2009 Mass Communication Division Business Meeting
April 2, 2009, Norfolk, Va.

2008-2009 Officers
Chair: Wendy Hajjar, Xavier University of New Orleans
Vice-Chair: Myleea Hill, Arkansas State University
Secretary / Vice-Chair Elect: Allison Miller, University of Lousiana-Monroe (absent)
Web Editor: Barry P. Smith, Mississippi University for Women
Immediate Past Chair: Melissa Smith, Mississippi State University

In attendance: Wendy Hajjar, Myleea Hill, Mary Jackson-Pitts, Karen Bonnell, Lauren Reichart, Chuck Aust, Darrell Roe, Kristy Cates, Karyn Brown, Melissa Smith, Barry Smith

Called to order at 11:32 a.m.

It was noted that Vice-Chair Elect Allison Miller was not in attendance because she was expecting a child. Mary Jackson-Pitts offered to be Miller’s proxy at the program planners meeting.

A motion was made to approve the minutes from the 2008 business meeting in Savannah, Ga. The motion was seconded, and the minutes were approved.

Hajjar announced that the site of the 2013 SSCA convention would be Louisville, Ky.

Delivering the Secretary’s report for Miller, Hill noted that the division had distributed electronic newsletters for Fall and Spring this past year. She also noted that the production showcase would need to be worked on more for the upcoming year.

In the Vice-Chair’s report, Hill thanked Wendy Hajjar, Barry Smith, Melissa Smith and Mary Jackson-Pitts for their help during the planning of the 2009 program. The division received 26 competitive paper submissions and six panel submissions. Twelve reviewers were used to review the submissions, and each paper was reviewed by three reviewers. The division had 12 panels at the conference, including the business meeting, and one panel co-sponsored with the political communication division. There is still a problem with submitters not clearing identifying information from the properties of the Word files they submit. Hill said there were some papers submitted without any names of authors at all, which made for extra work spent contacting the e-mail addresses of those sending the papers to find out author names. She suggested that the division improve the wording in the call for papers to make it clear that author names should be identified somewhere, just not in the paper itself.

Authors were limited to two paper submissions each. The 25-page maximum length was not observed by some authors. Possibly the call for papers should be looked at again. Next year’s planner may need additional reviewers to help distribute the reviewing load. Also, it would be helpful to post planning procedures on the division’s Web site to provide institutional memory for incoming planners.

Hajjar noted there are continuing issues with electronic submissions. Although electronic submissions have been accepted for three years now, she said she still has to remove identifying properties from people’s submitted papers herself. She noted the need for flexibility for those with hardware and software issues. She also discussed the issue of “toxic reviews” (which had been discussed on CRTnet) in which one extremely low review score dooms a paper to not being accepted.

Jackon-Pitts noted that she provided a 10-point scale to reviewers in the past to help them review and rank papers. She then added up the points on the reviews.

Hajjar congratulated the winners of the division’s top paper awards. The top faculty paper award winner was Erin L. Ryan (University of Alabama) for “Parental Mediation of the Internet in New Media.” The top student paper award winner was Lauren M. Reichart (University of Alabama) for “Type Up and Speak Out: Does the Internet Restrict the Spiral of Silence?” Hajjar noted that Reichart’s paper was not presented in the divisional top papers session because it was scheduled in a special session for Bostrom Award finalists.

Hajjar opened the topic of officer elections by briefly discussing the duties of the division’s officers. She then called for nominations for the office of Secretary / Vice-Chair Elect. Barry Smith (Mississippi University for Women) was nominated from the floor. No other nominations were made, and Barry Smith’s nomination was approved by acclamation.

Karen Bonnell (University of Southern Indiana) presented five minutes from “Snapshots of Southern Indiana” as a production showcase highlight. She noted that she had produced the show in cooperation with public television in southern Indiana.

The floor was opened for discussion of ideas for the conference in Memphis next year.

Jackson-Pitts offered to work to build up the production showcase for next year. She noted that she had been in the division since 1991 and that the production showcase lasted 3 hours back then.

Hajjar noted that there has been a fragmentation in the video production area. Whereas there once were only a few venues in which productions might be submitted for possible screening, there are now several film festivals, plus Internet possibilities. She also noted that service learning is being used more extensively now in universities, and that could also be presented in the production showcase. She suggested a survey of mass communication division members to see how many are teaching production classes.

Jackson-Pitts offered the use of a Survey Monkey account for the survey. Hajjar also encouraged the use of CRTnet and invited submissions. Other suggestions included: using YouTube, inviting people, and making it clear that other types of work are welcome as well (not just video).

The site of next year’s conference is Memphis, Tenn., and suggestions were made regarding possible panel ideas for that conference. Melissa Smith suggested that the call for papers include wording encouraging entertainment studies papers to be submitted for Memphis. Smith also asked if a blog could be included on the division’s Web site so that members could discuss potential panel ideas.

Karyn Brown offered the Digital TV Transition as a topic idea. Chuck Aust offered the idea of collaborating with the Popular Communication Division.

Hajjar discussed the use of a new Facebook-affiliated site called “Academia.edu.”

Jackson-Pitts proposed a resolution thanking Wendy Hajjar for her work on behalf of the Mass Communication Division. The motion was seconded and approved.

The division noted the presence of Kristy Cates, a high school teacher from Valdosta, Ga., who attended the meeting. She was encouraged to continue her affiliation with the division and return to the Memphis meeting.

Aust asked that ideas for panels be sent via email to members. An email will be sent to those in attendance, so that they will have each other’s email addresses for further discussion.

Barry Smith reminded everyone that next year’s convention will be held at the Peabody Hotel in Memphis and explained that was the reason that people were walking around with ducks. He also noted that the convention might be a bit more expensive than this year’s for individuals and the association, but that it should be fun.

The meeting was adjourned at 12:40 p.m.