ICA's principal areas of concern are represented by its Divisions and Interest Groups:
Division 1: Information Systems
Information Systems is concerned with information, language and cognitive systems.
Its central goal is promoting the development of general theories of complex systems and quantitative methodologies for communication research in a variety of domains. This focus brings together people with a wide range of interests and specialties. Member interests include: studies of information flows, the human interface with communication technology, and life in an information society: cognition, including information processing of direct and mediated communication and the construction of cognitive models; artificial intelligence applications in language, logic, and reasoning; modeling and study of interaction systems.
Members have pioneered analytical techniques in areas of network analysis, information theory, structural modeling, interaction analysis, content analysis and linguistic data processing systems. Issues in the philosophy of science, cybernetic epistemology, theory and ethics are regular concerns as well. The division sponsors Behavioral Science and publishes Systemsletter for members to keep in touch with this diverse domain.
[ Contents ]
Division 2: Interpersonal Communication
Interpersonal Communication is primarily concerned with the study of communication processes in a variety of settings, including friendship formation, relationship development, small group processes, family relations and the like.
Areas of research and theory development are wide-ranging and include, for example, mutual influence, intergroup relations, communication rules and structure, form and function of conversation, effects of message variation and communicative competence.
The division's central goal is to encourage theory construction, research and methodological advancements in the study of interpersonal communication.[ Contents ]
Division 3: Mass Communication
Mass Communication is primarily concerned with the differential impact of messages transmitted by various mass media, including international exchanges through mass media.
The division members promote systematic study of communication presented through the electronic, cinematic and print media. Members participate in developing theory, examination of the processes and effects of mass communication and development and evaluation of policy relevant to mass communication.[ Contents ]
Division 4: Organization Communication
Organizational Communication is concerned with the role of messages, meanings and information flow in and between organizations.
Members share an interest in both theoretical and applied analyses of the role of communication in the functioning of complex organizations. Division members examine microlevel communication, such as negotiation and bargaining tactics, superior-subordinate communication, decision making, interviewing, assimilation processes, performance feedback, power and influence, and communication competency.
At broader levels, members study communication climates and cultures, emergent networks, information environments, organizational symbols, corporate discourse, communication and productivity, information technologies, and cross-cultural communication in organizational settings.
Division members are constantly exploring new methodologies and conceptual frameworks for understanding organizational communication. Controversial issues and innovative approaches are often explored in convention preconferences and special convention programs. Awards are presented for outstanding dissertations and papers.
One of the primary goals of the Division is to provide a stimulating forum for theorists, researchers and practitioners to exchange perspectives.[ Contents ]
Division 5: Intercultural and Development Communication
Intercultural and Development Communication is primarily concerned with theory and practice of communication between and among different cultures of the world; with comparisons of different communication systems in different cultural, national or ethnic groups; with other aspects of international communication, and with the relationship between communication and national development.
One definite goal of the division is to promote exchange of knowledge among scholars studying communication across cultures, between or among nations, or its role in national development processes. Other goals include stimulating research on cultural variables, theory building, training and education, and diffusion of what is learned.[ Contents ]
Division 6: Political Communication
Political Communication is concerned with the interplay of communication and politics, including the transactions that occur among citizens, between citizens and their governments, and among officials within governments.
The plurality of this substantive focus is similarly reflected in the rich variance of theoretical perspectives and methodological orientations of Division members. These research interests are pursued, moreover, within individual political communities and across communities comparatively.
The Division regularly publishes the Political Communication Review and the Political Communication Newsletter.[ Contents ]
Division 7: Instruction and Developmental Communication
Instructional and Developmental Communication is concerned with both communication related to any learning environment and communication which transpires across the life span.
The division has the dual goals of promoting the study of communication variables and theory in the instructional process (such as teacher-student interaction, instructional technology, optimal methods of information dissemination) and to promote the study of communication as a developmental phenomenon across the complete life span.
Division members actively research everything from the influence of television upon children and the development of communication in childhood to relational predictors of elderly life-satisfaction and grandparent-grandchildren relationships.[ Contents ]
Division 8: Health Communication
Health Communication is primarily concerned with the role of communication theory, research and practice in health promotion and health care.
Areas of research include provider-patient interaction, social support networks, health information systems, medical ethics, health policy and health promotion. The Division's goals are to encourage theory development, research and effective practice of health communication.
In addition to programming at ICA's annual meeting, the Division publishes a newsletter and sponsors mid- year and summer conferences.[ Contents ]
Division 9: Philosophy of Communication
Philosophy of Communication is broadly concerned with theoretical, analytical and political issues that cut across the various boundaries that are often taken for granted within the study of communication.
Its primary goal is to provide a forum in which scholars can explore the relations and intersections between the study of communication and the range of contemporary philosophical concerns, arguments and positions. It also is committed to providing a space for those emergent interests which challenge the common sense assumptions of the discipline.
