The Experience of Time at Work: Relationship to Communication Load,Job Satisfaction,and Interdepartmental Communication

This study examined 393 organizational members' reported communication load, job satisfaction, and interdepartmental communication satisfaction in relation to their experience of time along eleven dimensions—flexibility, linearity, pace, punctuality, delay, scheduling, separation, urgency, scarcity, and future and present time foci. Results indicate that organizational members who experienced their time as more delayed, more flexible, and more oriented toward the future tended to report higher levels of communication load. Additionally, members who characterized their work as more punctual and oriented toward the future were more satisfied with their jobs, while those who experienced work as faster paced were less satisfied. Finally, the organizational members most satisfied with communication among departments reported their work patterns as more linear and more strongly oriented toward the future, while members who reported their work as more delayed were least satisfied with such interdepartmental interactions.     

Enhancing Communication Interventions and Evaluations through Communication Design

Communication design is first and foremost about creating, engineering, or critiquing approaches to communication that achieve specific goals or values. A design approach acts as an integrative perspective for finding the relevance of theory to a specific site of intervention. Communication design processes are illustrated through work on ombuds processes and organ donation campaigns. This research highlights four propositions related to communication design. First, design should be about both creation and critique. Second, design is complementary to, and strengthens, theory (and vice versa). Third, design can be both unique to an intervention or context and iterative from previous designs. Finally, design helps us uncover unexpected and unintended consequences, uncovering hidden properties of communication and leading to opportunities for modifying and correcting communication practices. These unintended consequences and other design successes and failures provide opportunities for learning and creating better systems. In these ways, a commitment to design processes strengthens both our research and our practice of communication across a variety of communication contexts and across different levels of communication.     

The Message Design Logics of Organizational Change

This study investigated the influence of context in the production of messages by stakeholders about organizational change. We analyzed messages produced in response to hypothetical organizational change scenarios. The message production task was implemented within a 2×2 experimental design (N = 1,205) fielded at three different organizations. We included multiple replications for each manipulation, and multilevel structural equation modeling allowed for analysis across scenario replications. Results indicated that perceptions of change and context do influence message design mediated by intensity of beliefs about a change. The study extends message design logics theory and contributes to a conceptualization of stakeholder interaction during organizational change as a problem of communication design.     

The Ethnographer of Communication at the Table: Building Cultural Competence,Designing Strategic Action

Ethnographers of communication are increasingly working within interdisciplinary teams to address social problems in communities, corporations, and governments. This special forum brings together ethnographers of communication to reflect on the opportunities, tensions, and challenges involved in using the ethnography of communication to seek workable solutions to social problems with fellow scholars, practitioners, and community members. Through empirical case studies, contributors demonstrate how the ethnography of communication is used to build cultural competence and design strategic action.     

A Measure of Weak-Tie/Strong-Tie Support Network Preference

This article reports two studies designed to develop and test a weak-tie/strong-tie support network preference scale. A theoretical framework for developing the measure and empirical tests of the underlying dimensions in two distinct populations is presented along with an assessment of the scale's validity and reliability, and hypotheses are tested regarding the support network preferences of the two populations. The application and utility of the four subscales comprising the W/STS is discussed along with the scale's implications for the study and advancement of applied research concerning social support networks.     

Designing Communication Process for the Design of an Idea Zone at a Science Center

In this paper, we use the occasion of the design of a learning space (The Idea Zone) in a science center setting, the Museum of Science and Industry, to illustrate the importance of attending to communication issues in the design of a process to design the space. We explore communication processes in the conceptual design phase, with specific attention to bringing Needfinding to a participatory design framework. Use of the World Café is made to create a conversational space for the participatory design process. We reflect on the recursive nature of designing communication process for participatory design of the Idea Zone and offer seven principles that integrate the theories and practices of both communication and design, bringing particular attention to generative metaphors, reflective practice, and emergence of a “third language” for designing together with others.     

Becoming More Reflective about the Role of Design in Communication

Robert Craig's constitutive meta-model of communication reminds us that while communication scholarship may feel like discovery of communication's natural properties, it is also often (if not always) on a path to invention of new possibilities and reconstitution. The constitutive meta-model suggests that every theory of communication is also a design language for communication, and that design itself may be a path to theory development. Design inquiry can be conducted in all subdisciplines of communication, incorporating and contributing to widely disparate communication theories. Design work itself takes many forms, producing artifacts as diverse as individual messages, persuasive campaigns, interaction protocols, large-scale participation frameworks for public decision-making, and more. This special issue explores design scholarship in the field of communication, with five original essays representing different subfields and different theoretical approaches. In this introduction, we argue that design work is more than application of theory; design itself is a theory-building enterprise. It is a distinct form of inquiry that builds new knowledge, complementary to, but different in kind from, empirical and critical scholarship.     

