On October 22nd, the 2022 ICA-affiliated New Media International (Virtual) Conference at Shanghai Jiao Tong University was held. Under the theme of “Intelligent Communication and Real World”, scholars and entrepreneurs gathered online to discuss topics such as intelligent communication and theoretical innovation, relation between the virtual world and the real world, and media trust. Guests include President of the ICA, Professor Noshir Contractor from Northwestern University, former President of the ICA, Professor Terry Flew from University of Sydney, former President of the ICA, Professor Ang Peng Hwa from Nanyang Technological University, former ICA President, Professor Patrice Buzzanell from University of South Florida as well as Co-editor in Chief of Human Communication Research, Professor Steven Wilson from University of South Florida.

Nearly 3000 people including scholars from home and abroad, deans of Journalism Schools in China, experts in the industry and journalism students attended the morning session and 17 panel sessions in the afternoon via cloud.

Screenshot of the Morning Session

ICA President Noshir Contractor delivered a welcome address at the opening ceremony. Li Benqian, Dean and Distinguished Professor of the School of Media and Communication of Shanghai Jiao Tong University, chaired the opening ceremony.

In his opening remark, Professor Noshir Contractor introduced ICA, the world's largest academic organization in communication, from the perspectives of its founding history, membership distribution and development vision. He said the School of Media and Communication at Shanghai Jiao Tong University has been focusing on new media research and has achieved many influential research results. The ICA and Shanghai Jiao Tong University have been working closely together for 9 years to hold the new media international conferences which have been quite influential in the international communication field. In the future, ICA will continue to seek global participation and consider creating more pilot regional chapters to make greater contributions to the global progress of communication studies.

Prof. Noshir Contractor, the President of the ICA gives opening remarks

Conference Host Prof. Li Benqian, Dean and Distinguished Professor of

the School of Media and Communication, Shanghai Jiao Tong University

In the following keynote speech session, experts from various countries used the online platform to "cloud share" their views on intelligent communication and real world.

ICA President and professor at Northwestern University, Prof. Noshir Contractor, delivered a keynote speech on " People Analytics: Using Digital Exhaust to Leverage Network Insights in the Algorithmically Infused Workplace ", elaborating on the influence of algorithms on interpersonal relationship in work environment. He pointed out that the use of social media on the one hand simplifies the way members interact with each other, and on the other hand provides a new way to study social networks and interpersonal relationships within organizations. By analyzing the "social data" left by members in social media, we can manage to predict the social relations of members in the organization, and based on that prediction, propose specific plans for team building and enterprise management.

ICA President and professor at Northwestern University, Prof. Noshir Contractor

Patrice Marie Buzzanell, former ICA President and professor at the University of South Florida, shared his research on “Risk, Resilience, and Ethical Considerations in AI”. She introduced the concept of risk management and ethical safety in artificial intelligence, and explained how data can provide more effective risk assessment solutions for artificial intelligence design. At the same time, she mentioned that the risks and measures of artificial intelligence construction vary in different industries and contexts, and such risks are difficult to monitor ethically. It is because of this uncontrollability that the "who" and "how" behind the design of the code are particularly important.

Patrice Marie Buzzanell, former ICA President and professor at the University of South Florida

Terry Flew, Former President and now Executive Board member of the ICA, Professor of University of Sydney discussed the topic of “Mediated Trust and Artificial Intelligence”. He argues that problems such as commercial competition, ethics and prejudice generated by artificial intelligence technology have exacerbated the global trust crisis. However, communication media including digital media, social media and journalism can promote mediated trust, technical governance of AI and its future development by balancing the ideas, rights, interests and system standardization of AI.

Terry Flew, Former President and now Executive Board member of the ICA,

Professor of University of Sydney

Co-editor in Chief of Human Communication Research, Professor Steven Wilson from University of South Florida proposed a series of "rethinking" on communication theory in the era of artificial intelligence based on the content of the July 2022 special issue of the journal. He notes that when communication methods are undergoing rapid and fundamental changes, it is important for communication researchers to critically assess the relevance and usefulness of existing communication theories and research findings, and to ask new research questions. He also uses a paper in the special issue as an example of the impact of algorithms and artificial intelligence on scholars' research subjects, research questions, and data collection and analysis.

Co-editor in Chief of Human Communication Research, Professor Steven Wilson from

University of South Florida

In the following keynote session for Chinese scholars chaired by Prof. Zhang Guoliang, former Dean of School of Media and Communication, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Sui Yan, Dean and Professor from School of Journalism, Communication University of China gave a talk titled “Group communication: The Nature of the Internet” where he pointed out that group communication is the core of Internet communication. Group communication has a huge impact on individual life, industry development, social culture, resource allocation, national policies, international relations and other aspects.

