The document discusses the development of communication as an academic discipline. It argues that while communication research excels at describing communication processes, there is a lack of comprehensive explanatory theories. Some initial attempts to develop such theories are highlighted, such as evolutionary theories of news values and theories examining the role of cognitive biases and group decision-making in news production. However, more work is needed to integrate existing descriptive models and advance understanding of the underlying causal processes. This includes collecting longitudinal individual-level data that combines measures of media exposure, social networks, and political attitudes and behaviors. The overall goal is to develop dynamic models that explain how and why communication and its effects change over time.
This document is a thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of a master's degree. It examines the theory that disaffected Muslims living in western countries are being radicalized through online social networks to carry out terrorist acts. The thesis uses a qualitative analysis method called Fuzzy Set Qualitative Comparative Analysis to study 17 case studies from the US and UK against 10 criteria related to radicalization. The results show that the online radicalization theory explains some but not all of the cases, though the number explained appears to be increasing. The thesis will analyze the case studies in depth and compare the results to the radicalization theory.
Kim Osman presented on scholars' perspectives on metrics and public engagement. Through interviews with 28 scholars, they found:
1) While traditional citations are still valued, scholars are increasingly trusting altmetrics from platforms like The Conversation as indicators of broader public impact and engagement beyond academia.
2) Altmetrics are shaping scholars' work practices as they strive to engage wider audiences, though formal recognition of public engagement from institutions is still developing.
3) Many scholars feel a moral duty to engage the public and increase the real-world impact of their research through digital platforms. Increased institutional support could help more scholars amplify their work for public benefit.
Social machines: theory design and incentivesElena Simperl
Social machines utilize human and technological components to solve problems at a scale not possible by either alone. This document provides an overview of social machines and citizen science projects, which are a type of social machine. It discusses key aspects of designing social machines and citizen science projects, including how to structure tasks, engage contributors, validate responses, and foster online communities. The goal is to better understand what makes social machines and citizen science initiatives successful.
A Model of Social and Cognitive CoherenceBruce Edmonds
An inbvited talk at the Workshop on Coherence -Based Approaches to Decision-Making, Cognition and Communication, Berlin July 2016
Human cognition can be usefully understood as a primarily social set of abilities - its survival benefit is from our ability to social organise and hence inhabit a variety of niches. From this point of view any ability makes more sense when put into a social context. This includes our innate ability to judge candidate beliefs in terms of their coherency with our existing beliefs and goals. However studying cognition in its social context implies high complexity, for this reason I describe an agent-based model of coherency based belief within a dynamic network of individuals. Here beliefs might be copied (or discarded) by an individual based upon the change in coherence it causes with its other beliefs, but also that an individual will change their social connections based upon the the coherence of their beliefs with those they socially interact with.
This is a revised version of my Chalk dust to star dust story. The point is simple: it is getting tough to publish in top journals, or any journal for that matter. Doing good work is necessary but not sufficient. But, using social media to enhance your academic footprint may help.
The document discusses using an interdisciplinary approach to address the issue of human trafficking. It focuses on how human resources and organizational leadership can help educate employees to recognize signs of human trafficking. Large sporting events are identified as locations where traffickers take advantage of the crowds and movement of people. The paper outlines the steps of an interdisciplinary research approach, identifying that human trafficking is a complex problem requiring insights from multiple disciplines. Relevant disciplines discussed include law enforcement, transportation, technology, and literature on the health impacts on victims. The goal is to develop training to help employees identify and respond to human trafficking.
This document is a thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of a master's degree. It examines the theory that disaffected Muslims living in western countries are being radicalized through online social networks to carry out terrorist acts. The thesis uses a qualitative analysis method called Fuzzy Set Qualitative Comparative Analysis to study 17 case studies from the US and UK against 10 criteria related to radicalization. The results show that the online radicalization theory explains some but not all of the cases, though the number explained appears to be increasing. The thesis will analyze the case studies in depth and compare the results to the radicalization theory.
Kim Osman presented on scholars' perspectives on metrics and public engagement. Through interviews with 28 scholars, they found:
1) While traditional citations are still valued, scholars are increasingly trusting altmetrics from platforms like The Conversation as indicators of broader public impact and engagement beyond academia.
2) Altmetrics are shaping scholars' work practices as they strive to engage wider audiences, though formal recognition of public engagement from institutions is still developing.
3) Many scholars feel a moral duty to engage the public and increase the real-world impact of their research through digital platforms. Increased institutional support could help more scholars amplify their work for public benefit.
Social machines: theory design and incentivesElena Simperl
Social machines utilize human and technological components to solve problems at a scale not possible by either alone. This document provides an overview of social machines and citizen science projects, which are a type of social machine. It discusses key aspects of designing social machines and citizen science projects, including how to structure tasks, engage contributors, validate responses, and foster online communities. The goal is to better understand what makes social machines and citizen science initiatives successful.
