman and paper text must be double-line spaced with 1-inch margins around each page. The pages should be continuously numbered. References must be provided. Tables or figures can be included within or at the end of the paper. An author can submit more than one paper to COMJIG but no more than two manuscripts. All submissions will be subjected to a blind peer review. 

Author Identification: All authors and co-authors should include their information when registering on the online system. It is the author’s responsibility to ensure that no identifying information is included anywhere in the paper or the properties section of the pdf document or it will be disqualified from the conference. Thus, authors are encouraged to submit early to fully check their submissions in the system for self-identifying information and any other technical glitches so they can resubmit their manuscripts, if necessary, before the system closes on deadline. Please follow the directions provided in “submitting a clean paper” section under the uniform paper call on the AEJMC website. 

Student Submissions: Graduate students are encouraged to submit papers to the group. Student authors should clearly mark their papers by including the phrase “STUDENT SUBMISSION” on the title page to be considered for the student paper competition. These papers should be authored by students only and not include any faculty co-authors.

Uploading Manuscripts: The papers should be submitted to COMJIG via a link on the AEJMC website. Please see the AEJMC’s paper competition uniform call for more information.

Presentation Requirement: For the manuscript to be considered for presentation in the panel or poster session at the conference, at least one of the authors must attend in person to talk about the research. An exception may be made for papers with ONLY student authors; if the graduate students are unable to attend, then they must arrange for someone else to present the research on their behalf.

Questions, Concerns, Clarifications? Please contact COMJIG Research Committee Chair Christina Smith, assistant professor of communication at Georgia College and State University, at christina.smith1@gcsu.edu.

Ideas to help brainstorm topics for panel submissions for AEJMC2020

Hello, all.

Conference panel submissions are now being accepted for the Community Journalism Interest Group for AEJMC 2020. To help get your creative/research ideas flowing, I’ve compiled a list of COMJIG panel topics presented over the past five AEJMC conferences. Here are those topics as well as possible ideas for potential collaboration with other interest groups and divisions:

2019

(PCIG, COMJ) PF&R Panel Session: "Understanding Trust in Local vs. National News"

(PJIG, COMJ) Research Panel Session: "Committing Acts of Journalism: The Role of Regular Actors and Strangers in (Community) Journalism Practice"

(COMJ, PCIG) Teaching Panel Session: "Filling Information Voids in News Deserts with Student-Produced News"

(EEND, COMJ) Teaching Panel Session: "Career Ready: Not Just A Lecture"

2018

(COMJ, RMIG) PF&R Panel Session: "Faith in the Beltway: Creating and Maintaining Community Bonds through Religious-Themed News Organizations"

(COMJ, HIST) Teaching Panel Session: "Innovating Ideas that Foster a Community and Its History"

(NOND, COMJ) Teaching Panel Session: "Journalists in the Hot Seat: Staying Safe in a Hostile Political Climate"

(MMEE, COMJ) PF&R Panel Session: "Working Conditions for Women in Digital Workplaces"

2017

(COMJ, MMEE) Teaching Panel Session: Teaching the Business of Community Journalism in the 21st Century

(COMJ, CCJA) Teaching Panel Session: Helping Students Build Community Outside and Inside Campus Newsrooms

(COMJ, PJIG) Research Panel Session: Defining Community and Participatory Journalism in the Social Media Era

2016

(COMJ, NOND) PF&R Panel Session: Imagining Digital Community: The Importance of Geography and Niche Focus to Entrepreneurial and Community Journalists

(COMJ, CCJA) Workshop Session: Putting the "Hyper" in Hyperlocal: Teaching Students to Get Excited About and Involved in Community Journalism

(COMJ, NOND) PF&R Panel Session: Imagining Digital Community: The Importance of Geography and Niche Focus to Entrepreneurial and Community Journalists

2015

(COMJ, Knight Foundation) Teaching Workshop Session: THIS HAS BEEN CANCELLED: Saving Community Journalism: What Journalism Professors Need to Know About the Business of Local News in the Digital Age

(ETHC, CJIG) PF&R Panel Session: Journalists in Fear: Covering the News Ethically Despite Death Threats, Terrorism, and Dangerous Stories

(GLBT, CJIG) PF&R Panel Session: San Francisco and the Heart of the LGBT Movement

(MAGD, CJIG) Research Panel Session: Creation of Community in the Magazine Form: Legacy to Online

(CCSD, CJIG) PF&R Panel Session: Resistance Journalism: Expression, Self-Empowerment, and the Creation of Counternarratives on Poverty Through Community Media

If you are interested in submitting a panel proposal, please visit the following link, which includes a template for panel submissions: https://comjig.blogspot.com/2019/08/panel-proposal-call-for-aejmc-2020.html.

Cheers. Happy brainstorming!!!

Christina Smith

Georgia College and State University

COMJIG Research Chair

christina.smith1@gcsu.edu

Happy 15th birthday, COMJIG

Today marks a special day for COMJIG.

it was 15 years ago that about 25 of us, led by the indefatigable Jock Lauterer, gathered in a poorly lit coferece room at Toronto's Sheraton Centre to form the Communty Journalism Interest group of AEJMC.

Fittingly, we are back at the Sheraton Toronto this year.

