ECA 2015: Political Communication Interest Group Call for Papers
106th Annual ECA Convention
Deliberation: Philadelphia
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
April 22-26, 2015
Submission Deadline: Wednesday, October 15, 2014
Theme and Process
The Eastern Communication Association is the oldest professional communication association in the United States and our convention in 2015 will be held in Philadelphia, a town that dates back to our first public deliberations. Deliberation is where ideas are shared in groups then debated, advanced, molded, altered, and shaped into the foundation of our democracy. We strive in 2015 to honor the spirit of launching forth ideas into a public space for deliberative consideration.
The Political Communication Interest Group invites submission of competitive papers, thematic panel proposals, and innovative programming alternatives (roundtables, symposia, debates, open forums, etc.) for the 106th ECA Annual Meeting to be held in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
This theme has particular resonance for political communication in terms of political discourse, rhetoric, and the current polarization of politics in the U.S., but we invite interpretations relating to multiple contexts in the discipline. The Political Communication IG is particularly interested in creative panels and submissions that have timely relevance and elicit proactive conversations. Thus, as our theme for 2015 is “Deliberation: Philadelphia” your convention planners aim to create a space where carefully crafted ideas are put forth for public consideration. We wish to highlight completed papers and deliberative, audience-drawing and audience-involved panels that may not include the conference them in their titles but encourage public consideration of ideas or debate the merit and direction of our scholarship and pedagogy. Creating this intentional space honors our location and ECA history – we hope that you will participate in our deliberations! Please note: Thematic adherence is not necessary nor a particular plus for any submission but only as a contextual consideration.
The Political Communication Interest Group will also sponsor the annual viewing of the year’s most popular political advertisements at “Wine and Spots”. We encourage you to schedule this event into your conference plans.
ECA convention programming will again include short courses, poster sessions, roundtables, and workshops. Additionally, the convention will host the Third Annual McCroskey and Richmond Undergraduate Scholars Conference. General information on it (as well as on short courses and poster sessions) may be found at http://www.ecasite.org.
Co-sponsorship of panels between interest groups is especially encouraged and with a deliberation emphasis may be selected as a spotlight panel (see information below) or special submission. Potential co-sponsored panels should be submitted to the Primary Program Planner (J. Kanan Sawyer: ecaphilly2015@gmail.com) as well as Interest Group Chairs for all potentially involved groups. As with paper and traditional panels, all co-sponsored panel submissions must go through peer-review and receive interest group acceptance.
Student Scholars
We highly encourage students to participate in these deliberative scholarly sessions. Graduate students should submit through the above process or as part of our Graduate Poster Session “on-going research” area. We ask that faculty work with their undergraduates to help them to craft papers and panels for our Fifth Annual James C. McCroskey and Virginia P. Richmond Undergraduate Scholars Conference (USC), which runs concurrently with the ECA convention on Friday and Saturday (April 24-25). USC papers will be accepted through December 20, 2014, to enable scholarly student papers from the fall semester to be submitted.
SUBMISSIONS
Submissions to the Political Communication Interest Group should adhere to the following guidelines (please read carefully – those panels and papers that do not comply will be returned to the submitter. No submissions or revisions will be accepted past the Oct. 15 deadline).
COMPETITIVE PAPERS
Authors are invited to submit competitive papers on any aspect of political communication from any theoretical, methodological, or critical perspective. Papers should not have been presented at a previous conference or accepted for publication at the time of submission. Any relevant history of presentation should be clearly noted on the title page.
Excluding title page, notes, and references, papers should be no longer than 25 pages in 12 point font with 1” margins. Papers longer than 25 pages may not be reviewed.
Authors who have not presented a paper at a regional, national, or international convention should include the word “DEBUT” in the upper right-hand corner of the title page. Papers authored by current undergraduate or graduate students should include the word “STUDENT” in the upper right-hand corner of the title page. (All of the paper’s authors must meet the “debut” or “student” criterion for the paper to be so designated.)
Competitive papers should be submitted via e-mail as TWO MS Word files. Submissions are not considered complete without both files. Please put in the subject line; “ECA, ” First Author’s Last Name, and short descriptive words from the title. Indicate the title page file with the designator Title. Example for File #1: ECA Edwards Debate Nonverbals Title File #2: ECA Edwards Debate Nonverbals
File #1 must include:
(Please note that no information that identifies the author/s should appear anywhere in this submission beyond the title page.)
File #2 must include:
PANELS AND OTHER PROGRAMS
Panels should focus on a unifying theme relevant to research, theory, or criticism in the area of political communication. Panels that reflect the conference theme are encouraged. Panels must consist of a chair and presenters; a respondent is optional, but encouraged. Roundtable discussions, symposia, debates, community programs, or other alternative formats are welcome especially as they relate to the convention theme or location. Panels and other programs that could be co-sponsored with other interest groups are strongly encouraged – please send your panel to both interest groups at the same time, noting the joint submission, so that those planners may manage the submission together.
Panel and other program proposals should include the following:
Requests for Technology must be made at the time of submission and we will attempt to make arrangements as resources allow. Any requests made after that time cannot be honored. Please refer to ECA Technology Policy.
Conference Absenteeism: Attendees who do not present scheduled papers should not list presentations on academic vitas. Notices of inability to attend the conference after receiving presentation acceptance or last minute emergency issues preventing attendance should as soon as possible along with alternative presenting arrangements.
Electronic Filing Formats: Proposals must be submitted only in MS WORD. Only electronic submissions will be reviewed. Submissions should be e-mailed to ECAPoliticalCommunication@gmail.com. Tracey Holden, University of Delaware is the Political Communication Interest Group program planner. She can be reached at tqholden@UDel.edu.
Submissions must be received no later than Tuesday, October 15, 2014. Questions can be addressed to the program planner, Tracey Holden at tqholden@UDel.edu or 302-831-3571. Please note that submissions go to a separate email address.
Hotel/ Conference Site
The Sheraton Society Hill
One Dock Street
Philadelphia, PA 19106
Phone: (215) 238-6000 · Hotel Reservations: 888-627-7078 / 800-325-3535
Planners ‘and Interest Group Chairs’ Contact Information
Questions about the conference, events, spotlight sessions, willingness to volunteer on site in Philadelphia, or inquiries regarding a desire to sponsor an event or advertise in the programs should be sent directly to: J. Kanan Sawyer, Primary Program Planner at ecaphilly2015@gmail.com
*SUBMISSIONS OF ANY FORM ARE DUE NO LATER THAN WEDNESDAY, October 15, 2014.
** UNDERGRADUATE SUBMISSIONS ARE DUE NOT LATER THAN MONDAY December 15, 2014.