International Encyclopedia of Communication Online

Extract

On September 14, 2004, I received an email that changed my life for the next three and a half years: “Dear Professor Donsbach: September greetings. I hope that the summer has treated you well, with time for both work and play …” The summer of 2004 had indeed treated me well. A few weeks after the International Communication Association (ICA) conference in New Orleans (it was the year before Hurricane Katrina hit the city), my family and I had spent two wonderful weeks at Lago Maggiore in northern Italy. It was as if I had known that it would be the last extended vacation for three years in a row.The email came from Elizabeth Swayze, then editor and later senior editor of communication and media studies at Blackwell Publishing, and it was the first stage of an invitation to become the general editor of The International Encyclopedia of Communication, to be published jointly by Blackwell and the ICA. After I had shown my initial interest Dr. Michael Haley, executive director of the ICA (who obviously had his share in my name being suggested), contacted the association's publication committee. The second crucial email (January 2005) read “Wolf, the publication committee had no problem with you assuming the editorship and recommended this to the executive committee. They also had no issue. So, you are clear to sign a contract. Good luck with this venture. It could be a lot of fun actually. ... log in or subscribe to read full text