Conference report “#Communication #(R)Evolution Changing Communication in a Digital Society”: DACH 21 – Three-Country Conference on Communication Science (DGPuK, ÖGK, and SGKM)

Abstract

In recent years, there has hardly been a conference in communication science without the buzzwords of digitization and transformation in its title. In an effort to stand out from the crowd, conference titles end up adorned with complementary buzzwords like “disruption,” “data fication,” “platformization,” and “artificial intelligence.” These conferences frequently follow the same pattern: Papers and presentations are packed into individual panels by way of abstracts and keywords. Researchers then present their more or less elaborate empirical analyses to one other – usually involving a great deal of statistics. Since these papers and presentations are based on a variety of theoretical foundations, methodologies, and statistical analyses, the level of mutual knowledge acquisition is often negligible. There are no common pillars – be they theoretical or empirical. The Three-Country Conference hosted by Deutsche Gesellschaft für Publizistik- und Kommunikationswissenschaft (DGPuK), Österreichische Gesellschaft für Kommunikationswissenschaft (ÖGK), and Schweizerische Gesellschaft für Kommunikations- und Medienwissenschaft (SGKM) in Zurich from 7 to 9 April 2021 made an effort to counterbalance that trend.