Zhou Yong, Executive Dean and Professor from School of Journalism, Renmin University of China shared his view about the future of communication research. He emphasized that we should adhere to the problem-oriented approach, innovate and localize communication theory, and contribute Chinese wisdom and thoughts to the future communication studies.

Zhang Taofu, Dean and Professor from School of Journalism, Fudan University pointed out in his presentation that with rapid digitalization, journalism major is facing both opportunities and challenges. We need to reconstruct value certainty, ability certainty, knowledge certainty and professional certainty around the journalism discipline.

Chen Gang, Dean and Professor from School of Journalism and Communication, Peking University shared his thinking on the construction of digital communication knowledge system. He thinks that faced with challenges brought by digital technology revolution, we should stick to communication practice and accelerate knowledge innovation by breaking the barrier between disciplines.

In the presentation titled “Metaverse and Discipline Reconstruction of Communication -- a key topic in the development of communication from the perspective of future communication”, Yu Guoming, Professor from School of Journalism and Communication, Beijing Normal University listed three key topics faced by the current communication transformation from the perspective of metaverse.

Yuli Liu, Professor and Head of the Department of Media and Communication, City University of Hong Kong stressed in her talk “Users, technology, and law in the metaverse” the importance of privacy protection in virtual space and the need to update laws and regulations to clarify the subject of responsibility, to strengthen platform self-discipline, open data collection and trading process, and to embed "privacy protection awareness" into the whole process of technology development and use.

Keynote speakers of the Chinese Scholar Session

Industry leaders also shared their views in the following industry keynote session. According to Hu Zhengrong, Director of the Institute of Journalism and Communication, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, media convergence needs an intelligent platform to promote the modernization of national governance capacity and governance system, and finally solve the real problems in the real world.

As Liang Zhiyong, Vice president of China Economic Information Agency pointed out in his speech, digital marketing is a new topic which needs to deeply integrate resources, open up the upstream and downstream of the industrial chain, and realize the reconstruction of profit model. Traditional media must promote integrated development, rely on technology, algorithmic recommendation, and improve the efficiency of content production and distribution in order to make further breakthrough.

Huang Linli, Director of the Bilibili Institute of Public Policy shared her observation of youth in the video era: The expression of youth in the video era has three characteristics: the increase of knowledge videos, the integration and innovation of content, and the empowerment of offline consumption.

Zhang Dazhong, Chairman of Shanghai Menghai Investment shared his predictions for the future of China’s intelligent media industry: one is that the connection between the virtual world and the real world may be weaker and weaker; Second, the breakthrough of the metaverse lies in games and social interaction in the short term, and in the construction of new social organizations in the long term.

Gao Dawei, Vice General Manager of Digital Public Opinion Department of Tencent thinks that in the era of short videos, one of the important issues in intelligent communication is to effectively connect the real world and build full connectivity, providing a new perspective for the video integration path.

Zhao Binran, Founder of Eastday.com "Landmark Mark" shared the changes in the way information is disseminated with the help of metaverse technology. In his opinion, the importance of digital assets in the era of intelligent communication is becoming more and more significant.

Keynote speakers of the Industry Leaders Session

In the afternoon, 17 online panel sessions were held including the Deans’ Forum, the Editors’ Forum, "Reading Research in the Era of Intelligent Communication", "Intelligent Communication and Theoretical Innovation", "Intelligent Communication and Practical Application", "Artificial Intelligence and Industrial Transformation", "Metaverse and Real World", "Intelligent communication and Media Trust", "Key Issues and Innovations in Communication Research" roundtable forum, and "Third Party Effect" roundtable forum.

In the Deans’ Forum, deans of nearly 30 journalism and communication schools in China jointly discuss journalism and communication education in the intelligent age. Editors from four major academic journals in China joined the Editors’ Forum.

When the panel sessions ended, the conference closing ceremony was held online. This year the conference committee received a total of 242 papers and selected 130 to be presented, with a selection rate of 53%. Nine excellent papers were awarded at the closing ceremony.

Screenshot of the Online Closing Ceremony

This has been the tenth consecutive year that SJTU worked with the ICA to host the New Media International Conference in China. The conference serves as a bridge between China and the international academic world as communication studies continue to thrive.

This year also marks the 20th anniversary of SJTU’s School of Media and Communication. The school has made rapid progress and gained a good international reputation since its founding. Its journalism and communication major ranked among top 100 based on QS World University Rankings by Subject in 2021. It was rated A+ in the 2022 Times Higher Education China Subject Rating. It also ranked top 3 among the Best Disciplines in China by Shanghai Ranking in 2020.