Grants and Contracts Details
Description
This project identifies consumer segments based on their general attitudes and values that can be used to develop effective
messaging to mitigate the impact of a terrorism events. In 1989, the National Research Council affirmed for the scientific community
the long-standing mantra of many communication scholars: risk communication can and should function as a dialogue among
organizations, government agencies, and all relevant stakeholders. While this dialogue is certainly relevant to all forms of risk,
crisis situations create an inherent constraint on dialogue. As Heath and O’Hair explain, crisis is risk manifested (Heath & O’Hair).
Thus, an acute crisis situation requires the rapid exchange of messages designed to gain compliance from all stakeholders in hopes
of minimizing or mitigating harm. For too long, government agencies presumed that a single warning shared through standard media
channels was sufficient for reaching all stakeholders during a crisis. This linear view fails to account for the diverse informational
needs and cultural constraints within the broad audiences that are confronted by crises (Sellnow, Ulmer, Seeger, & Littlefield). As
a means of addressing variance of audience needs, more recent scholarship has bridged instructional research with risk communication.
The objective of this blended approach is to enhance an organization or agency’s capacity to generate messages that attend to the
varying learning styles inherent in their audiences. Moreover, this line of research seeks to account for varying cultural preferences
in crisis messages. Through ongoing message testing procedures, current research seeks to engage diverse audience in a dialogue
of message preferences prior to a crisis situation.
Status | Finished |
---|---|
Effective start/end date | 10/1/12 → 9/30/13 |
Fingerprint
Explore the research topics touched on by this project. These labels are generated based on the underlying awards/grants. Together they form a unique fingerprint.