Thanks, also, to the National Communication Association for their contribution of a Presidential Initiative grant.
Kaleidoscope was conceptualized in 1998 by a group of graduate students in the Department of Speech Communication at Southern Illinois University, Carbondale (SIUC), and the original idea focused on developing a print journal that would provide a scholarly forum for SIUC graduate students. The hope was that sharing our research with colleagues might contribute to disciplinary dialogues in areas as diverse as communication pedagogy, intercultural communication, language and social interaction, performance studies, philosophy of communication, and rhetoric.
In 2002, the idea to expand Kaleidoscope’s graduate community to the discipline at large is born out of a desire to develop a dialogue amongst other graduate students whose interests include qualitative, interpretive, and critical/cultural approaches to Communication Studies and cognate areas. In general, then, Kaleidoscope is a print and electronic forum intended to be attractive to graduate students who work at the intersections of philosophy, theory, and practical application of qualitative communication research. Particular areas of engagement for consideration include both traditional and experimental approaches to qualitative inquiry. We encourage contributions that are both rigorous and lively, and that are attentive to scholarship without sacrificing creativity or consequence – while we seek to cultivate the currently developing, we do not wish to sacrifice rigor and quality in pursuit of novelty.
The kind of exposure Kaleidoscope offers to graduate students is both an educational and professional asset during a time when some of the most energizing new disciplinary research is done in areas that focus on qualitative approaches to communicative interaction. Because its attention is devoted to current graduate students’ developments in qualitative, interpretive, and critical/cultural work and employs a collaborative review process of graduate students and faculty, Kaleidoscope offers a perspective and an editorial process that is unique among Communication Studies journals.
Structure:
Kaleidoscope is administered by its Editor with the support of faculty advisors, Ronald J. Pelias and Suzanne M. Daughton. Presently, the Editor is a SIUC Ph.D. candidate whose interests include qualitative, interpretive, and critical/cultural inquiry. A committee -- comprised of the Kaleidoscope Editor, Kaleidoscope faculty advisors, Speech Communication Organization (SCO) president, and SCO faculty advisor -- will select the Editor of the journal from a pool of self-nominated candidates for a one-year term, to be renewed once upon mutual agreement of the parties involved.The Editorial Board is comprised of faculty members and Ph.D. students who serve indeterminate terms. Members of the Editorial Board serve as key referees and advisors to the Editor of the journal on all editorial matters. The Editor will review the membership of the Editorial Board annually and make incremental changes as deemed appropriate. In choosing Editorial Board members, the Editor will seek proficiency in a range of Communication Studies areas concerned with the topics, formats, and styles of research Kaleidoscope hopes to cultivate. The Editor will also solicit the Editorial Board members for ideas concerning the further development of the journal.
A primary duty of the Editorial Board members is to provide the sort of reading and review that is both rigorous and nurturing of the development of ideas. Moreover, for the graduate student members, the process can provide valuable educational, intellectual, and professional development. In the review process, we will strive to provide editorial reviews and assessments designed to give extensive comment and suggestions to authors on matters of content, method, and format.
Finally, we will actively solicit manuscripts that speak to the focus of the journal. While the domain of our concerns emphasizes qualitative, interpretive, and critical/cultural work, we hope to be wide-ranging and diverse in the perspectives we represent as well as the topics of our concerns.
Anyone who has any questions concerning the editorial policies or structure of administration – or any other matter concerning this journal – should write to kalscope@siu.edu or Kaleidoscope, Department of Speech Communication, Southern Illinois University, Carbondale, IL 62901.