A Model of Social and Cognitive CoherenceBruce Edmonds
An inbvited talk at the Workshop on Coherence -Based Approaches to Decision-Making, Cognition and Communication, Berlin July 2016
Human cognition can be usefully understood as a primarily social set of abilities - its survival benefit is from our ability to social organise and hence inhabit a variety of niches. From this point of view any ability makes more sense when put into a social context. This includes our innate ability to judge candidate beliefs in terms of their coherency with our existing beliefs and goals. However studying cognition in its social context implies high complexity, for this reason I describe an agent-based model of coherency based belief within a dynamic network of individuals. Here beliefs might be copied (or discarded) by an individual based upon the change in coherence it causes with its other beliefs, but also that an individual will change their social connections based upon the the coherence of their beliefs with those they socially interact with.
This is a revised version of my Chalk dust to star dust story. The point is simple: it is getting tough to publish in top journals, or any journal for that matter. Doing good work is necessary but not sufficient. But, using social media to enhance your academic footprint may help.
The document discusses using an interdisciplinary approach to address the issue of human trafficking. It focuses on how human resources and organizational leadership can help educate employees to recognize signs of human trafficking. Large sporting events are identified as locations where traffickers take advantage of the crowds and movement of people. The paper outlines the steps of an interdisciplinary research approach, identifying that human trafficking is a complex problem requiring insights from multiple disciplines. Relevant disciplines discussed include law enforcement, transportation, technology, and literature on the health impacts on victims. The goal is to develop training to help employees identify and respond to human trafficking.
This document discusses theories of influences on mass media content. It covers different approaches to studying media content, including looking at influences on content and effects of content. It discusses definitions of content and different theoretical perspectives on influences, such as social reality, media workers' influences, organizational routines, external social forces, and ideological positions. It also discusses building a theory of media content and why more research has focused on individual-level analyses rather than macro-level influences on content.
The lecture discusses the first stage of the policy process - problem delimitation and recognition. It defines what constitutes a problem, social problem, and policy problem. A social problem becomes a policy problem if it can be addressed through public policy. Problem delimitation in public policy involves structuring and specifying issues to help define the scope of potential solutions. Different problems have varying levels of agreement on values/knowledge, from well-structured to unstructured. The theory of agenda setting explains how issues rise on the agendas of public, policymakers and government. The stage model of the policy cycle is used to analyze the process, though it has limitations as policymaking is complex and non-linear.
This document summarizes several media theories:
- The hypodermic needle/magic bullet theory suggests media can directly influence audiences' thoughts and opinions.
- Cultivation theory argues heavy media exposure shapes viewers' beliefs about social reality.
- The two-step flow model proposes media's influence flows through influential figures to shape opinions.
- Uses and gratifications theory views audiences as active in choosing media that meets needs like entertainment or identity.
- Reception theory argues audiences decode media texts in dominant, oppositional, or negotiated ways.
- Moral panic theory describes how media can exaggerate issues to create hysteria and blame certain groups.
1) The document summarizes two communication theories: the agenda-setting theory and the gatekeeping theory.
2) The agenda-setting theory proposes that mass media has the ability to influence the public agenda by deciding what issues are important. The gatekeeping theory suggests that media filters information that reaches the public by controlling access.
3) Both theories are influenced by social and ideological factors and are subject to criticism that reality may not be accurately portrayed due to the subjective decisions of editors and gatekeepers.
Five things every teacher needs to know about researchChristian Bokhove
Christian Bokhove gave a presentation on "Five Things Every Teacher Needs to Know About Research". He discussed how education research creates a "softer" form of knowledge than natural sciences due to human unpredictability. He explained challenges with determining cause-and-effect and how single studies don't define fields. Bokhove also emphasized accounting for context and definitions when measuring concepts. The key takeaways are that education research has its own strengths; correlation doesn't imply causation; one study doesn't negate others; context is important; and measurement requires understanding what is being measured.
Mass communication theory –evolution and development.pptxasmamaqsood4
This document provides an overview of mass communication theory, including its evolution, key concepts, categories, and paradigms. It discusses the meaning and definitions of theory, elements of theory, categories of mass communication theory including post-positivism, hermeneutic theory, critical theory, and normative theory. It also covers paradigms in mass communication theory and the four eras of media theory: the era of mass society and mass culture; a scientific perspective leading to limited effects; competing cultural perspectives challenging limited effects; and the emergence of meaning-making perspectives.
