This course is about communication on various levels. Over these 9 weeks we will cover a number of theories, cases and applications in the field of communication science. We will start with the foundational concepts of communication theory, defining what the theory is and going through a number of approaches to communication itself. Each week you will have a test to check on your progress and understanding. We also have a final text in the end of the course and a little bit of writing. As Oscar Wilde said, if you cannot write, you cannot think. If you cannot think, others will do thinking for you. So we find writing and reflecting pretty important for our classes. Along the course we provide you with in-class materials: lecture presentations, articles and additional readings. If you really want to get into the topic, don’t avoid this extra work. Although a substantial part of this course is theory-based, communication theory has a very practical application. Communication is an underlying process which creates and develops relationships, communities, societies. We communicative on a daily basis via a variety of means and channels. In our globalised and increasingly interconnected world, communication skills are essential in both the personal and professional spheres. It is our goal to leave you with a contextualisation and conceptualisation of communicative processes that will poise you to hone your own communicative skills — in other words, to put theory into practice.
Dialogic Theory
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Del curso dictado por National Research University Higher School of Economics
Communication theory: bridging academia and practice
2 calificaciones
National Research University Higher School of Economics
2 calificaciones
De la lección
Theories of PR
This lecture introduces students to the field of Public Relations, we discuss the main theories explaining and describing approaches to maintain relationships between organisations and strategic publics.
Conoce a los instructores
Olga SolovyevaLecturer
Integrated Communications Department, Faculty of Communication, Media and Design
Maria MordvinovaHead of BA Program in PR and Advertising
Integrated Communications Department, Faculty of Communication, Media and Design
[MUSIC]
The next theory about this course is dialogic theory.
The theory explains how public relations practitioners should ethically
build quality relationships with publics by having a dialogue with them.
So we talked about different kinds of relationships.
We talked about management of relationships, but
now we're talking about the quality of relationships.
Really how we should build those relationships
in an ethical manner using dialogue.
Dialogue refers to a process interpersonal group and organization public
interaction that focuses on honesty, truth, and positive regard for the other.
It is any negotiated exchange of ideas and opinions.
Key authors Pearson, Kent, and Taylor.
Idea, the main idea of the theory.
Organizations should be willing to interact with the publics in honest and
ethical ways in order to create effective organizational public communal channels.
Dialogue includes five features, mutuality,
propinquity, empathy, risk, and commitment.
Let's go and talk about each of them.
Mutuality, the recognition of organization public relationships,
an acknowledgement that organizations and publics are inextricably tied together.
We're together, we depend on each other, so we must collaborate.
Collaboration is when each opens himself to the other person and
truly accepts his or her point of view as worthy of consideration.
So we don't just blame the person who thinks differently and say, okay,
you are not on our community, we don't want to have friendships with you.
No, everyone has an equal opportunity, has an equal right to speak up,
and we consider their point of view as worth of consideration.
The next as I mentioned is spirit of mutuality.
It's an exercise of power, control that should be avoided.
Basically participants should feel comfortable discussing any topic.
They should feel that they are going to be free of ridicule if they say something.
This is what equal mutuality and spirit of mutual equalities.
It's when everyone feels comfortable, equal to discuss what they feel,
what they think and how they went to proceed together in collaboration,
in building relationship with you.
Propinquity, the temporality and spontaneity of interactions with public.
Immediacy of presence, communication is in the present before the decisions are made.
So we don't talk to the publics when we when already made the decision and
now we are going to let them know that we've done what we wanted.
Know, we communicate with them in the present before we even make a decision.
So the publics would help us to form our decision
to shape it to make it mutually beneficial.
Parties have to have a shared space of place to communicate,
whether it's a website, whether's it's a place for meeting on the street.
Or something which was accepted by both
party as a shared place of a communication.
Temporal flow, dialogue is rooted in the present, but
focused on equitable and acceptable future for all involved.
So we're talking about the future, right?
In the present, we talk right now, but
we want both of us to benefit from our interaction.
Engagement, participants are accessible.
They give their whole self to encounters, so you cannot do five things at one time.
If you are building relationships and
you are communicating right now in this dialogue or with another person,
you are with him in this dialogue at this very moment.
Empathy, empathy is atmosphere of support and
trust that must exist if dialogue is to succeed.
It's characterized by supportiveness.
Dialogue involves creating a climate in which others are encouraged to
participate, and their participation is facilitated.
So we invite people to talk to us, we support them.
Okay, you may think differently, but talk to us.
Let's talk to each other, let's decide, let's think about it,
let's see how we can help each other.
Communal orientation, public relations aims at building communities.
We live in the world where the whole world is broken into communitist,
different ones.
And we can think when one community or another community, but
in any case, we try to build this community, make it stronger,
and build relationship between communities as well.
Conformation of public goals and interest,
acknowledging the voice of the others in spite one's ability to ignore it.
Organizations acknowledge that those who do not agree with the organization need
to be heard.
So even though organizations, they have power,
they have resources, they have money.
People who usually don't like the products, right?
To someone customer, they don't have as much power as the organization does.
Social media provides customers with that power, but
it's not to the same amount as the organization has the power.
