In light of fast-paced developments in communication, technology, and education, the academia must collaborate with governments and communities for stronger research mindsets and digital literacy skills.

Nezar Patria, Indonesia’s Vice Minister for Communications and Informatics stressed this point in his keynote address at the 29th Annual Conference of the Asian Media Information and Communication Centre held last 28 to 30 September in Bandung, Indonesia.

Patria traced the global evolution of communication studies, emphasizing the big shift from using symbols, alphabet and writing, to telephone, computer, and the internet.

In fact, he said, in 2023 alone, there are 5.16B internet users globally, representing 64.6% of the entire world population. He added that the COVID-19 pandemic has brought “…a major disruption in the development of communication technologies and the spread of the internet.”

He also recognized that the pace by which everything is happening has led to the emergence of new programs in communication studies worldwide. These include courses in Digital Communications, Digital Media and Marketing, Digital Journalism and Media, Strategic Communication: AI, Cognition and Culture, Artificial Intelligence for Media, among others.

These developments have similarly led to new career prospects in digital-related communication studies, opening employment opportunities for digital marketing specialists, social media specialists, copywriters for social media, and AI analysts for media, to name a few.

Still, Patria said, there are emerging issues in communication studies that need to be addressed. The first is the utilization of technology such as AI for communication work, data privacy concerns, data-driven communication strategies, and ethics. The second issue relates to social media and communications where concerns on digital safe space, digital literacy, use of social media for social movements, misinformation, disinformation, and hoax abound.

Patria recommended stronger collaboration between the academia and government where research findings can be shared “to formulate strategic public communication messages for government and industry.” He also  called on both parties to work together to increase “literacy and digital skills through massive campaign and socialization of Gerakan Nasional Literasi Digital (GNLD) – National Movement on Digital Literacy and many other stakeholders to support Pemilu Damai / Peaceful Election 2024 agenda.” (END)

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)

“The dialogue between Asians and Africans will shape the outlook of the future world.”

This was emphasized by Dr. Yoichi Mine, executive director of the JICA Ogata Sadako Research Institute for Peace and Development as he addressed delegates to the 29th Annual Conference of the Asian Media Information and Communication Centre (AMIC) in Bandung, Indonesia last 28 to 30 September.

Mine, who authored the book Connecting Africa, and Asia: Afrasia as a Benign Community (2022), said that to commence the dialogue between Asians and Africans, he is proposing the frame of Afrasia, a new regional framework combining Africa and Asia. “Drawing up on the spirit of Bandung, I’ve proposed the frame of Afrasia. This notion may be a little provocative but I hope this framing will stimulate our discussion about pan-regional responsibility in a candid way,” he said.

He also emphasized that his framing of Afrasia is based on demography rather than on geography. “The population of Asia will plateau around 2050 and will gradually decline. But the population of Africa is expected to increase five-fold throughout this century.”

Projecting that in 2100, Asians and Africans will each account for around 40 percent of the global population, Mine pointed out that “in combination, the two regions will represent no less than 80 percent of the total. Like it or not, the group of Bandung will become a true majority of the world population.”

He cautioned, however, that such a powerful discourse requires two caveats. First, Mine said, “…one should not confuse Afrasian ethos with the crude anti-Western mindset. The age of colonialism by the West is gone. All Afrasian peoples must share and internalize the norm against hegemonic behavior within the region.”

The second caveat is that “the population growth in Africa in the 21st century will not be an explosion. Child birth decreases everywhere as organizations progress and as women’s economic participation increases,” Mine said.

AMIC’s first in-person general assembly in two years was held on 29 September 2023, Day 02 of the three-day annual conference in Bandung, Indonesia.  The 2021 assembly was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic while the 2022 event was done online. The 2023 general assembly was attended by AMIC regular members, country representatives, AMIC board members, and the Secretariat.

AMIC Secretary-General Ramon R. Tuazon facilitated the almost three-hour meeting. AMIC Chairperson of the Board of Directors, Dr. Crispin C. Maslog, welcomed the members. He thanked them for their presence and encouraged them to sustain their interest and support for AMIC in the coming years.

One of the highlights of the meeting was a short program to honor the memory of AMIC BoD member Dr. Binod Agrawal who passed away on 28 March 2023. Several members and officials recalled Dr. Agrawal’s steadfast commitment to AMIC especially his contributions to communication education and research. He was the 2009 AMIC Asia Communication Awardee.