Will we be smart enough soon enough - putting civic intelligence into practi...Douglas Schuler
The document discusses the concept of civic intelligence, which refers to how smart collectivities are in relation to solving shared problems through civic means. It provides some definitions of civic intelligence and asserts that while civic intelligence exists, it may not be adequate to address growing global and local problems. Examples are given of projects that demonstrate civic intelligence, including sustainable prisons, the Beehive Design Collective, and the Liberating Voices project. The document discusses using pattern languages to organize civic intelligence projects and promote citizen engagement and activism. It concludes that assessing aspects like inclusion, creativity, collaboration, and addressing fundamental problems could be useful for comparing and measuring civic intelligence.
The document provides an overview of topics related to social perspectives on media and ICT, including:
1. Media saturation in today's environment with high rates of technology adoption.
2. Digital inequalities that exist globally and regionally in terms of access, skills, and usage.
3. The complex nature of media effects and influence, which involves many mediating factors.
4. Shifting media production with the blurring line between producers and consumers.
5. Engagement and democracy, where the internet theoretically enables greater civic participation but reality often falls short of expectations.
6. The evolution of social relations as the internet becomes more integrated into daily life.
This document provides an overview of key media concepts related to audience, institutions, representation, language, codes and conventions, and narrative theory. It defines audience as the recipients of a media text and discusses several theories of how audiences interact with media, such as the hypodermic needle theory. It also defines institutions as organizations that produce and distribute media, and representation as the ideas and identities constructed in media texts. The document then examines media language and various codes and conventions used in different genres. Finally, it summarizes several narrative theories including those proposed by Propp, Todorov, and others.
Cultural Contradictions of Scanning in an Evidence-based Policy EnvironmentWendy Schultz
Dr. Wendy L. Schultz discusses horizon scanning as an essential tool for foresight activities that identifies emerging issues and changes. However, scanning faces challenges in an evidence-based policy environment due to contradictions between the subjective, tentative nature of scanning and political and scientific desires for objective, authoritative conclusions. Various techniques like causal layered analysis, integral futures, and spiral dynamics can help overcome biases and validate scan findings from diverse sources to better identify surprises and alternatives for policymaking.
Theories and effects of mass communication (20082423 somi, kim)Sophie Kim
Mass communication involves an organization using technology to communicate with a large audience. There are four major categories of mass communication theory: postpositivism, hermeneutic theory, critical theory, and normative theory. Mass communication effects examines how media content impacts individuals and society, as well as how living in a media-saturated world changes interactions and culture. Understanding media effects requires examining messages, mediums, owners, and audiences.
This document appears to be a program for a social event sponsored by the School of Media and Journalism at UNC–Chapel Hill. It lists various sponsor levels including title, diamond, platinum, and gold sponsors which are universities, organizations, and companies. It also lists honor sponsors who are sponsoring in memory or honor of individuals. The bulk of the document consists of slides thanking and recognizing the various sponsors.
This document appears to be a sponsorship listing for the AEJMC Chicago PRD 2017 Social event. It lists various sponsor levels including Title, Diamond, Platinum, Gold and Silver sponsors. It also lists honor sponsors who sponsored in honor or memory of individuals. The document thanks all the sponsors and includes individual thank you messages to sponsors.
Diffusion Marketing is an innovative marketing approach for social media that delivers new capacities for analyzing, modelling and synthesizing social epidemics.
This document provides an overview of audience theory, including key theorists such as Katz & Bulmler, Morley, Hall, and Ang & Katz & Lazersfeld. It discusses key concepts in audience theory, such as primary, secondary, and tertiary media. It also covers debates around active vs passive audiences and the effects of media vs how audiences interact with media. The document provides examples of hypodermic theory, cultivation analysis, and the two-step flow model to illustrate different perspectives on audiences. It encourages students to research uses and gratification theory and reception theory as part of learning about audience theory.
Slides from our tutorial titled 'Polarization on social media' presented at ICWSM 2017. Covers various aspects of polarization from a technical and sociology perspective.
If you have questions/comments, please contact Kiran Garimella (kiran.garimella@aalto.fi)
Skills Needed in the Study of Contemporary IssuesJeff Zeta
This document provides an overview of a Grade 10 lesson on contemporary issues. It defines contemporary issues as topics that are currently relevant and being discussed in society. The lesson explains that it is important for students to be aware of contemporary issues to analyze arguments and evidence. It outlines skills needed to study contemporary issues, such as identifying primary and secondary sources and distinguishing facts from opinions. The document also discusses identifying bias, making inferences, and forming generalizations and conclusions. Sample activities are included to help students practice these skills by analyzing issues.
This document discusses theories of influences on mass media content. It covers different approaches to studying media content, including looking at influences on content and effects of content. It discusses definitions of content and different theoretical perspectives on influences, such as social reality, media workers' influences, organizational routines, external social forces, and ideological positions. It also discusses building a theory of media content and why more research has focused on individual-level analyses rather than macro-level influences on content.