Designing Communication for the Day-to-Day Safety Oversight of Nuclear Power Plants

Inspectors of nuclear power plants manage information to make plants safer and to monitor and evaluate adherence to regulatory requirements. Integrating grounded practical theory and communication as design (CAD), we investigated the collective design of and practice of status meetings—a pair of daily meetings meant to manage information about the day-to-day safety oversight of nuclear power plants. Our analysis focused on (1) the problems these status meetings were meant to address, (2) the techniques participants used or proposed to address them, and (3) the situated ideals reflected in the designs for and practice of these meetings. Clustering the techniques illuminated designable features of status meetings (e.g., what, how much, and how to communicate, turn-taking, timing, pacing, and audience). We extend work on CAD by conceptualizing and investigating collective design work, focusing on the fit, function, and fragmentation of approaches to status meetings. We also contribute to the theory and practice of organizing for safety and reliability by making recommendations for coping when communication processes informed by best practices nonetheless produce persistent, irresolvable tensions that complicate the enactment of safety.     

Making the Most of Our Conferences and Associations: An Important Component for Communication Research,Teaching, and Service

As part of the tradition of outgoing Central States Communication Association Presidents and Executive Directors providing a spotlight column in Communication Studies, I focus on the practical value of academic conferences for the development of knowledge, enhancement of teaching and mentoring practices, and as an outlet for learning about and doing service. Communication is a practical discipline where the research has a potential to make profound and positive differences. The interaction that is allowed at conferences presents an opportunity for communication pedagogy, research, and service to transform in meaningful ways. In addition to practical advice for making the most of a conference experience, some of the most recent developments for CSCA are highlighted. The essay then ends with a personal note.     

开放交流合作——国际图书馆发展大趋势

本文从开放、交流与合作三方面探讨国际图书馆界发展的趋势,提出要促进资源共享,创新开放形式;重视人际交流,畅通交流渠道;活用社会资源,增强合作意识。图书馆要成为社会信息共享和知识交流的公共平台,必须转变观念,打破围墙,加强与社会各界的互动交流与真诚合作。     

Mothers,Sons and Testicular Cancer: An Exploratory Investigation of Health Communication

This study highlights the importance of parent-child communication of sensitive health-related issues, specifically the importance of cancer prevention discussions. For females, communication about breast cancer has been desensitized; yet, testicular cancer is not being discussed among males, even though it is highly curable when caught early. Testicular cancer primarily impacts males ages 15–40, so introducing the conversation early is important. In this exploratory study, mothers (N = 22) participated in three focus group discussions and described communication with their sons about general health issues and testicular cancer. While the mothers discussed a number of health issues with their sons, they did not mention testicular cancer and believed their sons knew very little about testicular cancer. Mothers' communication about testicular cancer with their sons was characterized by uncertainty and ambiguity. Findings from this study shed light on how little mothers know about testicular cancer as well as the need for comprehensive testicular cancer campaigns that target intervening publics.     

被经验的中介和被中介的经验——从传播理论教材的译介看传播学在中国

本文以国外传播理论教材的译介作为视角,考察了欧美传播理论话语在中国的诠释和变异,研究了西方客观经验主义的大众传播理论如何被潜移默化地等同于传播学的过程,同时以《传播理论导引:分析与应用》为例,对我国目前传播学的教学与研究中存在的一些问题进行了探讨,提出应该进一步开阔视野、注重研究范式、重新思考传播理论的教学与应用。     

The Relationships Among Perfectionism,Communication Apprehension,and Temperament

This study investigated the relationships among perfectionism, communication apprehension (CA), and temperament. Perfectionism is a multidimensional construct that includes an adaptive factor (i.e., having high standards for oneself) and a maladaptive factor (i.e., being unable to feel accomplishment in reaching excessively high standards; Flett & Hewitt, 2002 Flett , G. L. , & Hewitt , P. L. ( 2002 ). Perfectionism and maladjustment: An overview of theoretical, definitional, and treatment issues . In G. L. Flett , & P. L. Hewitt (Eds.), Perfectionism: Theory, research, and treatment (pp. 5 – 32 ). Washington , D.C. : American Psychological Association .[Crossref] , [Google Scholar]). Results revealed a negative relationship between adaptive perfectionism and CA, and a positive relationship between maladaptive perfectionism and CA. Furthermore, adaptive perfectionism was found to be positively related to extraversion and negatively related to neuroticism and psychoticism, whereas maladaptive perfectionism was found to be positively related to neuroticism and negatively related to extraversion.     

