2010 MCA Conference
Call for Abstracts
The first decade of the twenty-first century has been marked by the rapid transformation of human communication. This is due largely to changing role and relational expectations and the renegotiation of interpersonal and organizational boundaries through electronic communication, online education, and new media, which has led to the disciplinary recognition of “masspersonal” communication among other new concepts. As communicators, we are increasingly challenged by a mix of traditional and new mediums within an increasingly engaged multicultural and democratic world. MCA’s theme, “Let’s Chat: Negotiating Communication Today,” is designed to promote discussion of the negotiation (and continual re-negotiation) involved in human communication as influenced by these factors. We invite proposals exploring negotiation of messages, meanings, channels, boundaries, conflicts, and ethics through various forms of communication, whether formal or informal, professional or personal, interpersonal or organizational, mediated or unmediated, or otherwise. Proposals are welcome from faculty and students for scholarly presentations, posters, G.I.F.T.S. (Great Ideas for Teaching Students), and interactive workshops from any disciplinary perspective within communication studies.
Proposal Guidelines:
To ensure a blind review, please follow these guidelines when submitting documents. Submit as a Microsoft Word or .rtf file to Dr. Elesha L. Ruminski at elruminski@frostburg.edu by August 9, 2010. You will receive confirmation of receipt of your proposal submission, and acceptance of proposals will be acknowledged before September.
1. For individual presentations or workshops: On a separate cover sheet, include the title of the paper, your name and institutional affiliation, mailing address, telephone number, and email address. Indicate any audio-visual needs. Mark “Student” on this page if you are a student presenter. Beginning on a second page, include your title and an abstract of no more than 400 words plus a bibliography of selected references that provides your proposal’s theoretical grounding.
2. For panel submissions: On a separate cover sheet, include the thematic title of your panel, your name and institutional affiliation, mailing address, telephone number, and email address. Include names of the chair and respondents, if any, as well as names, institutional affiliations, mailing addresses, telephone numbers, and email addresses of all participants along with their paper titles. Indicate any audio-visual needs. Mark “Student” on this page if your panel features student presenters. Beginning on the second page, indicate the thematic title and a 75-word abstract of your panel’s theme along with titles and separate abstracts for each paper or presentation (each abstract should have no more than 400 words plus a bibliography of selected references that provides the proposal’s theoretical grounding).
3. For G.I.F.T.S.: Your G.I.F.T.S. must be a classroom-tested activity, assignment, project, game, or simulation addressing a specific communication theory, concept, skill, or learning objective in the communication discipline. Submissions should be geared toward college communication courses (public speaking, intercultural, small group, etc.). On a separate cover sheet, include the title of the G.I.F.T.S., your name and institutional affiliation, mailing address, telephone number, and email address. Indicate any audiovisual needs. Mark “G.I.F.T.S.” on this page. Beginning on a second page, include the G.I.F.T.S.’s 1) title, 2) goals and rationale, 3) directions, 4) explanation (how it addresses theoretical concepts or skills with cited sources as needed), and 5) typical results.
4. For student posters: On a separate cover sheet, include the title of poster, your name and institutional affiliation, mailing address, telephone number, and email address. Mark “Student Poster” on this page. Beginning on a second page, include your title and an abstract of no more than 400 words plus a bibliography of selected references that provides a description of your poster and its theoretical grounding.