The lecture discusses the first stage of the policy process - problem delimitation and recognition. It defines what constitutes a problem, social problem, and policy problem. A social problem becomes a policy problem if it can be addressed through public policy. Problem delimitation in public policy involves structuring and specifying issues to help define the scope of potential solutions. Different problems have varying levels of agreement on values/knowledge, from well-structured to unstructured. The theory of agenda setting explains how issues rise on the agendas of public, policymakers and government. The stage model of the policy cycle is used to analyze the process, though it has limitations as policymaking is complex and non-linear.
This document summarizes several media theories:
- The hypodermic needle/magic bullet theory suggests media can directly influence audiences' thoughts and opinions.
- Cultivation theory argues heavy media exposure shapes viewers' beliefs about social reality.
- The two-step flow model proposes media's influence flows through influential figures to shape opinions.
- Uses and gratifications theory views audiences as active in choosing media that meets needs like entertainment or identity.
- Reception theory argues audiences decode media texts in dominant, oppositional, or negotiated ways.
- Moral panic theory describes how media can exaggerate issues to create hysteria and blame certain groups.
1) The document summarizes two communication theories: the agenda-setting theory and the gatekeeping theory.
2) The agenda-setting theory proposes that mass media has the ability to influence the public agenda by deciding what issues are important. The gatekeeping theory suggests that media filters information that reaches the public by controlling access.
3) Both theories are influenced by social and ideological factors and are subject to criticism that reality may not be accurately portrayed due to the subjective decisions of editors and gatekeepers.
Five things every teacher needs to know about researchChristian Bokhove
Christian Bokhove gave a presentation on "Five Things Every Teacher Needs to Know About Research". He discussed how education research creates a "softer" form of knowledge than natural sciences due to human unpredictability. He explained challenges with determining cause-and-effect and how single studies don't define fields. Bokhove also emphasized accounting for context and definitions when measuring concepts. The key takeaways are that education research has its own strengths; correlation doesn't imply causation; one study doesn't negate others; context is important; and measurement requires understanding what is being measured.
Mass communication theory –evolution and development.pptxasmamaqsood4
This document provides an overview of mass communication theory, including its evolution, key concepts, categories, and paradigms. It discusses the meaning and definitions of theory, elements of theory, categories of mass communication theory including post-positivism, hermeneutic theory, critical theory, and normative theory. It also covers paradigms in mass communication theory and the four eras of media theory: the era of mass society and mass culture; a scientific perspective leading to limited effects; competing cultural perspectives challenging limited effects; and the emergence of meaning-making perspectives.
Will we be smart enough soon enough - putting civic intelligence into practi...Douglas Schuler
The document discusses the concept of civic intelligence, which refers to how smart collectivities are in relation to solving shared problems through civic means. It provides some definitions of civic intelligence and asserts that while civic intelligence exists, it may not be adequate to address growing global and local problems. Examples are given of projects that demonstrate civic intelligence, including sustainable prisons, the Beehive Design Collective, and the Liberating Voices project. The document discusses using pattern languages to organize civic intelligence projects and promote citizen engagement and activism. It concludes that assessing aspects like inclusion, creativity, collaboration, and addressing fundamental problems could be useful for comparing and measuring civic intelligence.
The document provides an overview of topics related to social perspectives on media and ICT, including:
1. Media saturation in today's environment with high rates of technology adoption.
2. Digital inequalities that exist globally and regionally in terms of access, skills, and usage.
3. The complex nature of media effects and influence, which involves many mediating factors.
4. Shifting media production with the blurring line between producers and consumers.
5. Engagement and democracy, where the internet theoretically enables greater civic participation but reality often falls short of expectations.
6. The evolution of social relations as the internet becomes more integrated into daily life.
This document provides an overview of key media concepts related to audience, institutions, representation, language, codes and conventions, and narrative theory. It defines audience as the recipients of a media text and discusses several theories of how audiences interact with media, such as the hypodermic needle theory. It also defines institutions as organizations that produce and distribute media, and representation as the ideas and identities constructed in media texts. The document then examines media language and various codes and conventions used in different genres. Finally, it summarizes several narrative theories including those proposed by Propp, Todorov, and others.
Cultural Contradictions of Scanning in an Evidence-based Policy EnvironmentWendy Schultz
Dr. Wendy L. Schultz discusses horizon scanning as an essential tool for foresight activities that identifies emerging issues and changes. However, scanning faces challenges in an evidence-based policy environment due to contradictions between the subjective, tentative nature of scanning and political and scientific desires for objective, authoritative conclusions. Various techniques like causal layered analysis, integral futures, and spiral dynamics can help overcome biases and validate scan findings from diverse sources to better identify surprises and alternatives for policymaking.
