Public Relations Paradigms

To understand the domain of public relations domain one needs to understand the paradigms surrounding it. Paradigms are patterns or models which kind of set the path for understanding a subject more meaningfully. Public Relations has long been described under various paradigms that explain its role and functions and the complexity of the subject.

Public Relations can be defined in various ways but here I am concentrating on the following definitions before I move on to paradigms.

"Public Relations (PR) involves a variety of  programs designed to promote or protect a company’s image or a person’s or individual products." if you read the words here persuasion and communication is the key . More a one-way form of communication. We load the audience with messages.

If we recall, PRSA had started a 4-month campaign to seek a modern definition of public relations in 2012. The end result was this definition:-   “Public relations is a strategic communication process that builds mutually beneficial relationships between organizations and their publics.”
When we read these words we realize it is the building of relationship between the organization and its publics, which is crucial to doing public relations. A two-way communication where an effort is taken by the organization to build a mutual bonding, to understand the need, adapt and resolve as per audiences.

On this note let us move on to the PR paradigms. They were discussed in the 1990s but hold true even in current times.

These are following 7 paradigms:-

 

Process:  This paradigm studies the routine procedures that are used while doing any PR activity, for e.g. conducting media relations, or doing publicity.

Plan or Program : This focuses on the campaign plan and how this particular process is created.

Communication/Practice Style: The style or pattern of communication used in doing a PR activity. So here I study which method would be best to communicate a message to the audience? a one-way? two-way? etc.

Organizational/Managerial :  This is examining public relations in terms of doing the function of public relations keeping in mind the management satisfaction, ensuring a certain working relationship within the organisation or with the client.

Behavioral : The public relations activities which we conduct, what is its impact on the knowledge, attitude or behaviour on individuals or groups, are there any changes?

Social Problems:  This paradigm examines the lobbying and public affairs discipline of public relations, or the role as an advocate on issues pertaining to society.

Systems: Walking the tight rope. This paradigm probes the role that public relations efforts play in balancing between the organisation and the environment (more on http://lamar.colostate.edu/~pr/paradigm.pdf )

Moving into the digital era, one cannot forget to mention this important addition to the paradigms.

The digital world will compel organisations to conduct themselves strategically. They will have to build relationships across different societies and aid in reducing conflicts which will be the challenge. Different channels of the digital media will help in bringing about this change. This is as suggested by James Grunig, Professor Emeritus, Department of Communication University of Marylan College Park, Maryland, USA

Many misconceptions surrounding this subject of public relations gets cleared because of the paradigms, it gives it a structure that is required when we look at a domain both academically as wells as professionally. It rests on the notion of building strategic relationships and it being a strategic management function which gives it a very serious shape and role.

 

Internet is isolating us yet connecting us to the world

The medium has dominated us yet again. In the process we use the medium as we need it to fulfil our needs. But what ever the situation "Medium is the 'massage" . This typo error done accidentally in Marshall McLuhan's book title ages back, holds true even today. Internet and its social media channels are perfect examples.The On-line medium, the virtual reality, is there to stay and make us more vociferous.It influences us, it turns us upside down in our thoughts.

We are building our own social social constructs as the theory of social constructivism  suggests, that we form our own world as we interact with each other. Our ways of looking at a lot of things have changed.we are now ready to interact with complete strangers on the Internet, though there are risks associated with it. It is as if there is a sudden found freedom which which we fill it up in own ways.That personal space which is only ours. Mobile Internet, tablet internet only enhance it further. We study, work, play get our selves entertained and god knows what not thanks to this medium. As the Uses and Gratifications theory rightly explains that users know the content on a media and use it according to their needs. At the same the media is is shaping the way we think and grow.

