A two-day international conference on communication research was hosted by the Department of Communication Research (DCommRes) of the UP Diliman (UPD) College of Mass Communication (CMC) from Nov. 17 to 18 at the UP Film Institute Film Center.
Communication Research International Conference 2023 (CRIC 2023), with the theme MediAgenda: The Mediatization of Communication in Asia, is DCommRes’ first CRIC to be held fully in-person and on-site post pandemic.
Stig Hjarvard, PhD, from the University of Copenhagen, defined mediatization in his 2008 research The Mediatization of Society: A Theory of the Media as Agents of Social and Cultural Change.
Hjarvard said, “Mediatization is to be considered a double-sided process of high modernity in which the media on the one hand emerge as an independent institution with a logic of its own that the other social institutions have to accommodate. On the other hand, media simultaneously become an integrated part of other institutions like politics, work, family, and religion as more and more of these institutional activities are performed through both interactive and mass media. The logic of the media refers to the institutional and technological modus operandi of the media, including the ways in which media distribute material and symbolic resources and make use of formal and informal rules.”
The CRIC 2023 had nine international partner universities. Of the nine, four are from Indonesia (Sekolah Tinggi Ilmu Komunikasi Dan Sekretary Tarakanita, Universitas 17 Agustus 1945 / UNTAG Surabaya, Universitas Atma Jaya Yogyakarta, and Universitas Multimedia Nusantara); two from Taiwan (National Chengchi University and National Taiwan Normal University); and one each from Malaysia (Sunway University), Singapore (Nanyang Technological University), and Thailand (Chulalongkorn University).
The conference had 39international delegates that presented across six plenary sessions and six parallel sessions. Only 67 papers from close to 150 submissions were accepted for presentation in 15 parallel sessions.
Speaking before conference participants, UPD Chancellor Edgardo Carlo L. Vistan II remarked, “The concept of mediatization does not only ask us to probe externally; it also prompts us to look inward, within ourselves.”
Vistan added, “I am confident that this conference will facilitate a critical exchange of ideas and challenge preconceived perspectives while remaining bound to the common goal of advancing communication and lead scholarship in your respective schools and universities.”
Meanwhile, Quezon City Assistant Administrator for General Affairs Rene S. Grapilon, representing Quezon City Mayor Maria Josefina Tanya G. Belmonte, said “I do believe this conference will serve as an opportunity to embark on insightful discussions which are vital to understand this unpredictable world. I applaud all of you for taking the time to pursue a data-driven research endeavor.”
CMC Dean Fernando dlC Paragas recalled the early years of the CRIC.
“When we started in 2007, only 16 papers were presented before an audience of 300,” Paragas said, recalling that they only had a tarpaulin for a screen and monobloc chairs for seats.
Launched as the Communication Research Student Conference where students of DCommRes can present their papers at an event similar to international conferences, it grew to become the National Communication Research Conference in 2012 and then into the CRIC in 2016. The CRIC moved to the virtual platform in 2021 because of the pandemic.
Paragas also welcomed to the conference the very first batch of junior research fellows from senior high schools across the country.
DCommRes chair and the CRIC 2023 convenor Randy Jay C. Solis, PhD, in his correspondence with UPDate Online, said there were over 500 present and future communication and media professionals that participated in the paper presentations, roundtable discussions, and plenary sessions of the CRIC 2023.
Solis was one of three conference keynote speakers. The other two were Mirca Madianou, PhD, CRIC 2023 co-convener and a professor at the Department of Media, Communications, and Cultural Studies of the Goldsmiths University of London, UK, and Younbo Jung, PhD, associate chair (academic) and an associate professor at the Wee Kim Wee School of Communication and Information of the Nanyang Technological University, Singapore.
Meanwhile, participants were given a conference overview by Ma. Aurora Lolita Liwag-Lomibao, PhD, an associate professor at DCommRes.
The CRIC 2023 had three major sponsors, two minor sponsors, nine international partner universities, one partner organization, and eight UP partners. The event was hosted by Jonalou S. Labor, PhD, an associate professor at DCommRes.