Theories and effects of mass communication (20082423 somi, kim)Sophie Kim
Mass communication involves an organization using technology to communicate with a large audience. There are four major categories of mass communication theory: postpositivism, hermeneutic theory, critical theory, and normative theory. Mass communication effects examines how media content impacts individuals and society, as well as how living in a media-saturated world changes interactions and culture. Understanding media effects requires examining messages, mediums, owners, and audiences.
This document appears to be a program for a social event sponsored by the School of Media and Journalism at UNC–Chapel Hill. It lists various sponsor levels including title, diamond, platinum, and gold sponsors which are universities, organizations, and companies. It also lists honor sponsors who are sponsoring in memory or honor of individuals. The bulk of the document consists of slides thanking and recognizing the various sponsors.
This document appears to be a sponsorship listing for the AEJMC Chicago PRD 2017 Social event. It lists various sponsor levels including Title, Diamond, Platinum, Gold and Silver sponsors. It also lists honor sponsors who sponsored in honor or memory of individuals. The document thanks all the sponsors and includes individual thank you messages to sponsors.
Diffusion Marketing is an innovative marketing approach for social media that delivers new capacities for analyzing, modelling and synthesizing social epidemics.
This document provides an overview of audience theory, including key theorists such as Katz & Bulmler, Morley, Hall, and Ang & Katz & Lazersfeld. It discusses key concepts in audience theory, such as primary, secondary, and tertiary media. It also covers debates around active vs passive audiences and the effects of media vs how audiences interact with media. The document provides examples of hypodermic theory, cultivation analysis, and the two-step flow model to illustrate different perspectives on audiences. It encourages students to research uses and gratification theory and reception theory as part of learning about audience theory.
Slides from our tutorial titled 'Polarization on social media' presented at ICWSM 2017. Covers various aspects of polarization from a technical and sociology perspective.
If you have questions/comments, please contact Kiran Garimella (kiran.garimella@aalto.fi)
Skills Needed in the Study of Contemporary IssuesJeff Zeta
This document provides an overview of a Grade 10 lesson on contemporary issues. It defines contemporary issues as topics that are currently relevant and being discussed in society. The lesson explains that it is important for students to be aware of contemporary issues to analyze arguments and evidence. It outlines skills needed to study contemporary issues, such as identifying primary and secondary sources and distinguishing facts from opinions. The document also discusses identifying bias, making inferences, and forming generalizations and conclusions. Sample activities are included to help students practice these skills by analyzing issues.
The document discusses the development of communication as an academic discipline. It argues that while communication research excels at describing communication processes, there is a lack of comprehensive explanatory theories. Some initial attempts to develop such theories are highlighted, such as evolutionary theories of news values and theories examining the role of cognitive biases and group decision-making in news production. However, more work is needed to integrate existing descriptive models and advance understanding of the underlying causal processes. This includes obtaining more fine-grained longitudinal data combining individual variables with measures of specific media content and social networks. The overall goal is to help communication mature as a discipline through developing deep explanatory theories of communication phenomena.
This conference paper analyzes internal White House documents related to Richard Nixon's historic 1972 trip to the USSR. It discusses the summit preparations, key agreements on issues like SALT, and issues of power and control between the two countries. The author conducted archival research on documents from key White House staff members to gain insights into the thoughts and decision-making surrounding the summit. The paper also notes limitations from incomplete records and unavailable documents.
This document summarizes a presentation given by Dean Kruckeberg and Katerina Tsetsura at an international research conference on global public relations as a communication subfield. The presentation discusses the challenges of unprecedented changes in global society due to rapidly evolving communication technology. It argues that public relations must reconsider its existing theories and paradigms to address issues in the 21st century global environment, where power differentials are changing and boundaries are porous. The discipline needs a broader scope and multidisciplinary approach to reconcile cultural tensions and provide normative guidance for practicing public relations globally.
This document summarizes a conference paper on contemporary issues in eLearning in the U.S., focusing on three key areas: student authentication and verification, student privacy, and access for students with disabilities. It identifies past methods used and their problems, as well as promising resolution techniques incorporating current U.S. and international trends. Specific topics discussed include using biometric identification, flipped classrooms, gamification, ensuring website accessibility and compliance with standards, establishing policies and grievance procedures, training personnel, and supporting international agreements like the Marrakesh VIP Treaty to improve access to materials for the blind and visually impaired.
Communication emerged as its own academic discipline in the United States around 1982, as seen by the renaming of AEJ to AEJMC and the formation of communication departments. The document discusses the three histories that contributed to the development of communication as a field: journalism, speech, and communication itself. It outlines several lenses for analyzing each history: biographical, intellectual, and political. The document also lists five historical lines of communication scholarship and notes that the information presented is from an in-progress book about the period from 1964 to 1982 when communication became established as its own discipline in the U.S.