A chance to create a self image is where our personal websites, blogs and social networking sites come into the picture. They provide this perfect spot to shape our words and thoughts and photos.Blowing your own trumpet is religiously followed on Facebook or its predecessor Orkut. Twitter for the very fact follows a different principle of socialising. It works on a different plane altogether. Images through photos or status messages help us create a virtual image, that may or may not be in sync with our real image. The experience of others also makes us believe in the truth out there as it is, as per their socio-historic contexts, as the theory of relativism explains a world out there irrespective of our perception.

Our voice can be heard as you experience things and share with the world. As the theory of subjectivism says that personal experience stand ground for foundation of facts. All these experiences which otherwise would not have been counted, are now given space. We are own gatekeepers or the people on that public sphere act as one to each other, yet allowing that personal space.

The Internet is isolating us yet connecting us to the world. What do you think?

Public Relations, Advertising and Marketing

As we communicate, we find there are different ways we communicate on behalf of organizations and the products they sell. Or the image they want to create. This topic was simply a discussion in class about the difference between these different domains. These various areas of knowledge has long been debated upon and thought of being same or at least similar. Yes similar to the extent that they help in creating awareness about an entity or individual but not the same at all. They may use each other for enhancing each others credentials but are cannot be interchangeably used.

Some links may help you grasp the huge differences between these mammoth fields. Marketing and Public Relations : An exploratory study and Interdependency between Marketing and Public Relations shed light on the growing debate between the two domains and explain the differences. Public relations and marketing: Dividing the conceptual domain and operational turf speaks about the different philosophies guiding these two practices.PR Vs Advertising and Introduction to PR and Advertising clearly explain the difference between public relations and advertising.

Hope this text helps in the clarity.

Starting research: Loosing your way to finding it

I am writing this post to bring to the attention of all students who are keen on doing research on any topic in the domain of media and communication. The search usually begins with associating some personal observation or maybe simply browsing through a couple of books or research papers on your topic of interest. Mind you topic of research is is not the research problem or research question itself.

Sometimes you may want to simply test a theory, test its applicability and so a need to do research. Many a times I have been asked what is this need to study theory. I would say majorly for two reasons. One you need to understand the phenomenon so study a theory or second to study a phenomenon to theorize it. That is where research comes in, and the need to study theory and research together as subjects to understand how the world we live in operates, how we work? etc.

The most crucial part is getting down to your research problem or research question, which requires tremendous amount of reading. Research papers from journals, books, speaking to people to know that you haven't taken any ride which will lead to you to nowhere. Research question is most basic to a research topic. It is the guide or the map that will define your path of doing research.

As Zina O'leary clealry gives steps on forming a research question which sums it all:-

• What is your topic?
• What is the context for your research? community, school etc
• What do you want to achieve? i.e to discover, to describe, to change, to explore, to explain, to develop, to understand...
• What is the nature of your research question? i.e. a what? who, where, how, when or why question
• Are there any potential relationships you want to explore? i.e impacts, increases, decreases, relationships, correlations, causes etc. (Researching Real-World Problems: A Guide to Methods of Inquiry)

You may not find direct reading material on your chosen topic but sometimes you may have to link different researches and theories to your current topic. So it may be overwhelming or a feel of getting lost in so much information, but you have to loose your way to find it.

Virtual Relationships

I thought of penning this article down when I thought how different are electronic and real-time relationship building exercises. In fact the internet is the only medium which come closest to connecting, but not always. The smell, voice and the emotions that can be seen and felt when in person are absent online. TV though being electronic and audio visual does not connect, even though there can be a real-time communication. The future they say might be different, but not as of now.

So how can communication practitioners learn from this situation?  In a 1995 essay titled "Speed and Information: Cyberspace Alarm!", the architect and theorist Paul Virilio wrote:

"Cyberspace is a new form of perspective. It does not coincide with the audio-visual perspective which we already know. It is a fully new perspective, free of any previous reference: it is a tactile perspective. To see at a distance, to hear at a distance: that was the essence of the audio-visual perspective of old. But to reach at a distance, to feel at a distance, that amounts to shifting the perspective towards a domain it did not yet encompass: that of contact, of contact-at-a-distance: tele-contact."  Click to read more

For a communicator the challenge is tapping this online space, as it comes closest to real time offline relationships. To connect to some text being typed online with really no person to see. Conversations cannot be done through video, due to logistical issues. Video also comes along with its own limitations such as speed, buffering, broadband technicalities etc depending upon your location.

