The 13th International Symposium on Online Journalism (ISOJ) generated a record 71 submissions, confirming the continuing growth of ISOJ’s reputation as a world-class conference. Twenty-two papers were accepted for presentation on April 20-21, 2012 at the University of Texas at Austin.

ISOJ has become one of the most competitive peer-reviewed conferences in the field of journalism. It is a unique event, as it blends professionals and researchers as no other conference does it.

“We are very proud of the growth of ISOJ’s research component, as one of our goals is precisely to help fill the gap between industry and academy in the area of digital journalism,” said professor Rosental Calmon Alves, Knight Chair in Journalism and UNESCO Chair in Communication at the University of Texas at Austin. Professor Alves has organized ISOJ annually since 1999.

“We are very grateful to the judges who selected the best papers among the record number of submissions we had this year. And we are also grateful to my colleague Amy Schmitz Weiss for her superb job of coordination of the papers review and judiging,” said professor Alves.

All papers submitted were put through a rigorous blind review process by judges from different universities and countries.

Topics to be presented at this year’s ISOJ will include:

• The growing number of entrepreneurial news ventures developing around the world and its implications on the journalism industry;

• the role of ethics in today’s complicated digital media landscape;

• the effectiveness of mobile and tablet media on news practices;

• the use of social media in news routines and news presentation; and

• the analysis of online news by context, preference, and consumption.

Scholars who will present their research at the ISOJ come from these universities: University of Missouri, University of Memphis, University of Oxford (United Kingdom), Loyola University, Rowan University, University of Bergen (Norway), Drury University, University of British Columbia (Canada), University of Minnesota–Twin Cities, University of Minnesota, La Trobe University (Australia) , Cameron University, University of Colorado at Boulder, University of Neuchâtel (Switzerland), Amsterdam University College (The Netherlands), Indiana University, University of Nevada, Centro Universitário Estácio Radial de São Paulo (Brazil), University of Canterbury (New Zealand), and University of Texas at Austin (host institution).

One of the 22 papers will be recognized at ISOJ as the top research paper, based on the top scores from the blind review process.

Abstracts for each of the following papers are available here. Full papers will be available for download on the website beginning April 20. (Listed alphabetically below by first author’s name.)

• From journalism students to local news entrepreneurs: A case study of technically media by Mark Berkey-Gerard, Rowan University

• Through the lens: Visual framing of the Japan tsunami in U.S., British, and Chinese online media by Bailey Brewer, Rosellen Downey and Erika Johnson, University of Missouri

• #Memstorm: Twitter as a community-driven breaking news reporting tool by Carrie Brown, University of Memphis

• Survival is success: an analysis of online journalism start-ups in France, Germany, and Italy by Nicola Bruno, Effecinque, and Rasmus Kleis Nielsen, University of Oxford (United Kingdom)

• Verbal and visual national news framing of Dilma Rousseff and her successful bid as Brazil’s first female president by Tania Cantrell Rosas-Moreno, Loyola University (Maryland)

• Are digital natives dropping print newspapers? A national survey of college newspaper advisers by Hsiang Iris Chyi, University of Texas at Austin

• Theorizing Online News Consumption: A structural model linking preference, use, and paying intent by Hsiang Iris Chyi and Angela M. Lee, University of Texas at Austin

• WellCommons.com: Breaking down the barriers between journalists and the community by Jonathan Groves, Drury University

• Animation, documentary or interactive gaming? Exploring communicative aspects of environmental messaging online by Astrid Gynnild, University of Bergen (Norway) and Paul C. Adams, University of Texas at Austin

• Sourcing the Arab Spring: A case study of Andy Carvin’s sources during the Tunisian and Egyptian revolutions by Alfred Hermida, University of British Columbia (Canada), Seth C. Lewis, University of Minnesota–Twin Cities and Rodrigo Zamith, University of Minnesota–Twin Cities.

• Creating Conviction: Reshaping trust, bias and opinion through participatory journalism by Avery Holton, Mark Coddington, and Homero Gil de Zuniga, University of Texas at Austin

• Is this the future of online news? An examination of Samoa Topix by Linda Jean Kenix and Christine Daviault, University of Canterbury (New Zealand)

• Audience preference and editorial judgment: a study of time-lagged influence in online news by Angela M. Lee, University of Texas at Austin, and Seth C. Lewis, University of Minnesota

• Yes, iTouch: a case study of the first Brazilian news media for tablets by Soraia Herrador Costa Lima, Centro Universitário Estácio Radial de São Paulo and Senac (Brazil)

• Visuality of tablet newspapers and magazines compared to their print and web editions by Anssi Männistö, University of Tampere (Finland)

• Mapping emerging news networks: A case study of the San Francisco Bay area by Donica Mensing, David M. Ryfe, Hayreddin Ceker, and Mehmet Hadi Gunes, University of Nevada

• Finding truth & building community: A study of partisan Twitter networks by Emily T. Metzgar and Hans P. Ibold, Indiana University

• Converging ethics in African online journalism and the emerging networked public sphere by Bruce Mutsvairo and Simon Columbus, Amsterdam University College (The Netherlands)

• Content Curation: a new form of gatewatching for social media? by Katarina Stanoevska-Slabeva, Vittoria Sacco, and Marco Giardina, University of Neuchâtel (Switzerland)

• Privacy and the illusion of simplicity: The role of the aesthetic of simplicity in presenting digital context by J. Richard Stevens, University of Colorado at Boulder

• More than shovelware: A call for layered stories for online journalism by Yanjun Zhao, Cameron University

• “Best practice” in the journalism ethics frame: a comparative study by Lawrie Zion, La Trobe University (Australia)