Framing the Discussion

Agenda

Social Change Organizations/Networks

1. What are your current communication needs?

2. How might those needs change over time?

3. How do we work together in partnership in

meeting those needs?

Framing the DiscussionTraining and Education• Train students who are:

– Employable– Reach their full potential in their chosen fields of employment– Have successful careers

• Educating students to envision and develop Social Change Agendas

– Personal and Wider– Current and Future

In responding to Social Change organizations and networks:

• Produce students who are Employable– Skilled– Knowledgeable

Framing the DiscussionWhat are the current communication needs

of Social Change Organizations and

networks?

• Internal:

• External:

Framing the DiscussionWhat are the current communication needs of Social Change Organizations and networks?• Internal:

– Communication savvy workforce in knowledge driven environments

– Diverse workforce– Organizational change:

• commitment to and participation/buy-in from internal stakeholders – Partnership working

• External:– Branding– Marketing– PR – Informing and Responding to our Publics– Community engagement

• Hard-to reach users– Driving Policy

Partnership and Collaboration

• Students earning while learning• Students as more local?• Life-long learning agendas:

– pre-university audiences– existing workforce– future workforce

• Citizen to consumer • Demographics • Harnessing communications technology?

Partnership and CollaborationChanging landscapes?

– never reads an offline newspaper– sometimes reads an offline magazine– will never own a landline telephone– won’t watch TV on someone else’s schedule for much longer– trusts unknown peers more than experts– has started to pay for digital content– has little interest in the sources of online information– sees community as the centre of the internet experience– claim they aren’t affected by brands or advertising– is moving to mobile– is less interested in TV than any generation before– wants to move content from platform to platform– thinks email is something for writing ‘thank you’ letters– wants to be heard

Partnership and CollaborationExisting Arrangements:• Placements• Professional bodies ‘policing’?• Self-serving research agendas?

Possible Future views:• Student group as an existing community/audience?• Students engaging with Community groups/activities?• Lecture/seminar series?• Partner inputs to modules?• Partners providing up-to-date case-studies?• Partners as (informal) mentors?• Demand-led short courses• Mutually beneficial research and consultancy? • Joint PR and Marketing?

Communication and Social Change

Current thinking:

• Human, Organizational, Media

• Knowledge and skills

• Applied theory

• Communication in context

• Undergraduate and Postgraduate

• Flexible entry and exit

• Flexible learning

Communication and Social Change

How do we move forward?• Report on today’s meeting• Further meetings?• Expanding interested partner group?• Feedback from partners?• Formalizing Network:

– E-mail list– Web presence– Blog

• Sharing existing networks?