Today marks a historic mile­stone for our commu­ni­ty: the Human-Machine Commu­ni­ca­tion (HMC) Inter­est Group has offi­cial­ly become an ICA Division.

What began as a Blue Sky Work­shop at ICA in Puer­to Rico in 2015 has grown into a vibrant, inter­na­tion­al, and inter­dis­ci­pli­nary commu­ni­ty of schol­ars dedi­cat­ed to under­stand­ing commu­ni­ca­tion between humans and tech­nolo­gies designed to act as commu­ni­ca­tors. Over the past decade, HMC has evolved from a promis­ing emerg­ing area of inquiry into a thriv­ing schol­ar­ly field that brings togeth­er researchers from Human-Comput­er Inter­ac­tion (HCI), Human-Robot Inter­ac­tion (HRI), Human-Agent Inter­ac­tion (HAI), and many relat­ed areas of commu­ni­ca­tion research.

The Inter­na­tion­al Commu­ni­ca­tion Asso­ci­a­tion recog­nizes Inter­est Groups as emerg­ing areas of schol­ar­ship, while Divi­sion status is reserved for commu­ni­ties that demon­strate sustained schol­ar­ly engage­ment, orga­ni­za­tion­al matu­ri­ty, and ongo­ing contri­bu­tions to the disci­pline. Becom­ing a Divi­sion reflects both the growth of our member­ship and the increas­ing impor­tance of Human-Machine Commu­ni­ca­tion with­in the broad­er commu­ni­ca­tion field.

This achieve­ment belongs to our entire community.

We are deeply grate­ful to the schol­ars who helped estab­lish HMC, the many members who support­ed the forma­tion of the Inter­est Group in 2019, the offi­cers and volun­teers who have dedi­cat­ed count­less hours to build­ing and sustain­ing our commu­ni­ty, and the gener­a­tions of researchers whose work has shaped the field. From precon­fer­ences and confer­ence program­ming to mentor­ing initia­tives, Meet-the-Lab events, awards, and inter­na­tion­al collab­o­ra­tions, HMC has always been more than a schol­ar­ly topic—it has been a welcom­ing intel­lec­tu­al home.

Today, HMC supports schol­ar­ship on commu­ni­ca­tion between people and tech­nolo­gies such as arti­fi­cial intel­li­gence, robots, digi­tal assis­tants, smart devices, and other commu­nica­tive tech­nolo­gies. The Divi­sion remains commit­ted to method­olog­i­cal, theo­ret­i­cal, and geograph­i­cal diver­si­ty and to foster­ing crit­i­cal, empir­i­cal, philo­soph­i­cal, and applied research on the role of machines as commu­ni­ca­tors in society.

As we cele­brate this mile­stone, we also look toward the future. New tech­nolo­gies contin­ue to reshape commu­ni­ca­tion, and the need for rigor­ous, inclu­sive, and impact­ful HMC schol­ar­ship has never been greater. Becom­ing a Divi­sion is not an endpoint—it is the begin­ning of a new chapter.

To every­one who has contributed to this jour­ney: thank you.

We look forward to shap­ing the future of Human-Machine Commu­ni­ca­tion together.

Welcome to the HMC Division.