global discussion. local perspectives.
There are some acronyms that we become so familiar with that we no longer know who originated them. Indeed, students aren’t even expected to credit the source in their work. Think about the following: PEST or SWOT. Then there are models and concepts that become disassociated from their originators over time. How about the Diffusion of Innovation, Nudge or SMART objectives? Even if we don’t know whose idea it first was, or even the name...
The 2017 European Communications Monitor report has been published recently detailing challenges facing strategic communicators in 50 countries. In this guest post, Anastasiya Shyrina, provides her perspective on the practicalities of PR management in Ukraine. My friends know that I work in public relations. What they frequently don’t know is what exactly I do every day. Looking back at my 5-year career full of diverse hands-on experience, I came up with a list of 15...
One of the delightful developments from the International History of Public Relations Conference (IHPRC) and growing interest in the antecedents of the field is the publication of some wonderful books. In particular, two series have gone from strength to strength. The first is the collection of scholarly texts edited by Kevin Moloney: New Directions in Public Relations and Communication Research. Their popularity among the academic community is such that the excellent Gender and Public Relations...
An important link between academia and practice is research. A notable difference is the emphasis within such research on methodological matters. This is a critical aspect of scholarship, but is commonly lacking in practice, particularly within public relations where crowd-sourcing exercises and publicity-oriented surveys may be viewed unproblematically. This criticism can even be applied to some research undertaken by professional bodies. Methodology is of vital important in academic research studies, including those with a historical...
The third in our History Week series is a fascinating insight into archival research authored by Emeritus Professor Tom Watson. Archival research is the bedrock of historical writing. The hours, days and weeks spent searching through all forms of archives are akin to the prospector panning through sands and mud in the hope of finding speckles of gold. Only occasionally does a nugget appear. Although it can feel like time wasted, historians realize that they...
Five years ago, Toni Muzi Falconi gave PR Conversations readers a private viewing inside the Museum of Public Relations. From its beginnings in 1996 as an award-winning internet museum (possibly the first in the world), two decades later the Museum of Public Relations resides at Baruch College’s Newman Library Archives and Special Collections, where it is open to the public by appointment for tours, guest lectures and research. As an educational institution chartered by the...
Martin Luther King’s call to be a “transformed nonconformist” (in the book From Strength to Love written in 1963) is history, but it is a call that remains valid in our modern world. King felt a shift had occurred from individualism to collectivism arguing: “We are not makers of history; we are made by history.” Rather than adopting a “view that is so ambiguous that it will include everything and so popular that it will...
Late last year I received an email from Dr. Beverley Wood in Victoria, Australia about Mabel Gertrude Flanley in respect of reference to Mabel in a comment I’d made on a blog post in May 2014. Beverley was researching Mabel for an historical presentation at the Annual Conference of the Dietitians Association of Australia in May, and had a gap in her knowledge after Mabel’s return to the US in 1932. Beverley told me “There...
Research and evaluation are considered by many to be relatively recent concerns of public relations practitioners. Developments include the (recently updated) Barcelona Principles, ‘workflow‘ tools enabling monitoring and analysis of data generated through digital communications, numerous academic research papers and the insight of research firms. Several chapters in the new Future PRoof book, including my own on sustainable professional development, discuss measurement matters such as return on investment. The lack of standardised industry measures is...
Most of the discussion around working in public relations concerns starting out in the occupation. We may sometimes look at mid-career developments and moving into management positions. But very rarely is attention given to decisions made later in a career, and what opportunities and considerations apply to public relations practitioners faced with winding down or winding up their working lives. When Jane Crofts wrote (at BehindtheSpin) about the last few days of her official employment at the University of Lincoln,...