So even the organization has the power to ignore what their customers seeing,
they should not do it.
They should listen, and they should work together to solve the problems.
Risk, dialogue is always a risk, because interaction with individuals and
publics requires interaction on their own terms.
So it's vulnerability, you share information, and
you don't know where this person with your information is going to go, right?
You share your belief, you share your desires,
you can be ridiculed for what you feel, for what you think.
So they make participants vulnerable, risk includes vulnerability.
Unanticipated consequences, communication is unrehearsed, it's spontaneous.
You come, you talk to the person you have in plan, even though you have strategy and
everything in the world.
But this moment right now you are in the present, you go and talk,
it's spontaneous, it's unrehearsed.
Recognition of strange otherness,
the unconditional acceptance of the uniqueness and individuality of others.
Consciousness of the fact that the other is not the same as oneself nor
they should be.
People are different, they can be different, we're all different.
And it's actually beautiful that we're all different.
So this acceptance of the uniqueness
of the others, it's also a risk.
Commitment, the extent to which an organization gives itself over to
dialogue, interpretation, and
understanding in its interactions with publics.
Genuineness, dialogue is honest and forthright.
Commitment to conversation, the goal of conversation is mutual,
understanding, and benefit.
Commitment to interpretation, individuals should set aside their differences to
understand the positions of others, before the positions are evaluated.
So basically, you have to state very clearly as you're committing to your
conversations and you're committing to understanding that another person.
And you're committing to find that decision,
that problem solution that would benefit both of us.
The dialogic theory, though we talked right now about the principle and
the features, very often applied online.
So for a dialogue to happen online, it must have dialogic loop,
usefulness of information, generation of return visits,
the intuitiveness and conservation of visitors.
Let's go and discuss each of those principles of dialogue online.
Dialogic loop web sites should allow publics to query organizations
to allow organizations to respond to questions and concerns.
Employees must be trained to respond to online queries and be available to do it.
Basically, on your website there must be Q&A questions, right?
There must be contact information, there must be opportunity for comments.
You have to collect this feedback from the people.
You have to have a phone, so people could call you, right?
A chat, so people could answer the questions with you.
And the employees of course, because the information overload and different
requests that publics have, employees have to be ready to answer those questions.
This is specially relevant for such business as banking or
government or some health organizations.
So this dialogic will continues,
interaction continues conversation between publics and the organization which is
supported through online communication, online facilities of the website.
Usefulness of information,
organizations of their web site should post information with general value for
all publics, including the statement of the organization's philosophy or mission.
Information must be useful and transparent.
Publics should have an opportunity to sign up for information like the updates, and
there must be contact information of organizational members.
Usefulness of information, when I come to the website,
I expect to find there something of value for me.
I expect to know what kind of organization it is.
I expect to know okay, where they registered, what is their story,
what kind of people work there.
If it's a non-government organization and I'm donating some money for organizations.
I expect to know where this money was spent, how much they collected,
what's the average amount of money received or donations received.
So useful transparent value for all publics, and
it's always nice when you can leave your email and sign up for
some updates, and you'll receive them on a regular basis.
You don't have to go to the website every other day, but you'll just receive them.
Either on your email, by your email subscription, or
even when you like a page and you follow the company on the social media,
you receive some updates over there as well.
And the contact information, we already talked about it.
Generation of return visits, sites should include features to make attractive for
repeat visits.
Update information, changing issues, special forums, new commenters,
on-line questions and answer sessions, consultants and etc.
Explicit statement inviting users should also be included.
Well basically, when I come to the site, I see that something is going on over there.
And if I come again, I want to see something else,
did something happen over there, right?
I'm not going to come to the side and see other time same things.
It need to be something to be interesting for me to come again and again and again.
So this is why information should be updated,
this is why there should be interesting stuff going on.
Exhibitions, events, and new products,
some cool information in terms of how to use or how to fix the problems,
how to use the product, something of value for me.
Intuitiveness, sites must be easy to use.
It's said, I think if you click three times and you haven't found what you want,
it's already too much.
[LAUGH] So sites should be as easy as in three clicks,
a person has to find what they're looking for.
They should be organized and hierarchical.
There should be a site map, major links to the rest of
the site search engine box and a low reliance graphics.
About low reliance in graphics there are different thoughts,
but the reason for that and Internet is not working well everywhere.
And if you come to the website and it's downloading to load, it takes eternity for
the site to download, most likely you will never come back to the site again.
So this is why the website, any online information should be
easily downloadable, it should be easy for you use.
Conservation of visitors, websites should contain only essential
links with clearly marked paths for visitors to return to the sites.
Advertising should be put at and the bottom of the pages.
Short loading time, and use of additional applications on this site.
Well, when you go to the site and you see those advertising, just jumping onto you.
You're just closing your eyes, closing the website, and you go and
decide we'll never, ever see you forever.
Really when the person comes,
it should be almost like coming home,
not very interesting, very easy to use.
And important thing to note here is that the links on your website,
they shouldn't go and take you everywhere.
They should actually let you be on that site, or if you open a page,
a link on your website, it should open on another page on your web browser.
Otherwise you can lose this person who came to you and
was taken to somewhere else.
[MUSIC]
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