News/Research

BCNM at ICA 2019

18 May, 2019

BCNM at ICA 2019

The 69th Annual Communications Association Conference is focusing on Communication Beyond Boundaries in Washington DC from May 24th to 28th!

The ICA 2019 conference theme "aims for an understanding of the role of communication and media in the crossing of social, political and cultural boundaries that characterize contemporary society, and encourages research that crosses the boundaries of research domains, of particular fields of research interest, and of academia and the outside world."

The ICA is an academic association for scholars interested in the study, teaching, and application of all aspects of human and mediated communication.

Check out the incredible work our alumni are sharing!

Sunday, May 26th | 12:30-1:45pm

Navigating Power Online: Self-Expression, Repression and Survival

Amplified Socially Mediated Visibility and Power - Katy Pearce, U of Washington, USA

In Their Words: Strategic Uses of Digital Technology by People of Color and Low-Income Individuals - Amy Gonzales, U of California, Santa Barbara, USA

Reconceptualizing Worker Voice: Online Occupational Communities in Precarious Work - Julia Ticona, U of Pennsylvania, USA

Queering the Comments: People of Color, Social Media, and the Construction of Alternative Public Spheres - Meredith Clark, U of Virginia, USA

The Roots of Digital Disempowerment: Slavery, Unions, and the Klan - Jen Schradie, Sciences Po, FRANCE

“My Internet is WhatsApp”: Class Inequality and Elite Voices Domination in the Brazilian Digital Public Sphere - Rafael Grohmann, U Finis Terrae, CHILE Marcelo Santos, Cásper Líbero College, BRAZIL

This panel considers empirical, theoretical and practical questions related to digital power imbalances. In highlighting a breadth of examples in this area, primarily focusing on cases whereby internet uses do not lead to pro-social opportunities, we can begin to identify specific mechanisms of digital power imbalances, as well as key theoretical frameworks that will help ensure the staying power of this specific area of research.

Monday, May 27th | 11AM -12:15 PM

Disrupting the Boundaries of Game Studies: Feminist and Queer Interventions

This is What a Feminist (Game) Looks Like - Shira Chess, U of Georgia, USA

Visualizing the Bounds of Queerness in Games: Or, What Queer Games (Can) Look Like - Cody Mejeur, Michigan State U, USA

Reclaiming the Agon: Harnessing Gamer Trouble for Queer Women of Color Political Possibilities - Amanda Phillips, Georgetown U, USA

Game Studies Has Always Been Queer: Resurfacing Non-Normative Pleasures in the Game Studies Canon - Bonnie Ruberg, U of California, Irvine, USA

This panel explores strategies for conducting feminist and queer scholarship that challenges dominant norms of game studies. These papers center new or previously undervalued sources: queer women of color feminists, canonical game studies texts re-interpreted through queer lenses, visualization software, and casual video games. In the present moment, as the toxicity of gamer culture seeps into academia, approaching the study of games through radical, intersectional feminist and queer perspectives is more crucial than ever

Monday, May 27th 2-3:15 PM

Internet Ideologies: How Blurry Are the Filter Bubble Boundaries

Patriots, Participation, Propaganda, and Politics: How the Right Harnesses the Internet - Jen Schradie, Sciences Po, FRANCE

Producing (Polarized) Political Subjects: Data, Media Effects, and Methods in the Digital of Online Information - C.W. Anderson, U of Leeds, UNITED KINGDOM

Assessing the Power of Russian Political Disinformation on Twitter Deen Freelon, U of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, USA

The Trump Effect on Social Media Use of Social Movement Organizations Deana Rohlinger, Florida State U, USA

Political Identity and Affective Polarization in Online Discussion Forums Nahema Marchal, U of Oxford, UNITED KINGDOM

Panelists identify a variety of ways in which communication research can move forward from overly simplistic political polarization divides of the right and left online. Researchers from three countries and fields ranging from political communication and journalism to communication and technology unpack the grey areas of ideological identities and structures, with research on topics such as Russian disinformation, Reddit discussion forums, Pro-life and Pro-choice digital activists.

Tuesday, May 28th | 9:30-10:45 AM

Coming to You Live on Twitch.Tv: Videogame Streaming Complexity

What’s in a Metric? The Politics of Visibility in Twitch Channel Analytics - Katherine Lo, U of California, Irvine, USA

Nothing But a “Titty Streamer”: Legitimacy, Labor, and the Debate over Women’s Breasts in Video Game Live Streaming - Bonnie Ruberg, U of California, Irvine, USA; Amanda Cullen, U of California, Irvine, USA

Squaring the Magic Circle: Or, Rethinking How Game Mechanics Are Social - William Partin, U of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, USA

The Impacts of Live Streaming and Twitch.Tv on the Video Game Industry - Mark Johnson, U of Alberta, CANADA

This panel presents contemporary research into videogame streaming platform Twitch.Tv. The first talk examines the politics of visibility in Twitch channels and the complex roles of analytics; the second addresses women streamers whose bodies have become sites of contested legitimacy; the third focuses on the roles of games themselves on the platform, and how game mechanics shape game broa

Check out the program here!