AMIC Holds 29th Annual Conference in Bandung
ALMOST 300 communication educators and administrators, communication and media professionals, students, and policy-makers attended the 29th Annual Conference of the Asian Media Information and Communication Centre (AMIC) in Bandung, Indonesia last 28 to 30 September.
Keynote speakers were Yoichi Mine, Executive Director of the JICA Ogata Sadako Research Institute for Peace and Development and author of Connecting Africa, and Asia: Afrasia as a Benign Community (2022), and Nezar Patria, S.Fil., M.Sc., MBA, Vice Minister of Communications and Informatics of the Republic of Indonesia.
The three-day conference was hosted by Universitas Padjadjaran (UNPAD) and Far Eastern University-Manila.
Five parallel sessions were organized, focusing on topics of primary interest to communication and media practitioners and students. Aside from exploring avenues to pursue Asiacentric and Afrocentric communication theories, the sessions also tackled steps to safeguard freedom of expression and access to information in light of regulating digital platforms. Insights and perspectives were also shared on how best to pursue collaborative Asian and African scholarships, and to determine peer learning needs among Asian scholars, educators, and practitioners amidst communication and development in Africa. There was equally interesting discussion on how mainstream media portray Asian and African societies.
Invited as panelists were experts from Temple University, University of Hawaii at Hilo, Universitas Gadjah Mada, University of the Philippines, Diponegoro University, Kenya ICT Action Network, UNESCO Paris, and UNESCO Multisectoral Regional Office in Jakarta. Experts from Odisha, India, Universitas Padjadjaran, American University in Cairo, Office of the President of Senegal, Global Forum for Rural Advisory Services – South Africa, Indonesia Communication Scholars Association, Media Action Nepal, and Far Eastern University-Manila similarly shared their knowledge and expertise on the plenary topics.
Participants also learned about updates on AMIC’s journals, the Asian Journal of Communication and Media Asia and on parallel initiatives featuring Asian Studies in Africa and the proposed Asian-African Studies Program by the UNPAD.
At the same time, 18 parallel sessions on current and emerging communication and media issues were organized. This year, AMIC received 444 abstracts, of which 368 or 82.61% qualified for presentation in Bandung. A total of 169 abstracts of academic papers were presented by 206 participants. The abstracts will soon be included in AMIC’s 2023 Book of Abstracts.
Through a post-conference survey, participants appreciated the overall conduct and management of the conference. They also had suggestions to AMIC on the schedule, venue, speakers, logistics, registration fees, and related concerns for the next conference. (END)