Download PDFRevised 13 August 2022
Accepted 3 February 2023
Available Online 14 March 2023
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.55060/s.atssh.230306.012
- Keywords
- Academic journals in colleges and universities
Communication capability multiple paths
Multi-media collaboration
Compound editorial talents - Abstract
With the gradual deepening of the integration of traditional media and new media, academic journals in colleges and universities have completed the initial integration of “journal + network + terminal” by building their own websites, setting up WeChat official accounts, and opening short video accounts. However, they still face problems such as the inertia constraint of traditional thinking, the mere formality of digital communication, and the lack of new media communication talents. In order to adapt to the digital communication ecology, academic journals in colleges and universities should adopt diversified paths, such as innovating communication concepts and strengthening top-level design and publicity, innovating communication methods and creating a new model of multi-media collaboration, innovating talent training ways and incubating compound editorial talents, etc., in order to improve the overall academic level of journals and their communication capabilities.
- Copyright
- © 2023 The Authors. Published by Athena International Publishing B.V.
- Open Access
- This is an open access article distributed under the CC BY-NC 4.0 license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/).
1. INTRODUCTION
The integrated development of traditional media and emerging media has become an irresistible and mighty trend in the information age, as well as an unavoidable self-revolution in the media field [1]. From a global perspective, media intelligence has entered a stage of rapid development, its communication capability has jumped geometrically, and the gap between old and new media is gradually melting. These changes are a severe test for traditional media with difficulties in transformation, especially academic journals in colleges and universities. In a digital environment, how to transform and upgrade the existing communication concepts, communication methods and editorial talents, actively practice integrated publishing, complete the integration and transformation from single paper media to diversified digital media, and realize the upgrading of communication capability has become a topic of common concern in the industry.
2. PRELIMINARY DEVELOPMENT OF THE COMMUNICATION CAPABILITY OF ACADEMIC JOURNALS IN COLLEGES AND UNIVERSITIES
In simple terms, communication capability is the sum of various methods, techniques and means used in order to make the journal achieve a good communication effect in the communication process [2]. Communication capability is an important indicator to measure the development of journals and it is an important part of improving the soft power of academic journals, which is directly related to the improvement of journal influence and the establishment of brand image.
Nowadays, with the rapid development of new media technology and communication technology, people's way of obtaining information has undergone tremendous changes and they are no longer satisfied with slow-paced communication and lengthy text reading. This change has brought a huge impact on the traditional media industry, and many newspapers and periodicals were forced to close, suspend, merge, and change production because they couldn't adapt. Academic journals in colleges and universities, as one of the traditional media, also face a lot of pressures. As is known to all, the speed of communication determines the value of academic information. The earlier an article is published and the faster it spreads, the greater its academic value will be. At present, many academic journals adopt the form of preferential digital publishing, which can solve the problem of timeliness of academic publications to a certain extent, but the advantages compared with paper publishing are not significant enough. The way and frequency of using new media technology also determines the communication capability of academic journals in colleges and universities. Nowadays, the main ways of digitizing academic journals in Chinese colleges and universities include building their own websites, setting up their own media such as WeChat official accounts and Weibo, digitizing cooperation with databases, and digitizing journal groups [3]. These measures have completed the initial integration of “journal + network + terminal”, which has the effect of enhancing the communication capability and influence of journals, but there are still many problems, such as the inertia constraint of traditional thinking, the mere formality of digital communication, and the lack of new media communication talents and so on. In view of this, it is particularly meaningful to deeply analyze the dilemma faced by the development of academic journals in colleges and universities and to propose feasible innovative integration methods.
