The Communication Policy and Technology section will be holding elections for two co-chair and two vice-chair positions, for the term 2023 – 2027.
The elections will be held online from 31 May until 16 June using the SurveyMonkey platform. Individual members and representatives of institutional members in good standing, who are also registered as members of the Communication Policy and Technology section will be eligible to stand for a position and to vote.
The deadline to receive candidate statements was 17 May.
Read about the Communication Policy and Technology section
More information and timeline at https://iamcr.org/s-wg/elections2023
Candidates
For co-chair:
- Julia Pohle (WZB Berlin Social Science Center, Germany)
- Weiyu Zhang (National University of Singapore)
For vice-chair
- Guy Hoskins (Carleton University, Canada)
- Qiaolei Jiang (Tsinghua University, China)
- Leah Komen (Daystar University, Kenya)
Statements
Julia Pohle (WZB Berlin Social Science Center, Germany)
I am a senior researcher at the research group "The Politics of Digitalization" at the WZB Berlin Social Science Center, and a senior associate researcher at the Brussels School of Governance. I have been a regular attendee and member of IAMCR for about 13 years. In 2016, I was elected vice-chair of the Communication Policy and Technology Section (CPT) and co-chair for the same section in 2019. IAMCR, in particular the CPT Section, is one of my intellectual homes, a place where I feel connected to and where I meet colleagues who share my critical perspective on the structural conditions of global communication governance. For this reason, I wish to renew my candidacy for chair and help further strengthen our research community.
As current chair, I have worked closely with my colleagues to keep up the high quality of the CPT conference programme and the section’s activities – a task particularly challenging in the last years, given the constraints of the pandemic and the hybrid conference format. For the upcoming term, I am looking forward to reconnecting and interacting with old and new colleagues in person and to make sure that CPT remains one of the most lively and diverse sections of IAMCR.
If elected, my goals will be to continue working with my co- and vice-chairs from different world regions to promote greater accessibility and internationalisation of the section. I also wish to continue the discussions about the section’s perimeters and the evolution of our theories and objects of reference, and to fine-tune our appreciation of the work done by colleagues around the world. I would also like to further encourage a critical focus on new or long-existing forms of inequality related to the uneven distribution of power in media and communication technology and policy. And lastly, at the occasion of our section’s 50th anniversary (we were founded in 1974 as Satellite Technology Section!), together with the current chairing team, I plan to publish an edited volume about the history of communication policy.
My own research focuses on digital governance and power structures in times of digitalisation. In particular, I am interested in the changing role of states as actors in communication governance and the discourses, institutions, and interests that shape communication policy-making around the world. I hold a MA in Cultural Studies, Philosophy and Computer Science from Humboldt Universität Berlin and a PhD in Communication Studies from Vrije Universiteit Brussel. My research is frequently published in international peer-reviewed journals and edited volumes, and I am actively involved in digital policy debates at both national and the international levels. Since 2020 I have served as an academic editor of the open access journal Internet Policy Review. More details about my research can be found on my WZB webpage and on Google Scholar.
Being a part of IAMCR/CPT has helped me develop this research agenda in exchange with highly qualified and supportive colleagues. In 2015, I was the recipient of the CPT Best Paper Award. Over the years, I contributed with presentations, peer reviews, panels and conference organisations. I also supported a number of activities in between conferences, such as regional conferences and seminars, and co-published a special issue featuring papers of the 2018 conference. As a result of these experiences, I am well acquainted with IAMCR’s inner workings, its strengths and its challenges, and wish to make best use of this knowledge to support my colleagues and the activities of our section for one last term.
Thank you for considering my candidacy.
Dr. Julia Pohle
Weiyu Zhang (National University of Singapore)
I am an Associate Professor at the Department of Communications and New Media, National University of Singapore. My research focuses on civic engagement and Information and Communication Technologies, with an emphasis on Asia. I am the Director of the Civic Tech Lab (www.civictechlab.org), and has led on multi-nation projects on youth engagement, online deliberation, and civic tech in Asia. I am particularly interested in translating academic research into policy impacts. Through my civic tech research, I have worked with policy makers from Communication and Information, Community and Youth, Food Authority as well as policy officers from media entities to provide evidence-based policy making.
