Journal of Communication (JoC) published its special issue “Ferment in the Field” in 1983 (vol. 33, no. 3). Thirty-five years later there still is a great interest in discussing the origins, current state, and prospects of our field. This special issue titled Ferments in the Field: The Past, Present and Future of Communication Studies presents 20 articles, plus this introduction, with the intention to assess the field and provoke discussions about the status of communication studies. This introductory article provides an overview of the contributions and discusses major trends in communication studies that have shaped the field since the original “ferment” issue. They include: (a) communication studies on a global scale, (b) researching communication in the fast-changing digital media environment, (c) the importance of critical communication studies, (d) the new critical and materialist turn, and (e) praxis communication and ways to address power imbalance in knowledge production.

中文翻译：

---

现场发酵：对传播学过去、现在和未来的介绍性思考

Journal of Communication (JoC) 于 1983 年出版了特刊“现场发酵”（第 33 卷，第 3 期）。35 年后，人们仍然对讨论我们领域的起源、现状和前景充满兴趣。本期特刊题为“现场发酵：传播研究的过去、现在和未来”，共有 20 篇文章和本介绍，旨在评估该领域并引发有关传播研究现状的讨论。这篇介绍性文章概述了这些贡献，并讨论了自最初的“发酵”问题以来塑造该领域的传播研究的主要趋势。它们包括：(a) 全球范围内的传播研究，(b) 在快速变化的数字媒体环境中研究传播，