3. PROBLEMS FACED BY THE IN-DEPTH DEVELOPMENT OF COMMUNICATION CAPABILITY
3.1. The Inertia Constraint of Traditional Thinking
Because of the long-standing idea of “content is king”, academic journals in colleges and universities generally ignore the importance of communication links. In terms of communication consciousness, because most academic journals in Chinese colleges and universities are attached to public institutions and are sheltered by the professional title evaluation system, they have not experienced brutal market competition, nor do they rely on publication sales to maintain their livelihoods, for a long time, the inertial thinking of “waiting, relying, and asking” has been developed, and there is a serious lack of communication and marketing awareness. In terms of digital publishing concepts, although some academic journals in colleges and universities are meticulous in running their journals and strictly control the academic quality, the digital content on the internet is always late. The main reason is that the editorial department itself doesn't pay attention to digital publishing, thinking that it is only an appendage of paper content, paying no attention to the timeliness of academic information, and thinking that few days sooner or later don't matter. In terms of knowledge service awareness, it also lacks due cognition and thinking. For example, problems like how to transform the latest research results into productivity and serve the society, how to improve the communication effect in a way that readers like and hear, and how to use online services to deliver cutting-edge academic information to readers in need as soon as possible are rarely thought about.
3.2. The Mere Formality of Digital Communication
The traditional academic journals of colleges and universities are mainly published on paper by express mail service, with a single publication form and a long publication cycle. This mode of communication is obviously not enough to meet the needs of academic communication in today's academic circles. With the rapid development of information technology and Convergence Media technology, there is a trend of diversification of publishing methods. Digital platforms, WeChat official accounts, Weibo, Apps, etc. are widely used, and the online and offline integrated publishing model is widely used. Even more and more journals are inclined to digital publishing, shifting the focus of publishing to the internet. However, the communication effect produced in fact is not ideal. For example, the self-built website of the journal does not display the communication functions that the website should have in other aspects, except that it is used by the editorial department to process manuscripts online, experts to review manuscripts online, and authors to check progress of manuscript processing online. WeChat official accounts mostly copy articles from paper journals, lacking innovation, interactivity and design, and lacking accurate pushes for target readers' research directions, and the communication effect of WeChat as a social platform has not been fully exerted. One must know that emerging publishing industries such as digital publishing are not only the transformation of paper content into texts, drawings, videos, etc. in digital form, but also the deep integration where everyone has a stake.
3.3. The Lack of New Media Communication Talents
As the core competitiveness and fundamental guarantee of academic journal publishing, the smooth transformation of academic editors is related to the sound and long-term development of academic journal publishing [4]. Today, some intelligent publishing systems integrating review, editing and proofreading can replace editors in some simple, basic and repetitive tasks. Traditional editorial tasks will be replaced by artificial intelligence in the foreseeable future. However, the shortage of new media talents has been highlighted. The lack of multimedia technology application ability, lack of multimedia expression ability, and lack of communication planning ability make it difficult for academic journal editors in colleges and universities to deal with the challenges brought by new media. In addition to technical threats, institutional constraints also affect the introduction of new media talents by academic journals in colleges and universities. The establishment of academic journal editors in colleges and universities is mostly arranged by their administrative subordinate units, colleges and universities. And it is difficult for colleges and universities to create positions in accordance with editorial needs, and editors are often reduced to adjusted positions of a favor nature. Therefore, the lack of talents with professional backgrounds related to new media is in accordance with expectations.
4. DIVERSIFIED PATHS TO IMPROVE COMMUNICATION CAPABILITIES
In the context of increasingly rich media forms, improving communication capability has become a topic of common concern for academic journals in major colleges and universities. Only by adapting to the law of academic communication based on its own media characteristics and adapting to the requirements of the era of media convergence, can the communication capability of journals be improved [5].
4.1. Innovating Communication Concepts and Strengthening Top-Level Design and Publicity
To improve communication capability, the first thing is to change the backward communication concept. Specifically, the first thing that needs to be done is to strengthen the top-level system design and publicity. Provinces can formulate macro plans, assessment methods and action guidelines for the integrated development of academic journals and new media based on “The Guidance on the Promotion and the Integrated Development of Traditional Media and New Media” according to provincial conditions [6], and make efforts to publicize, carry out and implement to break the administrative barriers to the integration of academic journals and new media in colleges and universities, and clear policy obstacles for the development of communication capability. Second is to build new media thinking such as mobile internet, academic services, and social communication. In the publishing process, it is necessary to give priority to the use of effective means of communication such as open access, digital-first publishing, first launch on online platforms, etc., and improve the download, click rate, citation rate, and reprint rate indicators to enhance the popularity and influence of the journal. Third is to cultivate user awareness, actively communicate with experts and scholars, do a good job in academic consultation and academic exchanges, build an academic sharing platform, build a common academic circle, and build a cluster of academic journals. At the same time, efforts should be made to do a good job in knowledge service and dissemination, regularly hold academic lectures, academic conferences, academic article writing, submission training and other activities, and use new media platforms to conduct online live broadcasts to further enhance mobile communication capabilities.