My IAMCR journey started from 2011 in Istanbul. Since then, I have been participating in IAMCR conferences and events regularly. In 2019, I was elected Vice-Chair of the Communication Policy and Technology Section (CPT) in 2019. IAMCR has been a truly international community where I found my voice heard, my opinions counted. The CPT community has been particularly accommodating, allowing me to bring my Asian perspective while exposing me to the diversity of world views. My CPT journey peaked in 2023, when I participated in the IAMCR satellite event for UNESCO’s Global Internet conference. My experience has shown me that IAMCR is not just an academic community. There are actual impacts to the society our fellow scholars are making.
As one of the two Vice Chairs, I have worked closely with the Co-Chairs to manage the conference calls, submissions, reviews, and scheduling. I also actively answered various IAMCR-level calls, such as co-organizing a book talk series in 2021, co-hosting an international workshop on Internet governance in 2022, as well as proposing award nominations for female scholars in 2023.
For the upcoming term, I look forward to working together with my colleagues to further enhance CPT’s membership and close collaboration with IAMCR’s other sections. If elected, my goals will be to support CPT’s continuous mission of accessibility and internationalisation, by mobilizing membership from countries where IAMCR presence is still low. I aim to help our section members to find resources, work together, and publicize their achievements. In the meanwhile, I wish to facilitate the communication between senior and junior scholars through events. Both IAMCR and CPT have come a long way to where they are today. Many people have contributed to this history. Other than attracting new members, keeping our long-term members and acknowledging their lasting influence are no less important. Last but not least, through the community building engagement, I wish to see CPT having even stronger real-life impact – participating actively in UNESCO’s initiatives is one direction to go.
Let us take the journey together!
Thank you for considering my candidacy.
Dr. Weiyu Zhang
Guy Hoskins (Carleton University, Canada)
I completed my PhD in Communication and Culture at York University in Toronto, Canada in 2021. Since graduation, I have been working with the Global Media and Internet Concentration Project as both a Post-Doctoral Research Fellow and Project Manager. I also teach courses related to digital media, communication policy, political economy, and technology and social change at Toronto Metropolitan University, as well as other universities in Ontario. My principal research area is the global political economy of digital media, a focus that is complemented by examining issues of communication policy, policy discourse, digital rights, and the tension between digital sovereignty and data colonialism. Specifically, my current post-doctoral research project is focused on the role that Meta Platforms have played in a sharp rise in infrastructural activity in the global South, specifically its strategy of developing subsea cables, web apps and other terrestrial technologies. I am studying all facets of Meta’s Connectivity program in 4 countries in Sub-Saharan Africa in order to assess how these correspond to the claims of both digital sovereignty and data colonialism.
My doctoral research on Brazil’s pioneering bill of digital civil rights, the Marco Civil, was short-listed for York University’s Dean’s Dissertation Award and has been accepted for publication by Illinois University Press in its Geopolitics of Information series. I have also published my work in Television & New Media, Internet Policy Review and the Journal of Digital Media Policy, while I have presented papers at many of the top conferences in our field, such as ICA, AoIR and of course, IAMCR.
Indeed, I have presented papers at IAMCR in 2016, 2017 2018 and 2020. I have also been actve as a reviewer for both the CPT and Politcal-Economy sections from 2017 until present, while I had the honour of being awarded the top paper prize by the CPT section for the 2018 conference for my research on zero rating plans in the global South. I still remember vividly meeting a friendly professor at one of my first conferences who, upon hearing of my interest in the global dimensions of digital media, recommended that I look into the IAMCR. I atended my first conference, only as an observer, in Montreal in 2015 and have not looked back!
My research focus on the diffusion, adoption and policy development of media in the global South is based in large part on my fluency in Portuguese and Spanish and my experiences living and working in Latin America, so I relish the opportunity that IAMCR provides to meet and learn from colleagues from other regions of the world. This is one of the reasons that I believe the IAMCR is so important: it provides a platform for diverse voices from around the world to share their knowledge and experience, to collaborate and learn from one another.
If I were elected to the position of Vice-Chair of the CPT, I would be excited by the opportunity to help organize the section’s participation in the annual conference. In my role as Project Manager for the GMICP, I was the lead organizer in our recent conference and I greatly enjoyed the challenge. In terms of advancing the scope of the CPT, I would like to promote efforts to connect with young scholars from around the world, to help them to become aware of our work, and to use our organization as a way to advance their intellectual and professional development.
