Reaching the Hard to Reach: Drawing Lessons From Research and Practice

Communicating with citizens, stakeholders, or service clients is challenging under normal circumstances. Reaching government audiences who are hard to reach because of language or culture differences, lifestyle unpredictability, mistrust, isolation, or other reasons compounds the difficulty. This article examines who the hard to reach are, addresses reasons why it is important for governments to reach them, explores research and experience, suggests effective approaches for reaching these audiences—drawing upon a social constructionist approach—and proposes lessons and guidelines for public sector communicators. Communication practice and research indicate that more effective strategies include: utilizing knowledge about target audiences; forming partnerships with agencies and individuals that interact with targeted populations; utilizing children to reach parents and older relatives; using ethnic media that effectively reach immigrant and ethnic minority households; and simplifying communication and using feedback techniques.     

国际非政府组织在中国的治理传播

随着全球化的发展和全球性问题的突出,国际非政府组织在全球治理中日益扮演着重要角色,通过在华开展治理传播,已成为向中国展示世界和向世界说明中国的重要窗口。他们一方面在涉及中国民生、环保、社会发展等重要问题上发挥了不可忽视的作用,一定程度上与中国构建和谐社会的目标达成一致;另一方面又往往受制于政策门槛、资金准入、社会参与、自身结构性问题等方面的障碍,活动绩效受到负面影响。     

基于内容分析的政务微博传播效果研究——以“@陕西发布”为例

随着微博在中国社会影响力的提升,许多政府部门纷纷入驻微博,政务微博建设蔚然成风,发展势头迅猛。陕西省人民政府门户网站官方微博"@陕西发布"是其中运作比较成功的案例,在发布地方新闻、服务本地民众、传播区域形象方面发挥了积极的作用。提升政务微博传播效果,应以梳理传播主体、内容、媒介、受众四个要素为前提,不断创新政务微博互动形式,使之成为汇聚民智、反映民情、解决民忧、促进公民参与的政民互动平台。     

SCAN is largely driven by 12 criteria: results from sexual abuse statements

Scientific Content Analysis (SCAN) is increasingly used by investigative authorities to evaluate the credibility of statements made by witnesses and suspects. SCAN, however, lacks a well-defined list of criteria, and does not involve a standardised scoring system. In the current study, we investigated which SCAN criteria are represented in actual statements. To this end, we analysed 82 sexual abuse cases of the Dutch police in which SCAN had been applied. Two independent coders scored the presence of various SCAN criteria in the: (1) written statements from victims, suspects, and witnesses; and also looked at the (2) recommendations for follow-up investigations that were derived from SCAN. Results showed that SCAN is primarily driven by 12 criteria. Results also indicated a low inter-rater agreement for most SCAN criteria, suggesting SCAN is insufficiently developed as a forensic tool. Still, the 12 criteria can be used as a starting point for future research on their psychometric properties.     

Sensibility in the era of global communication: a semioethic perspective1

This article proposes a phenomenological and semiotic analysis of sensibility in the era of globalization, which is the era of global communication. How are time, space, self, others, life, death, health, illness, work, employment, unemployment, free-time, development, underdevelopment, and so forth, perceived in today's world? As vast as this excursion may seem, these different issues concerning sensibility all bear on the problem of the relation between identity and alterity. The hypothesis guiding my analysis is that the common denominator in science and sensibility today is the ideology, or ideo-logic, of identity. However, taking Europe as our societal paradigm the ideo-logic of identity reveals itself as a menace to the difficult process of forming the European Union. In Europe – indeed, in world history at large – the logic of identity and of alterity can be traced in all the important phases that have determined peoples’ historical destiny. In the current phase of development in the social reproduction system of advanced capitalism, the contrast between identity and alterity is at an extreme, at the point of exasperation. In this article I intend to explore the possibility of opening sensibility to alterity not only in Europe, but in the anthroposociosemiosic sphere at large.     

The U.S. Congress Responds to Online Communication Needs

Abstract

The U.S. Congress, after a relatively slow start in the 1990s, is now making some progress in meeting the demands of online communications. Fueled by the growing use of e-mail by constituents and the development of online grassroots efforts, Congress has been inundated with e-mail. By using filtering systems, better software and hardware, and, most of all, better management techniques, many offices are now equipped to handle the great increase in electronic mail. While several steps behind the private sector, through fits and starts, Congress is attempting to catch up and meet the rising demand and volume of electronic communication. In some offices, there has been considerable progress in developing effective, interactive Web sites. These exceptional Web sites should serve as models of dynamic online communications, but for most congressional Web sites, there is a long way to go. Much depends on the attitudes and priorities set by lawmakers and their senior Staff.