Engaging the audience and keeping a tab on grievances are two of the biggest works that online communicators have to manage from the client end. There is always that upset or happy customer. Have you experienced that tailor made responses that are sent to us when we call or chat with a customer help of any organisation. "Thank you for calling" or "happy to help" or "Our customer executive will get back to you shortly." etc. And you know it is that machine response which is structured and standard. Very superficial.

In short the challenge for practitioners who are into any form of communication, is always being more humane and less superficial where there is no face to see on either side and yet one has to communicate. Maybe future jobs will demand more communicators in grievances handling online as customers are only going to grow. More the merrier for a growing population.

This in turn may help in relationship building and long term relationship with customers. A theory we keep reading and hardly apply.

What do you think?

So why bother about current affairs?

I have often noticed when I take lectures anywhere that students do not like to read on current affairs. Its that they are very happy in their cocoons, not caring what happens in the world. Weren't most of us that way when we were younger or their age?

The situation with the current lot today is slightly different. Today it is far more important to be abreast with issues happening than before. Whether it in seeking employment or even a simple discussion with colleagues or anybody who is a little well read than you are, being aware about current happenings has become crucial. Simple reason that knowledge is overflowing because of so many sources available and there is no way I can say I didn't know that.

This generation is lucky to have so many sources to get their knowledge from, provided they are authentic and credible. Unlike just a few years ago, Internet is now one blessed source where you just need to know the right places that serves you the right information. 

Twitter for me has become my daily food for news sources for example. Following the right handles of news organisations, expert individuals and well read friends this place is a rich source of news all put together in one place. You could choose your own.

Your own thoughts on this platform or on Facebook or LinkedIn is a mental exercise in responsible writing. Now you may wonder what role does writing play in knowing about current affairs?  I personally feel that Internet is a public sphere which is like your street outside your home or the park or office area where you will not behave like an idiot.Hopefully. So when you read responsible writing you are expected to do so the same. As a habit. And we tend to write a lot which becomes fodder for current affairs knowledge for someone else. Well this doesn't mean one should not have the funny side, but definitely not out of color. So when this place increases my knowledge on current affairs even with a local update, it becomes a responsibility of every individual to think before what they write. 

Now when my students find it boring to read on current affairs I only tell them that maybe some got away with it in some previous generations; you cannot. Your presence on the Net defines your reading and your writing and they are interlinked. This will be some serious writing not too. More than gossips and plain fwds. No escape. In any profession. Read and write and write and read. Your knowledge is being tested all the time without even being told so. Whether you will be in journalism or public relations or advertising or film production or marketing, your cyber presence is being checked for your knowledge in current affairs too. Maybe it will look all tough and boring and mundane initially but things will change. So change if you haven't already. 

What do you think?

So why bother about current affairs?

I have often noticed when I take lectures anywhere that students do not like to read on current affairs. Its that they are very happy in their cocoons, not caring what happens in the world. Weren't most of us that way when we were younger or their age?

The situation with the current lot today is slightly different. Today it is far more important to be abreast with issues happening than before. Whether it in seeking employment or even a simple discussion with colleagues or anybody who is a little well read than you are, being aware about current happenings has become crucial. Simple reason that knowledge is overflowing because of so many sources available and there is no way I can say I didn't know that.

This generation is lucky to have so many sources to get their knowledge from, provided they are authentic and credible. Unlike just a few years ago, Internet is now one blessed source where you just need to know the right places that serves you the right information. 

Twitter for me has become my daily food for news sources for example. Following the right handles of news organisations, expert individuals and well read friends this place is a rich source of news all put together in one place. You could choose your own.

