Welcome from the Conference Chair
Welcome to the first hybrid Virtual-Hub SIGDOC Conference—SIGDOC 2021! The Program Co-Directors have assembled an impressive group of industry and academic thinkers to interact with. A large group of Hub Chairs from eight global cities—Beijing, East Lansing, Lavras, Limerick, Lisbon, Mesa, Raleigh, Tacoma—have created events that feature the work and joy that animates Communication Designers. Their labor extends the online program beyond the virtual, and connects it into an international network.
Please interact and support each other in this dynamic synchronous/asynchronous event. You have chances to communicate on Zoom, in Microsoft Teams, in the comment sections of YouTube, on Twitter, and even in person. We’ll have social, scholarly, industry, and networking events for all kinds of engagement. I hope to see all of you virtually, in person, or both, so that we can celebrate our resilience and persistence at a time when communication is more critical than ever.
From the 2021 SIGDOC Conference Chair
Andy Mara
Arizona State University
Welcome from the Program Chairs
2021 SIGDOC Program Co-Chairs
Halcyon Lawrence, Towson University, and Liz Lane, University of Memphis
As Andy stated above, we are thrilled for SIGDOC 2021 participants and attendees to finally experience the exciting work we started reading when the conference CFP responses started rolling in during March 2021. This year’s virtual conference with its eight hubs is sure to be a unique event, and one that we hope sets an optimistic tone for the SIGDOC community. We sincerely hope you enjoy engaging with the asynchronous and synchronous events, which the conference team have worked carefully to ensure are accessible and inviting to all.
In our introduction to the conference proceedings, we note that the work presented during the conference “challenges us to consider how and who we advocate for, how we hold ourselves and each other accountable, and how we form and nurture coalitions.” These touchstones from the initial CFP—advocacy, accountability, and coalition-building—only became more apparent as the conference team collaborated and our reviewers and participants communicated with the program team at every turn of bringing this conference together.
We wish to thank everyone who so very generously contributed their time, talent, and scholarship to make SIGDOC 2021 a reality. We especially would like to thank student assistants Rebecca Schallon (University of Memphis) and Zoe Carll (Arizona State University) for their assistance in editing and designing the final program, in addition to many other tasks with which they assisted.