Society for Conceptual Logistics in Communication Research

A Synoptic History of SCLCR

The first incarnation of the SCLCR was as a power-point presentation Jim Sosnoski gave to the Department of Communication at the University of Illinois-Chicago (UIC) entitled, "The Potential Implications of Recent Developments in Cognitive Science for the Study of Communication." His talk was based on work he had done during a sabbatical year on parallels between conceptions in Cognitive Science and Communication Studies. Persuaded of the value of visualizations of the conceputal parallels, Sosnoski decided to build a web site rather than to write a book. In January of 2007, he began building the "Communication as a Cognitive Science" (C-CS) site which featured re-thinking conceptions central to communication research from the perspective of Cognitive Linguistics.

In 2008, Sosnoski invited two colleagues, Gordon Carlson and Jordan Stalker*, who were intertested in starting an online Journal in Communication Studies to join his project and add a journal component to it. The three meet from time to time during the spring to plan the web site. Carlson and Stalker liked the idea of focusing on conceptions in communication research, agreeing with Sosnoski that it was a neglected area of research. The result of these discussions was a decison to create an online forum for researching how conceptions were used in communication projects. Sosnoski had coined the term, "conceptual logistics," to identify as an area of research the ongoing use of conceptions - their origins, evlolution, reconception, and deployment contextualized in specific projects.

From the begining the design of the SCLCR web site was intended to be a site for a research collaboration drawing upon sites with similar goals - the WordNet site at Princeton, the Semantic Frames site at Berkeley, the Crossroads site (American Studies) at Georgetown. Our intention was to make the entire site a collaborative publication. To this end, we designed the site as the "home" of a scholarly society in which contributors would be members. We built the site with the scholarly requirements of the review process in mind. However, we worked hard to avoid "transporting" academic print culture into the site. Both Carlson and Sosnoski have been associated with UIC's Electronic Visualization Lab and drew upon that background in designing the SCLCR site. You will notice the strong emphasis on visualizing conceptualizing. And, we do not call for "papers" in announcing forthcoming issues of the SCLCR journal. Rather, we call for media presentations hoping to publish a variety of accounts of conceptualization that employ recent developments in rich media online and off.

Our efforts are now visible and accessible. You are invited to join us.

Leadership

Jim Sosnoski: President, SCLCR

Gordon Carlson: Executive Director, SCLCR

Jordan Stalker: General Editor, SCLCR Journal