Your own thoughts on this platform or on Facebook or LinkedIn is a mental exercise in responsible writing. Now you may wonder what role does writing play in knowing about current affairs?  I personally feel that Internet is a public sphere which is like your street outside your home or the park or office area where you will not behave like an idiot.Hopefully. So when you read responsible writing you are expected to do so the same. As a habit. And we tend to write a lot which becomes fodder for current affairs knowledge for someone else. Well this doesn't mean one should not have the funny side, but definitely not out of color. So when this place increases my knowledge on current affairs even with a local update, it becomes a responsibility of every individual to think before what they write. 

Now when my students find it boring to read on current affairs I only tell them that maybe some got away with it in some previous generations; you cannot. Your presence on the Net defines your reading and your writing and they are interlinked. This will be some serious writing not too. More than gossips and plain fwds. No escape. In any profession. Read and write and write and read. Your knowledge is being tested all the time without even being told so. Whether you will be in journalism or public relations or advertising or film production or marketing, your cyber presence is being checked for your knowledge in current affairs too. Maybe it will look all tough and boring and mundane initially but things will change. So change if you haven't already. 

What do you think?

This is not what it looks like

It is a nice rainy afternoon. To add to the weather I am preparing a lecture on Semiotics and Media.Now you  may wonder in such a beautiful weather preparation of a lecture may not be a very happening idea. But the subject of semiotics is so interesting especially if you apply to various facets of media and communication, that it is not a hindrance in enjoying the weather.

So what is semiotics and why should its study even matter to media students or practitioners? To give a simple explanation it is a study of signs. Any sign. It could be in the form of an image or a word or even a sound. The way an object of attention appears is not exactly the way it has to be interpreted as. All signs have two parts to it : the signifier and the signified. The signifier is an entity that signifies, it could be words on a page, an expression on the face, a picture, or some graffiti. The signified is what you hold in your mind, the concept of the entity shown. Now hope I am not confusing you. For e.g. The picture below looks of a little kid enjoying the fragrance of the flowers.What if I tell you it is not? Well, then you are getting semiotics if you are able to read beyond it. Understand connotations.

An image can have several interpretations. It is thus important to put a picture the way you would want your audience to perceive it as. Kress and van Leeuwen studied how images could convey messages by examining formal elements and structure of design, the color perspective, framing and composition, which they called as visual grammar. Semiotics became a major field of study in the in the 1960s with the work of  Ronald Barthes. Other prominent names that will catch your attention are that of  Swiss lingusit  Ferdinand de Saussure and American philosopher Charles Sanders Pierce.

The Handbook of Corporate Communication and Public Relations edited by Sandra Oliver explains that a media or public relations practitioner should use the AIDA (Attention, Interest, Desire and Action) principle when applied to semiotics; it will help in developing better semiotic objects in messages. This is so because how I choose a color or a material for print or a text is dependent on my social, cultural or psychological background, and imagine if I were in a team, then each team member will have his or her own baggage.Thus the AIDA comes to my rescue as a guiding standard template.

This a beginners note to understanding semiotics especially if you would want to see its application in the daily creation of messages in various forms.

"I work in Public Relations"

Have you faced a tough time explaining to somebody what do you do when you are working in public relations? Imagine explaining this to your relative, or your spouse or a child or a student that you are working in public relations. These could be people who have nothing to do with this practice and may not be even joining them in the future but are curious to know more about the job as you are working in it.

So how do you explain in simple ways? For. e.g. I would explain in the following 3 ways:-

• The back-stage worker
• The counselor
• The Big brother

When I tell them that my work is something like that of the person who helped the actor in looking good in a play. The guy who did your make up to make you look a role you were to play? Or helped you rehearse, Or to make you look good? So essentially you performed on the stage but the backstage worker dressed you up. This guy was never seen. So you had a talent which was presented to the outside world in a classic way.

