Professor Steve Jones Awarded the Williams Prize for Contribution to the Study of Communication and Technology

My congratulations to Professor Steve Jones, the UIC Distinguished Professor of Communication at the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC), who has been awarded the Williams Prize for Contribution to the Study of Communication and Technology. The award was announced at the 74th Annual International Communication Association (ICA) Conference, held in Australia from 20-24 June … Continue reading Professor Steve Jones Awarded the Williams Prize for Contribution to the Study of Communication and Technology

Courtney Bower Joins the Ukraine Case Studies

The Ukraine Case Studies Team is delighted to be joined by Courtney Bower, a Ph.D. candidate in regional science at Cornell University and a Senior Fellow at the Portulans Institute. Courtney’s research examines technological resilience and regional innovation systems. Related topics of his research include the circular economy, post-war reconstruction, infrastructure policy, and Black Sea … Continue reading Courtney Bower Joins the Ukraine Case Studies

A New Way to Video Conference – Badly

Initially I thought I was witnessing an unusual practice. Individuals with whom I was speaking were simultaneously involved in other conversations. Then, when I was part of a team planning and organising an event online – a video conferenced workshop, the organisers set up a social media account for us to communicate with each other … Continue reading A New Way to Video Conference – Badly

Back to the Future of Academic Conferences

Is the end of hybrid conferences arriving just as they have been invented? I assumed that in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic and the shifts to more people working remotely and from home, that academic conferences would not think twice about embracing hybrid forms of meeting even as academics begin to travel again. Well, … Continue reading Back to the Future of Academic Conferences

The Importance of Media Literacy

Dear Colleagues of the ASEAN Regional Symposium in Bangkok, Thailand, Congratulations on the success of your ASEAN Regional Symposium on 20 March 2024, entitled ‘Unveiling Insights into the Region’s Digital Literacy’. I want to thank you again for inviting me. I enjoyed participating in the panel discussion you organized and am delighted to provide a … Continue reading The Importance of Media Literacy

Kate’s Mother’s Day Photo

Stand Up to the Photo Police, Kate, it’s the Digital Age I am amazed by the flurry of social media posts about the Mother’s Day photo of the Princess of Wales and her children. When flaws or discrepancies in the photo were reported, the Princess, Kate Middleton, admitted to doing her own amateur editing of … Continue reading Kate’s Mother’s Day Photo

Information, Communication, and Innovation Aspects of the War on Ukraine: A Meeting of Early Career Researchers

The Portulans Institute supported the conduct of an Oxford Forum on ‘The Implications of the Russian War in Ukraine for Global Information, Communication, and Cybersecurity’, which was held on 26 January 2024 in a Board Room of the Oxford Internet Institute (OII). It was conceived, organized, and chaired by an OII DPhil Candidate, Elizaveta (Lisa) … Continue reading Information, Communication, and Innovation Aspects of the War on Ukraine: A Meeting of Early Career Researchers

ICA Communication & Technology Awards, 2024

To Members and Friends of ICA's Communication & Technology Division: The Communication and Technology (CAT) Division of the International Communication Association (ICA) seeks nominations for the (1) Frederick Williams Prize for Contribution to the Study of Communication and Technology and the (2) Herbert S. Dordick Dissertation Award. I am pleased to again be chairing the … Continue reading ICA Communication & Technology Awards, 2024

The Fifth Estate Transformed

My book on The Fifth Estate (Oxford University Press) was published in 2023, so it was wonderful to get a Christmas gift of the book transformed into a different form – from a book to a complex paper work. I would never have thought of representing my book in the way Thurle Wright has done … Continue reading The Fifth Estate Transformed

Cognitive Politics

In the preface to Harold D. Lasswell’s (1936: v) book entitled Politics, he famously defined politics as the study of ‘who gets what, when, and how’ – also the subtitle of his book. He went on to argue that influence is central to politics and that “[c]oncepts for the study of influence must be changed … Continue reading Cognitive Politics