Designing dialogue: argumentation as conflict management in social interaction

The escalation of disagreement into overt conflict in social interaction can be avoided, if disagreement is managed through argumentative dialogue. This paper explores the characteristics of argumentative dialogue and presents the role of third parties who design spaces for others' dialogue. After discussing the prototypical example of dispute mediators, this contribution considers other informal third parties who have a similar role. This opens up a new perspective on informal third parties who work as designers of dialogue and build spaces to manage disagreement in social interaction

Editorial

We are excited to announce that, starting with this issue 17(1), our journal Studies in Communication Sciences (SComS) will be published Open Access on the HOPE platform of the Hauptbibliothek of the University of Zurich; you can access our new SComS at www.scoms.ch. HOPE refers to Hauptbibliothek Open Publishing Environment. Located in and managed by a Swiss academic institution, this platform provides full open access to SComS contents, with a strong commitment to a transparent and qualitatively excellent publication process, whilst guaranteeing no publishing fees for our authors. We are grateful to Elsevier for our collaboration, which lasted from 2012 to 2016; now the moment has come for us to be open to the future. Paper copies of our new SComS will still be available – for example, in the main libraries at Swiss universities; but all the contents will be also freely available for everybody to download from our website

The ontology of conflict

This paper aims at clarifying the ontology of conflict as a preliminary for constructing a conflict mapping guide (Wehr 1979). After recalling the main definitions elaborated in different disciplines, the meaning of conflict is elicited through semantic analysis based on corpus evidence. Two fundamental meanings emerge: conflict as an interpersonal hostility between two or more human subjects, and conflict as a propositional incompatibility. These two states of affairs are significantly related, because the latter tends to generate the former whenever the incompatible positions are embodied by as many parties who feel personally questioned. The semantic analysis allows sketching the ontology of the conflictual situation that can serve to generate a conflict mapping guide, and facing several crucial aspects that are relevant both to the study and to the management of conflicts. In the former perspective, it allows the comparison of the situation of interpersonal conflict with the seemingly similar process of controversy

Argomentare per superare il conflitto: l'argomentazione nella mediazione

This paper sets out to analyze the role that argumentation may play in dispute resolution, in particular within the practice of dispute mediation. The focus is on the complex interplay of different argumentative discussions which are necessary for the parties to personally handle and possibly solve their conflict. This contribution focuses in particular on the mediator's role in a well-conducted mediation, considering how he introduces the disputants into the practice of argumentation by setting up a space for an argumentative discussion. In this relation, the mediator's strategic maneuvering with the topical potential emerges as particularly significant in mediation. The analysis presented here is based on an empirical corpus of successful mediation cases including different applications of mediation to interpersonal conflicts

The effect of simulations on nursing students’ ethical reasoning confidence in disasters: A pilot study

This study measured the effect of a disaster nursing simulation and debriefing session on senior BSN students’ perceived ethical reasoning confidence and their belief in the importance of ethical reasoning. Using a quasi-experimental design, this study compared participants’ responses before and after the interventional activities using the Survey of Ethical Reasoning. Post-test results demonstrated an increase in students’ perceived ethical reasoning confidence, perceived importance of ethical reasoning, and utilization of James Madison University’s Eight Key Questions Ethical Reasoning Framework

Editorial

Dear SComS readers, We are happy to present you the first issue of 2019. As has happened quite regularly since the migration of SComS to the HOPE platform, also this issue features, beyond the general section, a thematic section. This time, our thematic section is devoted to crises seen from a perspective of political communication. We are happy and proud that many authors and contributors are willing to publish thematic sections with SComS, which propose cutting-edge research and open fresh perspectives on communication studies. You might consult our open calls for thematic sections on the journal webpage, www.scoms.ch

Rediscussing centres and peripheries: communication lenses on migration. ECREA 2018 special panel report

The ECREA 2018 special panel “Rediscussing centers and peripheries: communication lenses on migration” was held at the ECREA conference on 2 November 2018, in the beautiful venue of a frescoed room at Villa Ciani. The panel was co-organized by the two authors of this report, Jolanta Drzewiecka and Sara Greco, both from USI Università della Svizzera italiana. As the organizers, we provide a brief report of the rationale, aims and expectations that we had for this panel. We then include a discussion on how the panel exceeded our expectations by encouraging profoundly critical communication lenses on migration

Editorial

The publication of issue 20(2) of SComS marks an important occasion, namely the 20th anniversary of our journal, which was founded at USI – Università della Svizzera italiana twenty years ago, and consequently published its first issue in early 2001. As you might know, SComS was merged with Medienwissenschaft Schweiz (a publication by the SACM – Swiss Association of Communication and Media Research) in 2007, keeping the name Studies in Communication Sciences. Seizing the occasion of this achievement, we would like to share some important information with you. First, speaking about the history of our journal, we remind you that the early issues of SComS and of Medienwissenschaft Schweiz are fully accessible on our website (section “Archives”), thanks to our collaboration with e-periodica. Second, we are happy to announce that SComS now has an online first publishing policy, meaning that articles are quickly made available online. This policy increases the pace and visibility of articles published in SComS, which is a clear advantage for both our authors and readers. Finally, if you wish to receive regular updates on news, thematic sections and articles published, we encourage you to follow SComS on Twitter (@SComS_Journal). Moving on to discuss the contents of SComS 20(2), we are pleased to announce that this issue contains a variety of topics and perspectives in our field. Alongside a General Section and a Thematic Section, it also contains a Community Section, in which we publish a summary of the PhD thesis that has won the SACM Dissertation Award 2020. Finally, this issue includes a Reviews and Reports Section that comprises two book reviews of recent publications in our field and a report on a scientific workshop held in Zurich

Editorial

This issue marks the second year since Studies in Communication Sciences (SComS) is published Open Access on the HOPE platform of the University of Zurich (www. scoms.ch). The present issue of SComS perfectly reflects the unique character of the journal. Not only do we present you a thematic section with a very innovative topic, namely Fashion Communication. We also collect three papers in the general section that, despite their different topics, have something in common that is telling for the role of communication in Switzerland