*Please repost widely on the Internet, via listservs and direct email to potentially interested parties. Thank you...* *FRONTIERS OF COMMUNICATION: Determining Place, Establishing Identity, and Shaping Change* The American Communication Association's Annual Conference October 4-6, 2007 Taos, NM USA Defining visions ranging from cowboys riding the open plains to astronauts exploring outer-space, the word Frontier truly indicates the charting of new territory. As professionals we are challenged daily to step out of our comfort zone and into unknown terrains to analyze audiences, contexts, and results of communication transactions. For most of us, this provides an ongoing challenge for growth and learning. According to Karin Dovring, "Communication must be interpreted against the background in which it is spoken or printed and that failure to understand it in that light will result in misunderstanding, misrepresentation, and utter failure." The American Communication Association (ACA) offers you the opportunity to share scholarship and exchange ideas at its 2007 Annual Conference held October 4-6, 2007 on the Southern Methodist University's (SMU) Taos, New Mexico campus. SMU's campus is located at the old Fort Burgwin, which, for more than 100 years, lay buried and forgotten. Born of the clash of cultures in the early days of the New Mexico territory, it gradually decayed under the weight of other forces changing the face of the North American frontier. Today, resurrected and restored, Fort Burgwin thrives as a center for academic discovery. While there are plenty of hotels in Taos, New Mexico, the campus has casitas for on-site lodging. Since the campus is in the Carson National Forest, it is a wonderful place for walks and talks. The town of Taos, has something for everyone. Seated on the high-desert mesa at the foot of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains, Taos is rich with art, steeped in history, and provides visitors with a variety of experiences. Native American, Spanish, and Anglo cultures are proudly preserved through art and architecture, music and dance, and food and festivals for all to enjoy throughout the year. According to one website, " The region's frontier sagas of romance and history, its big-hearted cowboy quests, and the enduring mystique of ancient culture have woven themselves deeply into the tapestry of our collective memory and imaginations." The ACA conference will begin on the evening of October 3 rd with a meet-and-greet event, followed by three days filled with intellectual presentations and discussion. An amazing experience has been planned to conclude the conference on Saturday evening, Oct. 6th . Student submissions are welcome. The deadline for submitting papers and panels is May 31, 2007. Acceptance notices will be sent early in July. Theme One: Determining Place -Objective and Subjective Contexts By examining how communication defines circumstance, conditions, factors, state of affairs, situation, scene, and backgrounds, the populace forms categories consisting of communities and groups in which to make meaning. During the first day of the conference, participants will examine such themes as: How do we construct places or socially shared contexts? How do we make the places known to others? What role does ecology play in communication? How do we learn the fabrics of socially shared contexts in traditional and virtual settings? Do newly created places provide for more or less expression? Are all contexts virtual in that we perceive them according to our own templates of reality and how does this impact communication? How is the substitution of nonhuman for human technology, transforming our lives into controlled environments and affecting the selection of communication channels and participants? Theme Two: Shaping Change through Communication Successful action, movements, operations, engagement, power, influence, happenings, events, and activities are bringing people together to shape society. During the final day of the conference, participants will focus on how actions link place and identity to create virtual and electronic campaigns, many of which have given previously silent people more visibility to take part in such movements to transform their lives and communities. Topics such as The Third Force -- how people are coming together via the Internet to impact social problems -- from Hurricane Katrina to hunger. What are the social, cultural, and technological factors that facilitate or hinder people from working with each other from different locations? Do we need a new "place" to foster collaboration? How do we communicate what we need and what we can offer across boundaries? How do we create a shared social context so we can organize and coordinate our actions? In a society that wants instant, preformed solutions to social issues, how do we find the language to bind rather than divide us? Theme Three: Establishing Identities - Exogenous and Indigenous Identities Through examining the roles of participants, contributors, entrants, competitors, players, and candidates, the second day focuses on the native and the innovative roles people play when communicating. Who are we, traditional people or displaced people in a diasporic world? A networked world? How do we communicate "we"? Are "we" changing all the time? Are we empowered to revive or revise who we are? Are we free to choose how to express who we are? Who will be counted in "we" vs. "them"? How do we communicate to people that we are (not) one of them? The effects of a virtual society on multiculturalism: are we more homogenous because of the Internet or less so? In a culture that tends to believe deeply that in general 'bigger is better' how do we humanize a McDonaldized society? Do we define our society as intracultural or Multicultural? How do we protect and pass down our oral traditions and ceremony in a fast paced society? Does technology help or hinder the preservation of storytelling? Student Submissions The American Communication Association is open to all participants. Students are encouraged to submit full-length papers and panel proposals. SUBMISSION PROCESS: Please submit papers and panels to Rita Kirk ( rkirk@smu.edu). All submissions should be submitted electronically. You will receive notification that the submission has been received, and again later when the panels and schedules are posted. Convention Costs: The convention will cost $150 USD for professionals and full-time professors and $75 for students. There will be many "together events" where drink and food will be served, representing a significant outlay of this capital. -- ========================================================== Tyrone L. Adams, Ph.D. Richard D'Aquin Associate Professor of Journalism and Communications Department of Communication http://comm.louisiana.edu University of Louisiana at Lafayette P.O. Box 43650 Lafayette, LA USA 70504 Direct Phone: 337.482.6077 Facsimile: 337.482.6104 http://www.swampboy.com/ "Got on a dead man's suit and smilin' skull ring. Lucky graveyard boots and a song to sing." --Springsteen ==========================================================