With recent develoments in journalism, the need for COMJIG has never been greater.

I hope you'll try to attend today's (Friday's) research session (4:45 p.m. in the Cedar Room - mezzanine). If you can't make that, come by the business meeting at 6:30 in the same room to wish COMJIG a hapy birthday and many more. - Doug Fisher

Academic poster sesions

With academic conference season in full swing and AEJMC around the corner, a revisit to this lengthy and thoughtful post (also read the comments) is worth our time ...

http://www.ivacheung.com/2017/10/academic-conference-posters-suck/

Four ways to get more involved in COMJIG

The 2018 AEJMC conference is just a month away! As you look forward to August, I hope you’ll consider getting more involved (or continuing your involvement) in the Community Journalism Interest Group. Here are four great ways to do that:

1. Attend the annual COMJIG business meeting. This year’s business meeting will be Wednesday, Aug. 8, at 7 p.m. (location TBD). The business meeting is a great place to learn more about what COMJIG does. You can meet potential research collaborators, learn about publication/presentation opportunities, discuss opportunities to connect with community journalists, and more. Also consider attending our annual off-site social immediately following the business meeting. This year’s social will be at Brasserie Beck, located at 1101 K Street (just a few blocks from the conference hotel). 
2. Volunteer for a leadership position. If you’d like to nominate yourself for one of our six leadership positions (they’re listed in the bar on the right), please send an email with your name and the job you’re interested in to COMJIG head Clay Carey by Monday, July 23. If you have questions about what the positions entail, please reach out to Clay or any of our current officers – they would be happy to help. We also welcome contact from folks who are interested in pitching in but not sure they want to commit to holding and office – if you want to contribute, we can find an opportunity for you.
3. Develop a panel for 2019. It isn’t too early to start thinking about programming you’d like to see at next year’s conference. Interest group members traditionally begin brainstorming panel ideas for the following year’s conference at our annual business meeting. So if you have an idea for a panel on community journalism, bring it to the business meeting for some feedback. If you have a general concept and would like to refine it, we can do that as well. For that matter, come and participate even if you don’t have a panel to pitch – your expertise might be a great fit for someone else’s panel. 
4. Write for the COMJIG blog. Do you have an idea for an article that would be of interest to COMJIG members? If so, email your pitch to Webmaster Doug Fisher. 

I hope to see you at the COMJIG business meeting next month!

Clay Carey

Arenberg, Lowrey, Speakman receive COMJIG top paper honors at AEJMC

Members of the Community Journalism Interest Group were involved in several outstanding panels at last week’s AEJMC conference. We were also treated to some fantastic research and had a fruitful business meeting.

Two of the highlights of our conference programming were the presentation of our Top Faculty and Top Student papers. Tom Arenberg and Wilson Lowrey of the University of Alabama received the Top Faculty Paper award for their study entitled “The Impact of Web Metrics on Community News Decisions: A Resource Dependence Perspective.” From the study abstract:

This comparative case study of two community news organizations takes a Resource Dependence approach to assess impact of audience metrics on news decisions, and on mechanisms underlying these decisions. Findings show that the organization that more strongly emphasizes metrics publishes fewer in-depth civic-issue stories, and metrics are more likely to influence newsworthiness. However, reporters’ expertise with strategies for increasing numbers may actually free reporters for enterprise work. Findings also suggest effects from community size.

(From left) Outgoing COMJIG Head Marcus Funk and COMJIG Research Chair Rich Johnson present the Top Faculty Paper Award to Wilson Lowrey and Tom Arenberg.

Burton Speakman of Ohio University received the Top Student Paper award for his study entitled “Technology and the Public: The Influence of Website Features on the Submission of UGC.” From the study abstract:

Web 2.0 creates a situation where the Internet increasingly focuses on submissions of content from non-professionals and interaction between the masses as a method of creating dedicated audiences. Community newspapers work within this rapidly changing media market and one must follow their audience online, despite any reservations about if the web provides a hospitable economic environment. This study examines how community newspaper websites choose to engage in gatekeeping as it relates to UGC. Despite changes in technology gatekeeping continues to occur on community newspaper websites. Furthermore, it provides clarity about what type of audience submitted content is more likely published at community media.

Burton Speakman (center) receives the Top Student Paper Award from COMJIG Research Chair Rich Johnson (left) and outgoing COMJIG Head Marcus Funk.

Abstracts for other research papers presented at COMJIG panels can be found here.

AEJMC 2017: Call for community journalism panel proposals

The Community Journalism Interest Group is accepting panel proposals for the 2017 AEJMC conference in Chicago, and we would love to hear your programming ideas.

Members may submit three types of panel proposals: Professional Freedom & Responsibility (PF&R), Teaching, or Research. All division members must submit their panel proposals by September 26. Proposals may be sent to Programming Chair Clay Carey at mcarey@samford.edu.

Proposals should include the following information (think of the list as a template for your proposal):

Panel Title

Panel Type (PF&R, Research, or Teaching)

Description of Panel (Generally 150-250 words)

Possible Panelists (List up to five, including affiliations and contact information. If you have already contacted the potential panelists about your panel, please say so)

Possible Moderator

Your Contact Information (name, affiliation, phone number, and email address)