www.ccp-online.org | CCP 1 (2007): 1-2
Editorial: Communicating on Communication for Sustainable Development
Dear Readers,
It is our pleasure to present the new e-journal «Communication, Cooperation, Participation: Research and Practice for a Sustainable Future» (CCP). This endeavour started almost two years ago, when we discussed and brainstormed in our group the need for a new journal in the broader field of environmental and sustainability communication.
The starting point for our discussion was that communication, cooperation and participation appear to be of high relevance to sustainable development. In international and national policy documents within the context of the Agenda 21 and its many follow-up initiatives, public participation and stakeholder cooperation is attributed a key role in societal processes of research, learning and decision-making. Alongside sustainability-oriented political regulation and economic self-regulation, communicative, participative and cooperative approaches are seen as essential in harnessing social, economic, and ecological complexity, and in facilitating collective transformation processes. In parallel to these conceptual initiatives, a diverse range of communicative activities have been realized over the past 15 years by both state and non-state actors from civil society and the private sector.
These political and practical activities have – of course – been accompanied by scientific inquiry. The topic has been taken up by a number of disciplines, for example: the analysis of participation and cooperation processes within political science research on governance; the issue of stakeholder-management in economics; the topic of participative learning in the field of education for sustainable development; the analysis of environmental media coverage in communication sciences; the use of information and communication technologies (ICT); or the issue of public participation in environmental and sustainability decision-making in sociology.
As a result of the predominantly disciplinary structure of the academic system, these heterogeneous communication-related research activities are mostly published in disciplinary journals. This makes interdisciplinary exchange somewhat difficult. Even though the debate on broader inter- and transdisciplinarity (the joint production of knowledge between science and practice) and the discussion on the potential emergence of a ‘sustainability science’ has stimulated the foundation of new journals, which are attempting to bridge the gap between the natural and social sciences, there is no journal focussing on research and practice that deals with communication, cooperation and participation for sustainable development. Given the relevance of this field, we see this as a surprising omission. Therefore, we believe there is a need for a channel of information and communication which may help to develop and foster the inter- and transdisciplinary community of environmental and sustainability communication.
The most appropriate way to facilitate communication in an emerging community is via the Internet. An e-journal opens up the possibility of providing a placeless, globally accessible and cost-effective information and communication platform. In order to take advantage of the possibilities the internet offers, our e-journal, which will be published twice annually, has some special features. First, we decided on public access, in order to make knowledge available to anyone who might be interested in the topic. Second, there are three different sections, each with specific review criteria. For scientific papers, there will be a public-review process, which means that the original article as well as two peer reviews will be published, and the public is invited to give short comments. The second section is for essays from the field of practical application. Here, two members of the editorial and the advisory board will assess the relevance and quality of the paper. Finally the journal has a student corner. Two members of the editorial board will check the quality and relevance of such papers. Finally, papers can be submitted in English (preferable), German or Spanish. For every text an English abstract is required. The overall idea of this journal structure is to stimulate international exchange between research and practice and include the valuable ideas of junior researchers in the discussions.
Against this background, for the upcoming issues we invite theoretical and empirical papers for the scientific and student section, as well as essays and reports for the practice section. The spectrum of environmental and sustainability-related topics may include papers on topics such as: media communication, the role of new media, public discourses, education issues, campaigning, business reporting, participation and cooperation research, or informational governance. Moreover, we shall be inviting guest editors to publish special thematic issues. The first issue is a good representation of the variety of perspectives and issues the journal aims to cover: in the science section we have two papers focussing on different aspects of participation in environmental decision-making and sustainable development; the third scientific paper discusses the role of computer models for communication on sustainable development; in the practice section we have one article on education for sustainable development and one article on the limits and possibilities of communicating sustainable development in the mass media, from a journalist’s perspective. Finally, the student article discusses sustainability in the information society, the underlying digital infrastructures and the relationships between the two megatrends.
With the launch of the e-journal and the publication of the first issue, the first step of our initiative is coming to an end. The extent to which this endeavour will be successful in facilitating exchange within a hitherto dispersed community, and thus fostering an inter- and transdisciplinary community for environmental and sustainability communication which is able to make a meaningful contribution to a sustainable future, will depend on you, as – hopefully – active readers and future authors. We hope you will enjoy reading the journal and taking part in lively public review discussions.
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Communicating on Communication for Sustainable Development |