Building a Global Think Tank for Communicology

 What is ICI Membership?  

The ICI is an independent, non-partisan "think tank" consortium of scholars and professional practitioners of Communicology. Consortium activities are (1) internet based and (2) conference venue based. Many research projects are bi-national or regional efforts by RESEARCH GROUPS Affiliated with ICI. Fellows and Scholars of ICI represent many of the world's leading universities. The ICI has accreditations and certified affiliations (see the ICI Home Page) from relevant international organizations. Many of the ICI Fellows hold the academic designation of "Fellow", "Distinguished Scholar", or a Named Endowed Chair at their home university or a similar designation in other national and international organizations. Many Fellows also hold positions in the National Research Academies of their home country. Some Fellows are not academics, but world class professionals (e.g., law) and scientific practitioners (e.g., forensic science). Communicologists are typically interdisciplinary and problem focused in their research, teaching, and service with a deep appreciation for international and intercultural understanding.

What is the Research?

Scientific research by Communicologists refines the use of Qualitative Methodologies by using LOGIC as a normative basis for reliability (necessary condition) and validity (sufficient condition) for evaluative judgments of evidence. The evidentiary categories of Capta (what is taken by perception), Data (what is given by expression), and Acta (what is comported in behavioral action) form the basis of the Logic of Typification (Type → Token → Tone) formulated by Charles Sanders Peirce (2.619-644) in which the Aristotelian applications of Abduction [Rule + Result = Case/particular token; a posteriori] and Adduction [Rule + Result = Case/universal type; a priori] contextualize Induction [Case + Result = Rule] and Deduction [Rule + Case = Result]. This methodology is named "semiotic phenomenology" by both C. S. Peirce and Maurice Merleau-Ponty who stress the use of Abduction in Human Science.

 Nomination

The Institute reserves to itself the membership process of nominating and electing Fellows and Scholars from the international community of Professionals, Researchers, and Teachers whose research, teaching, and professional service make a substantive contribution to advancing the Discipline of Communicology as a human science. Because nominations are based solely on scholarly and professional merit, self-nominations are not accepted.

Fellows

are typically persons with senior standing in the various academic and professional disciplines. In general, they have a sustained program of research accomplishment communicated to the international community by professional presentation and publication. They typically hold a tenured position or habilitation at a ranked university or research academy.

Scholars

are typically persons with junior to mid-career status in their chosen career field. In general, they have a doctoral degree and a beginning record of international level research presentation and publication.

 Membership

Membership in the Institute is by definition an international peer certification of the person’s expertise in a given area of, or research domain in, the disicipline of Communicology. Members are committed to collaborative research and publication to advance the development of Communicology as a foundational discipline in the Human Sciences. There is no category for public membership.

 Election

Fellows of the Institute nominate a person for consideration as a Fellow or Scholar by letter (including a curriculum vitae) to the ICI Director. After an initial certification of basic qualification, the Director presents the nomination for election (1) by majority vote under the authority of Collegium of Fellows established in 2000 at the inaugural conference at Southern Illinois University, and/or (2) by authority of a majority of those Fellows in attendance at the next biennial Collegium of Fellows Summer Seminar and Scholar's Professional Development Conference, and/or (3) by authority of the ICI Director acting de jure et de aequitate for the Collegium of Fellows in absentia congregatio at Washington, DC, USA.