4.2. Innovating Communication Methods and Creating a New Model of Multi-Media Collaboration
The communication of academic journals is not only the communication of paper media, electronics and the internet, but also the communication of interpersonal communication, and strong interaction is also one of the important characteristics of new media. On the one hand, it is needed to strengthen the collaborative innovation of multi-media. It is suggested to take a combination of measures, with the help of platforms such as WeChat official accounts, Weibo, Apps, short videos, etc., combined with new media technologies such as VR, AR, MR, H5, etc., to provide powerful and energetic multi-media collaborative communication; it is needed to pay attention to the interactive experience, carefully design the interactive interface of the journal client-side, and strengthen readers' reading experience and instant satisfaction, in order to attract the attention of young scholars, and with the help of the communication mechanism of self-media and the expanding reader circle, to form a certain superimposed effect in the communication process. On the other hand, it is necessary to popularize the digital-first publishing model with a single article as the unit, and under the principle of ensuring academic quality, to be the first to rush to occupy the high ground of academic communication. It is also necessary to continue to do accurate communication, use big data operations to analyze readers' academic reading preferences, and accurately push them to target readers and potential readers by sub-discipline.
4.3. Innovating Talent Training Ways and Incubating Compound Editorial Talents
The era of Convergence Media puts forward new requirements for editing ability. Editors' academic literacy is important, but new media awareness and technology are also indispensable. First of all, editors must have the latest knowledge structure of relevant majors, and actively capture the latest scientific and technological knowledge, to understand theoretical achievements of forward-looking new disciplines as well as interdisciplinary and marginal disciplines. In addition to improving academic and professional skills literacy, editors must also keep up with the pace of information and knowledge updates in the internet age, comprehensively master the processing skills of various media elements, be encouraged to participate in digital skills training, expand the vision of Convergence Media, improve digital publishing capabilities, and complete the transformation from academic editors to multimedia composite editors. Colleges and universities must focus on introduction of new media talents who meet the requirements when recruiting and refine the division of labor in editorial departments according to market demand. It is best to have a specially assigned person in charge of journal publicity and strive to expand diversified marketing methods, such as increasing advertising and cooperating with local government enterprises.
5. CONCLUSION
In a word, the digital age has brought unprecedented challenges to the communication and development of academic journals, and the construction of communication capability should be highly valued and run through the construction of academic journals in colleges and universities. Under the support and promotion of national policies, academic journals in colleges and universities should conform to the wave of digitization, combine characteristics of the journals themselves, realize the innovation, timeliness, diversity and interaction of communication, and constantly enrich and improve the connotations and ways of communication capability construction. Only when the two of integration and innovation go hand-in-hand can it be possible to completely change the passive situation of academic journals in the communication link of colleges and universities and better play their unique roles in leading the development of disciplines and academic innovation.
REFERENCES
Cite This Article
TY - CONF AU - Xiaoshi Chen PY - 2023 DA - 2023/03/14 TI - Integration and Innovation: Multiple Paths to Improve the Communication Capability of Academic Journals in Colleges and Universities BT - Proceedings of the 3rd International Conference on Education Studies: Experience and Innovation (ICESEI 2022) PB - Athena Publishing SP - 67 EP - 70 SN - 2949-8937 UR - https://doi.org/10.55060/s.atssh.230306.012 DO - https://doi.org/10.55060/s.atssh.230306.012 ID - Chen2023 ER -
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