The document discusses the three-fold state of the communication discipline - as a scientific field, an academic field, and a professional field. It analyzes each state through examining sections of communication associations, aims of journals, degree programs, and lack of agreed upon theories. A key finding is that the discipline faces a "triple crisis" of not being scientifically consolidated, the academic function is not well-defined, and the professional field is trivialized. The conclusion calls for a global approach connecting theories to variables, know-how, and skills across the scientific, academic and professional realms.
This document discusses a cocreational paradigm for crisis communication and international public relations. It proposes that meaning is cocreated as publics integrate their own experiences with the intentional and unintentional messages from organizations. It suggests using international PR in the next decade as an example of how the cocreational approach can help understand complex relationships in crisis contexts. The cocreational model represents a paradigm shift by focusing on relationship creation and understanding different cultures. It defines issues and crises from both a cocreational and instrumental perspective and discusses how publics, not organizations, determine and manage issues over their lifecycle. It also introduces the concept of "meta crises" that occur when public concern shifts to how a crisis was handled rather than
The document discusses communication as a practical discipline and two approaches for engaging communication theory with practice: Grounded Practical Theory (GPT) and Cultural-Historical Activity Theory (CHAT).
[1] GPT involves empirically studying a communication practice, reconstructing its problems, techniques, and ideals through qualitative analysis, and using this to inform normative claims and recommendations. It focuses on individual actions, institutional practices, and inherent dilemmas.
[2] CHAT analyzes practices as historically developing collective activity systems, emphasizing contradictions that generate conflicts and change. It aims to directly intervene by exposing contradictions and suggesting new tools.
[3] While both approaches develop theory from observation and critical analysis of
This document discusses strategic communication (StratComm) and the cocreation of meaning between communicators and sovereign publics. It defines StratComm as communication campaign planning that brings strategic information into an organization. It also discusses how the cocreation of meaning involves publics integrating their own experiences and values with messages to create new understandings. Finally, it notes that sovereign publics decide if communication campaigns ultimately succeed or fail, and strategic communication must begin and end with research to understand how publics are interpreting messages.
1. Institute of Media and Communication
“A maturing discipline: The development of
comprehensive theories and designs in
communication research.”
Prof. Dr. Wolfgang Donsbach
Institute of Media and Communication
Technische Universität Dresden
www.donsbach.net
Higher School of Economics - Moscow, Russia
Conference "Communication as a Discipline and as a Field”
July 11, 2015
www.donsbach.net
4. www.donsbach.net
– General competence: keen awareness of relevant
history, current affairs, and analytical thinking
– Subject competence: expertise in the specific
subjects about which he or she reports
– Process competence: scientifically based
knowledge about the communication process
– Journalistic skills
– Professional values: conduct himself or herself
within the norms of professional ethics
The Five Basic Competences of
Journalism
= the Authority of Journalism
5. www.donsbach.net
Conditions for a professional journalism?
”Many/most J&MC programs don’t do a very good job of teaching the
philosophy of journalism, the history of journalism, and/or purpose of
journalism, particularly how journalism is absolutely necessary, not
irrelevant or harmful, to both democracy and capitalism”
„Most deans/directors are largely fund-raisers and administrators“
(Claussen 2012)
No leadership/no excellence
7. www.donsbach.net
Advancement of disciplines
Phase Activity Example from sciences
Young Description collecting and sorting stones
Developing Correlation finding similarities and „laws“
among them
Mature Explication Explaining their genesis and
composition through
quantum mechanics
9. www.donsbach.net
The ultimate „driving force“ in communication?
Annie Lang: We need just one paradigm? Adaption to the environment
• „humans are born to change“ adoption to environment
• communication as a natural evolutionary development which
serves to promote the continued existence of the species and
the individual as it attempts to adapt through change to an
unpredictable and unstable environment.
• “From this perspective, the whole notion of effects is
ridiculous”
• Changes are the result of a combination of environmental
pressures and stimuli, as well as internal forces such as
development, education, and biological imperatives.
Lang 2013
10. www.donsbach.net
Or is it communibiology?
Betty & McCroskey: individual differences in communication
behavior and responses to messages are manifestations of
individual differences in inborn thresholds for activation of
the neurobiological systems responsible for the particular
response.
From genes to neurobiological traits and patterns to
communication behavior?
Twins research: Inheritable
70% of variation in traits related to interpersonal affiliation
(e.g., extraversion, friendliness, verbal expressiveness,
gregariousness, empathy, perspective-taking)
65% of the variance in social anxiety traits
58% of the variance in aggressiveness
11. www.donsbach.net
Topics
A struggling discipline
How disciplines advance
Our Higgs boson?!
Descriptive and superficial theories
Gatekeeper and news value ‚theory‘
14. www.donsbach.net
What is the problem?