When Online Meets Offline: The Effect of Modality Switching on Relational Communication

Collaborative partnerships developed via text-based computer-mediated communication (CMC) commonly shift interactions to alternative formats. Extant research indicates that shifting from one modality to another, or “modality switching,” can have profound positive and negative effects on relational outcomes. Drawing on social presence theory (Short, Williams, & Christie, 1976 Short, J., Williams, E. and Christie, B. 1976. The social psychology of telecommunications, London: Wiley.  [Google Scholar]) and social information processing theory (SIPT; Walther, 1992 Walther, J. B. 1992. Interpersonal effects in computer-mediated interaction: A relational perspective. Communication Research, 19: 52–89. [Crossref], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar], 1996 Walther, J. B. 1996. Computer-mediated communication: Impersonal, interpersonal, and hyperpersonal interaction. Communication Research, 23: 3–43. [Crossref], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]), the present study examined the influence of meeting FtF after varying lengths of time interacting via CMC on relational communication. Consistent with predictions, remaining online yielded greater intimacy and social attraction than the other conditions in which FtF contact occurred. With respect to the CMC conditions, modality switching modestly enhanced relational outcomes in the “early” switching partnerships but more strongly dampened those of “late” switching ones.     

Philosophy of Communication: Qualitative Research,Questions in Action

Qualitative research meets and gathers insight and information, commencing with the particular. Qualitative research moves us from reductive and abstract engagement to experience of the subject matter before us. Philosophy of communication, understood as qualitative research in action, centers inquiry on questioning, reading, writing, editing, thinking, and interpretation. These five qualitative acts of inquiry are not isolated categories, yet they are simultaneously distinct characteristics within philosophy of communication scholarship. I contend that these five coordinates facilitate the performative engagement of philosophy of communication inquiry. I offer a story centered on five research coordinates, explicated with scholars repeatedly referenced in philosophy of communication literature. I engage these scholars in a manner akin to Walter Benjamin’s (1968) “pearl diving,” seeking insight from selected parts of their copious contributions. Their collective insights function as threads with which I weave a story about the doing of philosophy of communication.     

自由传播为原则,限制传播为例外——媒介传播公共信息的基本原则

我国信息公开条例只规定了政府信息公开应遵循公正、公平、便民的原则,暂时回避了国际法上公开为原则,不公开为例外的基本原则。为完善我国信息公开制度,本文从政府义务相对方的角度提出并论证了媒介传播公共信息以自由传播为原则,限制传播为例外作为基本原则的理论依据及其基本内涵。确立此原则,能使媒介的发展更符合媒介运作规律和民主化社会的要求,保证信息来源的多样性,有效地促进信息的自由流动和有效整合。     

美国风险沟通研究:学术沿革、核心命题及其关键因素

美国风险沟通研究兴起于20世纪80年代中期。本文探讨了它产生的现实社会文化背景及其学术沿革,试图厘清风险沟通研究与风险管理研究、危机传播研究、公共关系研究的关系。风险沟通的功能定位经历了由单向告知到公共参与的转变。风险沟通的核心命题是风险=危害+愤怒,该研究非常关注公众的风险感知。风险沟通的关键因素是建立信任,该研究在理论探讨和操作指南两个层面上对信任问题进行了开掘。     

Examining the Bidirectional Nature of Topic Avoidance and Relationship Dissatisfaction: The Moderating Role of Communication Skills

This study examined the bidirectional nature of the association between one's own topic avoidance and relationship dissatisfaction. It also explored how perceptions of a dating partner's communication competence and one's own communication efficacy affect this association. Three hundred undergraduates tracked their topic avoidance with their dating partner over a two week period. The results provided modest support for the idea that the association between topic avoidance and dissatisfaction is bidirectional for women, but not men. In addition, for men and women, global dissatisfaction with their dating relationship was a stronger predictor of daily topic avoidance (than daily topic avoidance was of daily dissatisfaction). Initial global levels of relationship dissatisfaction predicted greater levels of topic avoidance and this effect was quite stable over time, particularly for women. The results also revealed that the perception of a partner's communication incompetence was indirectly associated with increases in topic avoidance over time only because it affected one's communication efficacy. Finally, the results indicated that women who were highly efficacious were particularly dissatisfied by their topic avoidance over time.     

2001-2010:中国发展传播学研究现状与前景

本文对十年来中国主要新闻传播学学术期刊的发展传播学研究成果进行了梳理,对发展传播学研究在中国的进展情况进行了归纳总结和审慎展望。发现中国目前的发展传播学研究主要集中在媒介效果、媒介与社会变迁、媒介参与三个大的领域,媒介素养、健康传播作为发展传播学的重要专题在本文中也被单列专门讨论。同时我们也发现,中国的发展传播学研究的内容、方法、立场都发生了重大转变。发展传播学本身也从更深更广的社会维度关照中国在社会转型时期的问题,其中弱势群体和媒介素养将成为发展传播学的核心问题。