Transparency, Porosity and Agency

Transparency, Porosity, Agency David Phillips

Learning Outcomes This lecture extends the first online lecture ePR http://netpr.blogspot.com We will examine three features of online Public Relations: Transparency, Porosity and Agency The purpose is to provide a critical framework that you should apply to internal and online relationship management, PR strategies and on-line tools. You will develop your thinking about these three elements and will draw on your new experiences working with social media and newly emerging literature.

Transparency Transparency, as used in the humanities, implies openness, communication, and accountability. It is a metaphorical extension of the meaning used in the physical sciences: a "transparent" object is one that can be seen through.

Examples of transparency When government meetings are open to the press and the public, when budgets and financial statements may be reviewed by anyone, when laws, rules and decisions are open to discussion, they are seen as transparent and there is less opportunity for the authorities to abuse the system in their own interest.

Economic transparency In economics, a market is transparent if much is known by many about What products and/or services are available. What price. Where.

Transparency in communication
In communication studies, Media is transparent when:
there are many, often competing, sources of information
much is known about the method of information delivery
the funding of media production is publicly available

Radical transparency Radical transparency is a management method where nearly all decision making is carried out publicly. All draft documents, all arguments for and against a proposal, the decisions about the decision making process itself, and all final decisions, are made publicly and remain publicly archived.

The case for transparency Acording to Frank Buytendijk, Vice President of Corporate Strategy, Hyperion, “ The case for corporate transparency is compelling. With perfect corporate transparency, everyone within a company has access to relevant information. Management accurately represents the drivers of the business. Annual budgeting is replaced with a system of continuous planning supported by a collaborative process. Every manager knows exactly how his or her decisions affect other aspects of the company. There is visibility into how external changes impact internal matters. And the organization is able to predict precisely how the market will respond to various activities.” http://www.hyperion.com/company/overview/thought_leadership/

Transparency and the PR practitioner * What is the environment for this information, * What are the transparency objectives, * Who are the publics? * What do we know of them? * What channels for communication are open for the transfer of information provided? * Which channels are best to meet the organisation's objectives/ * How will they regard information presented to them because of corporate transparency?

Transparency happens
Because and organisation exists there is stuff online
Regulatory
Reference (wikipedia), directory
Associations, trade bodies
People name organisations
Email addresses
Web sites
Social media

Managed transparency
To manage an organisation's transparency
Seek out information
Check age and accuracy
Keep up to date
Keep people inside the organisation informed
Have a (transparent) system
Use social media to help populate info about the organisation
Use the information to save time, cost and keystokes (RSS, Mash ups, XML tags, Microformats etc)

Inadvertent transparency
Data selectively extracted
Information mashed-up
Viral distribution
Copyright and licences
Creative Commons http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.0/uk/

Porosity Large numbers of people in organisations use email. Many use Instant Messaging. The use of SMS in business is huge and the use and applications of sound and video in the work environment is growing. All this means that information 'leaks' out of organisations.

Forms of porosity management Many companies monitor email to attempt to detect confidential information leaking out via email. But this is but one (and not very effective) form of leakage. There is a need for employee policies to be in place to make clear what is acceptable for use of email, Instant Messaging Blogs and other electronic communication but it is not common. As internal publics, such advice and guidance is essential. Porosity can have significant consequences and can even bring down Cabinet Ministers. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/talking_point/1822343.stm

How messages move

Transparency and porosity also means loss of control

Internet Agency
When people see messages and they can influence them, they very often do. Sometimes it is a comment about the message and sometimes it re-phrases the message and on other occasions it changes the meaning of the message.
The work of technologies.
Is more common than you think.

Tales of the unexpected
You have been involved in Transparency, porosity and agency in the last six months
How does this affect the practitioner's work?
Who else in an organisation would be involved?
Are transparency, Porosity and agency considerations included in risk assessment?

Learning Outcomes This lecture extends the first online lecture ePR http://netpr.blogspot.com We will examine three features of online Public Relations: Transparency, Porosity and Agency The purpose is to provide a critical framework that you should apply to internal and online relationship management, PR strategies and on-line tools. You will develop your thinking about these three elements and will draw on your new experiences working with social media and newly emerging literature.

Transparency, Porosity and Agency

by dphillips4363 on Feb 28, 2007

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Transparency, Porosity and Agency — Presentation Transcript