The Division seeks exchange, education and debate, and it encourages differences. Its members come from many divisions. The philosophical questions they raise vary greatly: from the nature of language, subjectivity or experience, to the epistemology of science and interpretation, to the politics of knowledge and communicative relations. And they bring many different philosophical orientations to bear upon them, including phenomenology and hermeneutics, marxism, feminism, structuralism, post- modernism, analytic philosophy, pragmatism, etc.
The result is that the Division offers a lively forum for contemporary ideas, from cultural studies and postmodernism, to semiotics and the philosophy of language, to phenomenological and interpretive study of communication events.[ Contents ]
Division 10: Communication and Technology
Communication and Technology is concerned with existing and emerging forms of technologically mediated communication among people and/or between people and interactive information resources.
The division investigates, develops and shares ideas and resources related to: design and forecasting methodologies, implementation strategies, user needs assessment, policy implications, ongoing system evaluation, effects and implications for business, the home and society including productivity measurement and quality of life, and technology diffusion.
The division seeks theorists, survey and experimental researchers and practitioners.[ Contents ]
Division 11: Popular Communication
Popular Communication is concerned with providing a forum for scholarly investigation, analysis, and dialogue among communication researchers interested in a wide variety of communication symbols, forms, phenomena and strategic systems of symbols within the context of contemporary popular culture.
Interest group members encourage and employ a variety of empirical and critical methodologies with application to diverse human communication acts, processes, products and artifacts which have informational, entertainment, or suasory potential or effect among mass audiences.[ Contents ]
Public Relations is concerned with the theory and practice of communication between organizations and specified publics.
Members are concerned with developing a greater understanding of the theoretic basis for effective communication through both laboratory and practice of communication between organizations and specified publics. Members have research interests in such issues as target group analysis, internal/external communication integration, systems analysis and channel effectiveness. At the same time the Interest Group is concerned with the application of theoretic advances for the solution of pragmatic public relations problems.
Members share communication techniques developed to accomplish specific Public Relations goals of consultant clients, or corporate employers. The Interest Group goals include the development of a consulting network, a long range research program and investigation into the issues of public relations education accreditation and curriculum development.[ Contents ]
Division 13: Feminist Scholarship
Feminist Scholarship is interested in exploring the relationship of gender and communication, both mediated and non-mediated, within a context of feminist theories, methodologies, and practices.
The Division explores issues such as feminist teaching; international commonalities and differences by race, class and gender; women's alternative media; and feminist cultural studies. Members support and encourage feminist scholarship in other divisions, and work with the Committee on the Status of Women to link scholarship to issues concerning women professionals.[ Contents ]
Special Interest Group 14: Communication Law and Policy
Communication Law and Policy is concerned with the role of law- and policy-making processes in communication systems. The Interest Group investigates Constitutional law issues such as freedom of expression and restriction of expression; torts such as libel and invasion of privacy; criminal law issues such as sedition and pornography; intellectual property issues such as copyright and misappropriation; corporate speech; administrative law issues that deal with broadcasting and advertising; the effects of the litigation process on communication law; the role of the court system in communication law; the regulation of new communication technologies; the development of telecommunication policy; and the operation and relationships of the determiners of communication law and regulatory policy such as federal legislatures, state legislatures, the judiciary, executive branches of government, federal agencies, communication industries, multi-national groups like the European Community and the Council of Europe, and organized communication-oriented citizen's groups.
[ Contents ]
Division 15: Language and Social Interaction
Language and Social Interaction is concerned with exploring details of human discourse and human interaction. The Division sponsors research in language theory, linguistics, pragmatics, semiotics, sociolinguistics, ethnography of speaking, conversation analysis and related approaches to human social interaction. The primary focus is in interpersonal and group settings, face-to-face or mediated by telephone and computer. The Division sponsors a developing focus in interaction in work contexts, including medical and therapy settings. Micro-analytic, textual, and cultural approaches are welcome, as are both qualitative and quantitative methods. The Division is interested in developing archives of audio, video, and written records of naturally-occurring communication events.
[ Contents ]
Special Interest Group 16: Visual Communication
Visual Communication seeks to enhance the understanding of the visual in all its forms -- moving and still images and displays in television, video and film, art and design, and print and digital media. The group sponsors research in creation, processing, function, meaning, and critical consequences of visual representation. Visual Communication research touches on all other communication fields, investigating such areas as the interaction of the visual with public policy and law, mass communication processes, corporate image and organization, technology and human interaction, elite and popular culture, philosophy of communication, education and the social sphere. The group reaches beyond content to assure visual analyses are grounded solidly in visual theory and methodology. The group publishes a biannual newsletter to keep members abreast of the field and its various scholarly societies.
[ Contents ]
Special Interest Group 17: Gay, Lesbian and Bisexual Studies
Gay, Lesbian and Bisexual Studies is concerned with the analysis and critique of sexual systems, discourses and representations, particularly those which animate, inform and impinge upon the lives of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people. Such systems and discourses occur in institutional, community, domestic and intimate contexts, are closely connected to other social and cultural practices (such as nationalism, education or popular entertainment), and play a critical role in the formation and communication of individual and group identity. Members also work with the ICA leadership to represent the concerns of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender scholars in the Association.
[ Contents ]