• We are good in modelling these processes but weak in
theorizing
• Input known, output known
• But what happens in the blackbox
Available
news/“reality“
News media
content??
15. www.donsbach.net
What is the problem?
• We are good in modelling these processes but weak in
theorizing
• Input known, output known
• But what happens in the blackbox
• E.g. news value theory: only structure of news content
• Schulz: “principles of journalists’ construction of reality”
• But: no explanatory concept why these principles exist
and why they change!
16. www.donsbach.net
Changing News Ideologies
Percent of News Containing Some Form of
Criticism in Swedish News Media
Quelle: Westerstahl & Johanssen 1986, S. 142
1912 24 36/37 48 60 72 80/81 81/84
Met Press TV2 Radio TV1%
Ideology of critical
journalism
Traditional news ideology/
Paternalistic ideology
18. www.donsbach.net
What is the problem?
• We are good in modelling these processes but weak in
theorizing
• Input – output known
• But what happens in the blackbox
• E.g. news value theory: only structure of news content
• Schulz: “principles of journalists’ construction of reality”
• But: no explanatory concept why these principles exist
and why they change!
• We treat the process of news in many aspects without
really unveiling the underlying processes
21. www.donsbach.net
A few attempts to overcome this problem
• Evolutionary theory of news values
• Need for protection of one’s predispositions
22. www.donsbach.net
• hypothesis theory of perception
• Schema theory
• Theory of cognitive dissonance
General theories about the power of cognitive
predispositions
Specific theories on news decisions
• Theory of instrumental actualization
• Framing theory
23. www.donsbach.net
Theory of Instrumental Actualization
Desired effects
among
audience
Selection
Instrumentality
of news for
desired effects
among audience
Motivation for decision-making
Available
news
Kepplinger 1989
24. www.donsbach.net
A few attempts to overcome this problem
• Evolutionary theory of news values
• Need for protection of one’s predispositions
• Need for social validation of perceptions
25. www.donsbach.net
What is true? ( Truth)
Was ist relevant? ( news value)
Was ist good/acceptable? ( evaluation)
Time
pressure
Lack of objective
criteria
Pressure of
competition
publicness
„Undetermined
situations“
Explaining journalists’ behavior through socio-
psychological drivers: Journalists’ dilemma
Help by in-groups
26. www.donsbach.net
The power of group decision-making
Shared Reality: Perception through communication
„…we suggest that in the absence of social verification,
experience is transitory, random, and ephemeral… But once
recognized by others and shared in an ongoing, dynamic process
of social verification we term ‘shared reality’, experience is no
longer subjective…That is, experience is established as valid and
reliable to the extent that it is shared with others”
(Hardin & Higgins 1996: 28)
27. www.donsbach.net
"frames of reference“ (Halloran et al.)
"news ideologies“ (Westerstahl and Johanssen (1986)
“news frames” (Entman 1989)
“scripts” (Kerbel and Ross 1999)
Role of key events
Examples for consequences of shared
reality in news content
28. www.donsbach.net
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
4 weeks
before
4 weeks
after
SZ
FAZ
STZ
AZ
Key events:: Announcement of Rock Hudson being infected with AIDS virus July 7, 1985, Major truck
accident in Germany July 7, 1987; San Francisco earthquake October 17, 1989. Coded: Coverage of people
being infected by AIDS, truck accidents, earthquakes (in each case excluding coverage of key events)
No. of
stories
Influence of Key Events on News Values in
Subsequent Reporting
Source: Kepplinger, Habermeier 1995
29. www.donsbach.net
Topics
A struggling discipline
How disciplines advance
Our Higgs boson?!
Descriptive and superficial theories
Gatekeeper and news value ‚theory‘
Selective exposure ‚theory‘
Most cases de-facto-selectivity = descriptive
Explanations behind?
30. www.donsbach.net
Topics
A struggling discipline
How disciplines advance
Our Higgs boson?!
Descriptive and superficial theories
Gatekeeper and news value ‚theory‘
Selective exposure ‚theory‘
Agenda setting ‚theory‘
descriptive
Why-Question unanswered
Advancement through cognitive theories
31. www.donsbach.net
Topics
A struggling discipline
How disciplines advance
Our Higgs boson?!
Descriptive and superficial theories
Gatekeeper and news value ‚theory‘
Selective exposure ‚theory‘
Agenda setting ‚theory‘
Variables behind variables?
