Student Presents at Communication Conference
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On April 2, B.A. student William Sutton presented his work on analog and digital communication at a poster session at the Eastern Communication Association (ECA) conference in Baltimore, Maryland. Sutton’s proposal was accepted by ECA in January to be part of the sixth annual James C. McCroskey and Virginia P. Richmond Undergraduate Scholars Conference. “Collaborative consideration about [R]evolution in the communication discipline” was the 2016 theme.
“It was fascinating to see so many people gathered in one place, passionate about the field of communications,” Sutton said. He attended the conference from March 31 to April 2 with faculty member Geoff Burgess of the Communication Department. The conference was organized into three concurrent strands featuring undergraduate, graduate, and faculty presenters. Feminism, social media, and movie and television analysis were the most common topics.
Analog and digital was the topic of Sutton’s poster. “These are important terms because they describe so much of our experience,” he said. The poster stemmed from an academic paper in Philosophy of Communication, a course at Landmark College. Analog and digital are popularly understood to distinguish old and new forms of clocks, art media, and movie production methods. Sutton’s work expands popular definitions, presenting how the terms are understood in academia. It covers the current “analog versus digital” debate and argues that the terms must be merged for a more complete theory of communication.
“Learning about analog and digital can give you new ways of looking at life and new ways to act,” Sutton said. His advice to students who are thinking about bringing their work to an outside venue is, “Don’t be afraid to take on something like this. Initially it might seem daunting, but it’s a rewarding, affirming experience.”
About ECA
The Eastern Communication Association was initially established in 1910 and continues as the oldest professional communication association in the United States. ECA is a distinguished service-oriented organization with a history of achievement in research, criticism, communication theory, and excellence in teaching. –ECA website. Each year the organization hosts a themed conference to develop and share advances in the field.