ISOJ celebrates 10th anniversary of #ISOJ Journal, the academic research publication of the annual conference
The year 2020 not only marks the successful transition of the International Symposium on Online Journalism to online-only venues, but also the celebration of the 10th anniversary #ISOJ Journal, the official publication that is part of the conference’s research component.
Co-edited by Dr. Amy Schmitz Weiss, research chair for ISOJ, and Professor Rosental Alves, founder and director of the conference, the #ISOJ Journal was launched in 2011. The 10th volume has just been published.
Unlike traditional academic journals that often take a year or two to publish peer-reviewed articles, #ISOJ Journal is available every year at the annual ISOJ conference in Austin, Texas. In addition, two issues of #ISOJ were published between 2011 and 2013.
#ISOJ Journal is free online while PDF versions can be downloaded, along with papers presented at ISOJ even before the existence of the journal. The symposium has had a research component since 2004, seven years before the first issue of #ISOJ Journal.
“ISOJ started as a small conference in 1999 focused on the incipient area of online journalism, as news organizations around the world were starting their operations on the internet. In 2003, the conference became international, the next year we added research and in 2011 we added the journal,” says Professor Alves. “The conference and the journal have been developed with the explicit goal of bridging the gap between the news industry and the academic research in the U.S. and globally.”
Much like its namesake conference that attracts journalism professionals and academics from around the world, #ISOJ highlights research covering a variety of eclectic and international topics that are relevant to anyone interested in online journalism.
For example, Volume 9 of #ISOJ featured articles about young Cuban journalists, coverage of a natural disaster in Chile and the impact of the 2018 World Cup on coverage of the Uruguayan budget.
Volume 5, the biggest editions of #ISOJ with 12 articles, covered a multitude of topics related to the use of Twitter by journalists, data journalism, mobile applications and political participation, and newspapers’ presidential campaign coverage in the digital age.
This year’s 10th edition, guest edited by Alfred Hermida, director of the School of Journalism at the University of British Columbia, focuses on the theme of “Power, privilege and patriarchy in journalism: Dynamics of media control, resistance and renewal.”
“For this 10th volume, this special themed issue examines an important and critical issue in our news industry today — the way power and privilege can be wielded and the challenges as well as problems this creates for the greater practice and the public,” says Dr. Schmitz Weiss.
“Dr. Hermida’s role as guest editor this year for the journal has been great in selecting a great group of blind peer-reviewed articles that are among the best current research papers on the topic currently. I am especially excited that folks can access the journal for free on the website and see the amazing work these scholars have done.”
Researchers whose work is published in #ISOJ are invited to present their work at ISOJ. This year is no different despite being online. On Thursday, July 23, Dr. Hermida hosted a research panel discussion with the authors from Volume 10.
Submissions for Volume 11 of the #ISOJ Journal are now being accepted for the 2021 ISOJ conference. Go to the Research main page and click on “#ISOJ 2021 Call for Papers is Now Open!” to download a PDF.