Go below surface of existing „domain“ variables
Integrate theories comprehensive theories
33. www.donsbach.net
Interest in politics on the decline
Interest in politics is decreasing particularly among adolesents of
the lower class
Adolescents from 14-24 who have at least a slight interest in politics:
67
57
45
65
49
32
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
100
high socio-economic status middle socio-economic
status
low socio-economic status
1995
2011
Source: Allensbacher Markt- und Werbeträgeranalyse 1995 and 2011
[%
]
34. www.donsbach.netSource: Pew Research Center
„I enjoy keeping up with the news“ (USA 2006-2012)
52 52
45
43
38 38
27
24
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
2006 2008 2010 2012
all
18-29
* Soule, S. (2001). Will They Engage? Political Knowledge, Participation and Attitudes
of Generations X and Y. Available at: http://www.civiced.org/papers/research_
engage.pdf [August 30, 2013].
35. www.donsbach.net
Information Intake by age
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
14–17 18–29 30+
News Topic 1
News Topic 2
Both Topics
What proportion of the population got information about the news topics?
n=600 (each)
Basis: Whole population!
%
42% informed
themselves
about both news
items
36. www.donsbach.net
Motivation for interest in politics
Paramount research question in a democracy
Needs comprehensive theories
Needs dynamic models (ongoing interaction process)
Changes in motivation = result and cause
What drives motivation to get engaged in politics?
Traditionally: Media malaise hypothesis
Unidirectional and superficial (still true)
37. www.donsbach.net
-30
-20
-10
0
10
20
30
1949 1953 1957 1961 1965 1969 1972 1976 1980 1983 1987 1990 1994 1998 2002 2005 2009
Kandidaten der CDU/CSU Kandidaten der SPD Gesamt
Candidates in the German press
Balance between positive and negative reports/election year
Wilke & Reinemann 2003
- Mean for both candidates
38. www.donsbach.net
Declining Reputation of Politicians
“Do you think it needs great capabilities to become a member of parliament?
East GermanyWest Germany
Not needed Not needed
39. 45
Bad News - Bad Opinions
Günstige und ungünstige Erw ähnungen der Präsdentschaftkandidaten
in Time und New sw eek, n= 4.263 und Durchschnitt der Wählermeinung für die jew eiligen
Kandidaten
Quelle: Patterson 1993, S. 20, 23
#
#
# #
#
#
#
#
#
1960 1964 1968 1972 1976 1980 1984 1988 1992
Bad New s negative Wähler-Meinung#%
Prof. Donsbach
50%
Classic Model of Media Malaise: Negative Content Negative
Attitudes: Coverage of Candidates for US Presidency
Balance of negative over positive
attitudes
Balance of negative over
positive news
40. www.donsbach.net
Motivation for interest in politics
Paramount research question in a democracy
Needs comprehensive theories
Needs dynamic models (ongoing interaction process)
Changes in motivation = result and cause
What drives motivation to get engaged in politics?
Traditionally: Media malaise hypothesis
Unidirectional and superficial (still true)
Looking for more deeper drivers of behavior
41. www.donsbach.net
Motivation for engaging in political communication
concept of the self = „motivational engine“ of political
communication behavior
Closely related to cognitive dissonance
Three elements:
Competent
Moral
Able to predict own behavior (De Marree et al. 2007)
Hypothesis: When attacks on concept of self: dis-identification with
the domain in question (Aronson et al. 1995)
Dynamic model
42. www.donsbach.net
Relevance
of politics
(low)
Dis-Identification from
politics
External pol.
efficacy
(low)
News use
(low)
Media coverage of
politics
(negativism)
Spiral of political dis-
identification
Treatment of
politics in
interpersonal
communication
Political knowledge
(low)
Political
Information
Internal political
competence
(high)Disso-
nance
Political talk
(low)
Political
malaise
(high)
Internal pol.
Efficacy
(low)
Com-
plex
issues
43. www.donsbach.net
Wave 1
July 2013
Wave 3
December 2013
22.09.2013
Federal election
Political
exception phase
(vgl. Boczkowski & Mitchelstein 2012)
Political
routine phase
(vgl. Boczkowski & Mitchelstein 2012)
Wave 4
July 2014
Wave 2
September 2013
Panel-Design
44. 50
Quality of Information
• Information about politics
• Information about issue
• Talking about politics
• Talking about specific issue
• Exposure to professional media
Attitudes towards politics: Interactive effects
Political complexity
High/low complexity of issues
Personal Relevance
• Interest in Politics
• Interest in election
• Interest in issue
Perceived general political efficacy
In time elapsed
JUNE 2013 SEPTEMBER 2013
Age
Education
Male
Empfundene
Kompetenz
in Bezug auf Politik
im Allgemeinen
Perceived general competence
In time elapsed
JUNE 2013 SEPTEMBER 2013
+
+
+ +
+
+
Attack on
concept of
self
Dis-identifica-
tion politics
45. www.donsbach.net
Studies needed for comprehensive theories
Individual-level data
Longitudinal data
More fine-grained measurement of exposure
Inclusion of social networks
Concrete communication exposure
Concrete communication content
Combination of citizen variables and content variables