What is Communication? (2021) investigated instantiations and permutations of communication via models of exchange, modes of inquiry, and meanings of community. While communication has been conceptualized as models of transportation, transmission, and ritual, communication is also characterized by modes of sharing, imparting, connecting, and participating. These characteristics can contribute to democracy, as well as facilitating the commons and community/fellowship.
Communication is sensorial, including the auditory, visual, kinesthetic, tactile, olfactory, gustatory, and interoceptive, and can involve humans, nonhumans, plants, and/or machines. Most importantly, communication imbues meanings — experiences/cultures, languages/ideas, feelings/emotions, interactions/transactions, politics/economics, situations/contexts, and networks/environments. 2021 marked the eleventh annual What is…? and the sixth collaboration with scholars from the natural sciences, social sciences and arts. The series continues to enact a collaborative network of transdisciplinary research, cultivating communication as the heart of nature and society.
ARTICLES • FINAL PROGRAM
The SERIES commenced April 19th with a program of keynotes. The first session featured Elihu Katz (Sociology, Hebrew Univ. of Jerusalem) and Yonatan Fialkoff (Smart Family Institute of Communications, HUJ) discussing networks and flows — “How Did Mass Become Network?” On April 22nd, Janet D. Kwami (Communication/Film Studies, Furman Univ.) and H. Leslie Steeves (Media Studies/African Studies, Univ. of Oregon) presented on gender and ICT4D (information and communication technologies for development) — “Power, Voice & Influence Through ICTs: Reflections on Digital Inequalities in the Global South.”
Continuing on May 6th, Oscar H. Gandy (Information, Univ. of Pennsylvania) examined platforms and democracy in his talk, “Algorithmic Manipulation: How Shall We Respond to the Threats and Challenges Before Us?” On May 13th, Kathryn C. Montgomery (Communication, American Univ.) and Jeff Chester (Center for Digital Democracy) focused on politics, economics, and policies related to “Understanding and Regulating the Commercial Surveillance System.”
Suzanne W. Simard (Forest Ecology, Univ. of British Columbia) concluded the series on May 20th with her investigation of kin recognition and ecological interdependencies, in her presentation, “Trees Communicate Through Networks in Complex Adaptive Systems” (see additional reading). Simard’s keynote was co-sponsored by the UO Women in Graduate Science and featured a Graduate Student Q&A Session. Finally, the VIRTUAL SCREENING featured a question and answer session with Mollye Asher (producer of Nomadland) on May 26th presented by the Department of Cinema Studies.
Some of this year’s cooperative events included recognition of the International Telecommunication Union celebration of the theme, “Connected Girls: Creating Brighter Futures,” for International Girls in ICT Day, as well as the observance of United Nations World Bee Day.
This year’s conference-experience is dedicated to Mary Catherine Bateson (1939–2021) and Jay G. Blumler (1924-2021).