G’day mates and greetings from down under!
About the same time I took over from Homero Gil de Zúñiga as Head of the Communication Technology (CTEC) division I moved to Melbourne, Australia. So while that move has been slowly taking shape, CTEC now probably has its first active division head in residence outside North America!
As pioneering as that is, CTEC has long been one of the most innovative and popular divisions of the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication (AEJMC). Indeed, our numbers continue to grow, and at the last annual conference, we had almost 300 members and approximately 150 papers submitted, as record submissions have become expected for us.
Over the years, within its larger structure of AEJMC, the CTEC division is committed to its mission of fostering the research and professional activities of the journalism and mass communication field at large. To showcase some featured statistics, AEJMC comprises over 3,300 journalism and mass communication scholars and professionals heralding better than 30 countries. AEJMC was founded in 1912 in the United States, and is the oldest and largest association of journalism and mass communication educators and administrators at the university level, with the majority of members coming from the United States.
In carrying out its mission, CTEC has provided a space of critical evaluation and empirical analysis of the ways in which “new” communication technologies are impacting media practices and human communication within and through media. The work of CTEC is also importantly focused on contributing directly to advancing the knowledge of media researchers, teachers and professionals who are interested in any number of aspects related to the use of communication technologies in practice, classrooms, or elsewhere. Prevalent topics of study in our division are at the forefront of the field, and currently deal with the vast arena of social media, mobile media, and other online resources that have reshaped not only media itself but human interaction within the span of no more than two decades.
In the coming year, we will surely break even more new ground. We are continuing to progress towards our own journal, and are building on our previous success of having established the largest cash faculty award in all of AEJMC. Our heartfelt thanks go out to Gene Burd for making this contribution to the efforts of the CTEC division.
The 2013 annual AEJMC convention will be hosted in Washington, DC next August. Please accept my personal invitation for everyone reading this page to join us in the many engaging and useful events that can be expected, as usual.
Finally, please consider joining our division if you have not yet already done so. The annual cost is $10 or less, and it offers many valuable benefits—including our social activities. Joining has never been easier—just click on the ‘about’ link above for membership information.
Our website has recently undergone a redesign, and we are constantly updating our social media channels. Look for us, join us, and if you already on board—thank you for all you do!!
All the best and I hope to see you in Washington.
Cheers,
Jacob Groshek
Head, Communication Technology Division