MEA @ NCA 2026

As an Affiliate Organization to the National Communication Association, the Media Ecology Association received two programming slots for the 2026 NCA Convention, “MOVE/MENTS in Communication,” to be held November 19–22, 2026 in New Orleans, LA. Information about attending the convention can be found online at https://www.natcom.org/nca-112th-annual-convention/.

Programming details are subject to change until the official NCA program is soon released, but MEA is pleased to offer the following sessions this year, made possible through strong submissions and the valuable time of our volunteer reviewers.

Explorations of the Digital Landscape(s)

Thursday, November 19. 8:00 AM - 9:15 AM. (Marriott - Floor 2: Studio Hall 4)

The session is comprised of competitive papers submitted to the Media Ecology Association. Papers explore various issues and concerns of media in the digital age.

Chair: Thom Gencarelli, Manhattan University

Respondent: Peggy Cassidy, Adelphi University

Presentations:

Cyberopticon: Surveilling, Steering, and Swarming in Digital Environments

Joshua Clements, Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College

Mixed Signals: War Plans, Messaging Apps, and the 21st C. Apologia of the Middle Finger

Benjamin Cline, Western New Mexico University

Mobile Literacy Machines: How Mobile Library Technological Infrastructure Communicates Cultural Literacies

Kacey Cooper

Attention vs. Content: Postman’s Dichotomy and Our Contemporary Digital Dilemma

Lance Strate, Professor, Fordham University

“Hey Chat, what would Susan Sontag say about…”: Applying Regarding the Pain of Others to the Digital Age and Artificial Intelligence

Noah Perez, Texas A&M University

ICE-y Conditions: Discourses & Disruptions of Federal Immigration Operations

Friday, November 20. 2:30 PM - 3:45 PM. (Marriott - Floor 2: Studio Hall 4)

US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) operations throughout the country, including raids in Minneapolis, Chicago, New York City, Houstin, Miami, Atlanta, Raleigh, and Durham led to fatal violence and peaceful protests. This panel considers various media and framing devices used in reference to the defense and criticism of ICE raids, with discussions attending to buildings, whistles, cameras, and illustration, regarding administration rhetoric, bystander communication tactics, raid and protest documentation, and editorial cartoon responses.

Chair: Christina Knopf, State University of New York, Cortland

Presentations:

The Big Box Model for “Warehousing” Human Beings: The Rhetoric of Prisons, For-profit Prisons, Concentration Camps, and ICE Detention Centers

Thomas Gencarelli, Manhattan University

Cameras for Accountability: Recording ICE Actions

Susan Drucker, Hofstra University

Bystanders, Whistles, and Nonviolent Protest: The Movement to De-ICE American Cities

Mary Kahl, Penn State Erie, The Behrend College

One City under ICE, when Liberty and Justice are Gone: Irony & Ideographs in Editorial Cartoons of State Violence in Minneapolis

Christina Knopf, State University of New York, Cortland