Dr. Guy Hoskins
Post-doctoral researcher & Project Manager -Global Media & Internet Concentration Project
Course Instructor - Toronto Metropolitan University
Ghoskins@torontomu.ca
@walmartyr
Qiaolei Jiang (Tsinghua University, China)
As a communication scholar, I want to express my deep gratitude to IAMCR, because several significant milestones in my academic career were achieved at IAMCR conferences, including winning the IAMCR Herbert Schiller Award and serving as a member of the IAMCR 2022 Beijing local organizing committee. Therefore, I cherish this opportunity to contribute more to IAMCR and the Communication Policy and Technology specifically as a potential candidate for a CPT section officer.
I am a tenured Associate Professor in the School of Journalism and Communication at Tsinghua University (see https://www.tsjc.tsinghua.edu.cn/en/info/1029/1355.htm), where I also serve as director of the Tsinghua-USC (University of Southern California) dual degree program in Communication Data Science, as well as vice director of the Center for Intelligent Media Studies. My research focuses on the role of information and communication technologies in society across cultural, political, and economic dynamics. Specifically, I work in the area of human-media interactions, through which human behaviors are shaped and expressed at individual, group and societal levels, especially at the intersection of digital innovation and the social transformation of the world.
I am Associate Editor of the SSCI-indexed journal Technology in Society. I have received several awards, including International Association for Media and Communication Research (IAMCR) Herbert Schiller Award, Communication Policy Research South (CPRsouth) Young Scholar Award, International Telecommunication Society Bell Canada Best Paper Award, Nationally-acclaimed Young Scholar Award, and two university-level teaching awards. I teach courses on new media and society, psychology of new media, frontiers in cognitive communication, communication theories, and communication research methods. I am the author of the book, Internet addiction among cyberkids in China: Risk factors and intervention strategies (Springer, 2019), and my publications appear in a number of international journals, including Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, Social Science Computer Review, Internet Research, Games and Culture, Mass Communication and Society, Chinese Journal of Communication, Asian Journal of Communication, The International Communication Gazette, The Lancet Public Health, Globalization and Health, Health Communication, Cyberpsychology Behavior and Social Networking, and Journal of Behavioral Addictions.
Dr. Qiaolei Jiang
School of Journalism and Communication, Tsinghua University, Beijing, China
qiaoleijiang@tsinghua.edu.cn
Leah Komen (Daystar University, Kenya)
My name is Leah Jerop Komen, I hold a master of arts degree in Development communication from Daystar University Kenya and a doctorate in new media and Development from University of East London, United Kingdom. Currently, I serve as a senior lecturer at Daystar University in the School of Communication. My research focus is on the area of mobile media and development and in particular the area of mobile media and communications and their domestication for Development in Sub-Saharan Africa. I examine the interactions between mobile telephony and communication within contexts to see its appropriation for development agenda in rural communities. Some of the areas that are of interest to me include: Information communication technologies for sustainable development, the subject of women's marginalization in rural contexts, digital divide, and the larger everyday life discourses. Additionally, mobile telephony and development, gender and power, health communication, socio-economic impacts of information communication technologies, and how mobile telephony is incorporated and appropriated into the everyday life of users in underserved communities such as those in rural contexts is my forte.
I have been an active member of member of the Communication policy and technology (CPT) of IAMCR and have in the past served also in several dockets that: include serving as IAMCR ambassador In Kenya and member of the clearing house for public statements.
During my terms both as the IAMCR member and member of clearing house for public statements, I believe, I made my contributions among which are reviewing statements for the clearing house and representing IAMCR in my region, which culminated in being part of the team that hosted IAMCR Nairobi, in 2020.
I am more than happy to learn and make my contributions in the new role of Vice chair of CPT if given the opportunity. One of the key things, apart from the obvious one of internalizing the section by making sure that we have a growing interest for the section from East Africa and perhaps Africa at large, is to ensure that there is that gap of knowledge sharing being filled as seasoned scholars make their contributions to the global south through organizing collaborative sections such as trainings on research and publications, guest lecturing and co-hosting events that will push the CPT section to a greater heights.
I serve as a reviewer of the Mobile media and communication Journal of the Sage and have also published books, and papers in peer-reviewed journals. I also have the privilege to serve as external examiner for several institutions in Africa and currently engaged in teaching, supervising graduate students and mentoring junior colleagues.
For more of my publications please see ORCID ID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2308-1272