During the meeting, Secretary-General Tuazon updated the members on completed and continuing programs and projects for 2022 to 2023, particularly in the areas of book and journal publications, forums and webinars, research, the annual AMIC Asia Awards, advocacies, and networking.  SG Tuazon recalled that over the past two years, AMIC was able to publish Communication Theory: The Asian Perspective (2nd edition), AMIC @ 50: Turning Gold: A History of the Asian Media Information and Communication Centre, and the 28th AMIC Annual Conference Book of Abstracts with the conference theme, Science Communication: Managing the Now and the Future. AMIC’s journals, Asian Journal of Communication (AJC) and Media Asia were regularly published by Routledge Taylor & Francis and have remained among the world’s top indexed academic and professional journals, respectively.

Added to the roster of AMIC Asia Communication laureates was 2022 awardee Dr. Ronny Adhikarya (see related story on conferment of the award).

During the two-year period, AMIC pioneered the global and regional discussions on the impact of artificial intelligence with two forums on the topic held on 28 October and 24 November 2022.  It also sustained its commitment to pursue the development of Asian communication theories and models with two online forums on the issue held on 26 January and 07 July 2023.

For 2024, new programs will complement AMIC’s regular programs. The AMIC Asia Communication Award for Young Leaders will complement the 17-year-old AMIC Asia Communication Award. It aims to recognize exemplary Asian communicators below 40 years old. On the other hand, the AMIC Centers of Excellence will recognize communication campaigns and tools that significantly contribute to the attainment of social good in the Asia Pacific region in areas such as agriculture, health and wellness, basic education, gender, and peace, among others.

An AMIC podcast is envisioned to provide a platform for dialogue between veteran and young Asian communicators. Discussions also aim to amplify youth voices on current and emerging communication and media issues.

AMIC’s almost 100 publications produced over the past 50 years will be uploaded to AMIC’s online library which will be accessible to AMIC members.

The 169 abstracts presented by 237 parallel session presenters will be published in the 29th AMIC Annual Conference Book of Abstracts to be issued by end-2023 and published online.

To be Truly Asian, AMIC will be reaching out to all parts of Asia. According to SG Tuazon, since its creation in 1971, AMIC’s footprint has somehow focused on South and East Asia. It is time to reach out to communication professionals from other Asian regions including Oceania and the Pacific, Eastern Asia, Western Asia (mostly countries in the Middle East), Central Asia, and Northern Asia. AMIC members will be invited to nominate AMIC representatives from countries and territories located in these regions.

An animated discussion ensued among the members on the planned publication of Communication Research Methods and Tools: The Asian Perspective which will complement the Communication Theory book. AMIC country representative to India Dr. Chandra Pattanayak, who was earlier assigned to edit the proposed book, presented his initial concept. He admitted that conceptualizing such a publication is very challenging because of debates among Asian scholars and researchers on the feasibility of Asian-centric research methods and tools including those framed from Asian theories and models.

At the 29th AMIC Annual Conference, the Universitas Padjadjaran (UNPAD) bared its plan to launch an Asian-African Studies Programme as one of the concrete outputs of the conference.

Rizky Abdullah, PhD, UNPAD’s Director of Research and Community Service said that the AMIC “will be a leading partner of UNPAD” in this programme which will be formally introduced in 2024 in time for the 70th anniversary celebration of the Bandung Conference.

Recognizing that the Asia-Africa cooperation is part of the global trend toward internationalization of education, Abdullah said that UNPAD believes that “before we seek global cooperation with higher education institutions (HEIs) from different continents, we should prioritize partnership with HEIs from the African continent because Asia-Pacific and Africa HEIs have many commonalities in terms of development issues, challenges and opportunities.”

Among the initiatives being primed for the Asian-African Studies Programme are sharing and exchange of lessons and experiences in addressing common development issues and concerns, especially in communication and information; sharing and exchange of lessons and experiences, especially best practices, in development work and in Communication for Development (C4D); and the promotion of Afro-Asian communication scholarship through collaborative academic initiatives.

Abdullah added that they want the programme to foster networking among Asian and African professionals and institutions for collaborative programs/projects in research, publications, forums, and faculty/student exchanges. At the same time, he expressed willingness to explore the feasibility of adopting a mechanism for inter-continental consultation toward consensus-building for current and emerging global communication issues.

“These action points are aligned with the Bandung Communique which provides that ‘the promotion of cultural co-operation among countries of Asia and Africa should be directed towards the acquisition of knowledge of each other’s country, mutual cultural exchange, and exchange of information’,” he said.

The UNPAD and AMIC will also invite the UNESCO to be a major partner in the proposed Asian-African Studies Programme. “We have noted that UNESCO’s global priorities are Africa and Gender Equality,” Abdullah said.

He also called on different government agencies, higher education institutions, professional associations, and media agencies to partner with UNPAD to “realize the vision of the 1955 Bandung Conference especially in the area of communication and information.” (END)