The research and creative work (RCW) agenda of the UP CMC Department of Communication Research actualizes the foundational ideas put forth in the vision, mission, and goals of SALIK, the Department’s Hub for Communication and Media Research in the Philippines.
- We conceptualize media as “technologies that allow people to communicate over space and/or time” (Hjarvard, 2008, p. 114). As media “mediates” social processes, it functions as (1) a coordinator of human activity that overcomes and transforms distances, both physical and symbolic; and (2) an intermediary that shapes the relations among and
between individuals, organizations, and societies (Livingstone, 2009).
- Research is our central undertaking and all our creative works are informed by research.
- Research refers to studies on mediated human communication that are ontologically grounded in the social/scientific and critical/cultural paradigms. Examples of research are academic papers, technical reports, and policy analyses.
- Creative work refers to communication and media artifacts that reference theory and research. Artifacts include advertisements, IEC (information, education and communication) materials, infographics, and audiovisual materials, among others.
- Our RCW agenda inquires into people and texts in a mediated context. We seek to understand the communication practices and behaviors of Filipinos, as meaning-makers who influence, and are influenced by, mediated communication environments. We treat media and communication texts as cultural artifacts co-created by people, and cultural products/commodities that are “read” by audiences, in the context of human communication.
Scope
Our RCW agenda will traverse the broad areas that the department has identified as the priority focus of its two research laboratories, Filipino Communicative Experience (FCX) and Philippine Media Monitoring (PMM).
The agenda aligns with UP’s commitment to the fulfillment of the following Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs): Health and Well-being, Quality Education, Gender Equality, Sustainable Cities and Communities, Climate Action, and Partnership for the Goals.
- Media Literacy
- Communication and Social Change
- Communication and Technology
- Communication and Culture
- Communication and Policy Studies
- Meta-research
We will pursue this agenda as a collective and as individual researchers. As a collective, our research and creative work undertakings will be linked, first, with our instructional programs, in order to provide venues for our students to enhance their competence in communication and media scholarship, and in research dissemination. Second, our research and creative work outputs will be linked with our extension agenda, which subscribes to the ethos of research as evidence-based advocacy.