The counselor who advised you to reach a decision in times of crisis or crucial times. So maybe you appeared in the front seemingly as the decision maker but there was somebody out there who helped you reach it.

The big brother (Company spokesperson) like the one in a family who supports you in a crisis and will not share a misgiving or fight blatantly in your family, with your neighbors (here publics in PR)  if asked, but will put it in a manner which looks decent of you.

Then above all I explain PR is something you and me do all the time. In front of friends, parents, relatives, colleagues and others. Are you not projecting your self in a certain way when you meet them? The way you speak, dress, act etc. Isnt it self PR happening all the time? Whether offline or online?

Last I then explain one of the important function, that of media relations. Media Coverage and how do the readers read what they find as 'news' in print or broadcasting.

But this I arrive a little later, first I explain the above three. As I have noticed that media coverage and media relations still looks a bit abstract to somebody who doesn't even understand the P of Public Relations.

What do you do?

Nipping it in the bud : Overcoming the fear of doing Research

Dissertations or thesis writing sessions are usually no fun for students except a few very academic oriented ones. Research is always this humongous task which looks very daunting and very intimidating to budding researchers. 

Well I don't blame them. We all went through this phase. I was preparing some fresh lectures for my research classes to begin in the next academic year. Keeping in mind all the experiences I have had so far while teaching the subject and then coaxing them to submit a research proposal and later a complete thesis I could come up with some points.

Research actually becomes easy if we begin with reading or simply observing. Keeping ears and eyes open can be the first step to doing research. Thus research is born out of identifying an issue which needs further study so it could be studying professions, studying a particular case at hand or simply studying events which have already taken place. 

 One cannot do something if one does not like doing it. So one has to first carefully choose out of many the topic of research that one would like to do.

Once this is clear, a thorough search of the problem at hand is to be looked upon. A simple google search or a quick run to the local library of the institution would help you to know what other researchers have already said about your topic that you have chosen. At the same time you could come up with a working research question and a working hypothesis which could become like road maps giving you a direction to where you are headed for. They will also remind you in case you slip away from your goal: Your chosen topic. 

Your search will essentially lead you to what appears the toughest while penning down a research: "The literature review" Will not go much into this as this is not the intention of this article and it is assumed here that you know what that means.

So you see a little effort from your side will result in a cluster of research papers or books or credible articles which helped you formulate and even tighten your research question and hypothesis.

Now you wonder why you did all this? Well the answer is that your next step of your research usually and ideally follows from all the ground work you just did. Now this will help in deciding the best methodology and methods which will help in implementing your research. It will help you in deciding your samples from the population at large. It will help you in deciding what should be the tools of your research and how you would prepare them, here I mean your questionnaire. Assuming you are doing a survey or an in-depth interview. But there could be other tools too. There your Guide could help you in deciding that.

The most important part in doing your research is getting all the above in place, as that would have prepared the foundation of your research. Now the next step would be the actual data collection. This is another phase which needs to given enough time as we should understand that if I am doing a survey or an in-depth interview the respondents are not in my hands. They are somewhere there and I am at their mercy of being given time for the data collection. If this method was content analysis of either text, audio or video or all, the time taken in doing a large amount of content collection has to be well thought of as this also takes up your time. (Here the example is of some basic methods, there are others too.)

Once this is done, next step is penning down your findings and analyzing them. You may require the help of your Guide here again and of course all the literature that you had reviewed will be useful while analysing. 

The final step is the conclusion. Here the researcher pens down his/her views, the place where the researcher is able to voice but now with all the credibility of the above data in place. A holistic picture of all that you have done so far has to be critically examined and a conclusion drawn. The limitation & delimitation of the study and of course the future scope of this research has to be written so as to remind the reader of the boundaries of your research.

Research is a journey and it never completely ends at one point. It is continuous and can be re-looked upon time and again by different people, always helping us understand the why and hows of this world.

This was a small attempt in driving out the fear of doing research, hopefully it helps you to break free.

Visual Writing for Public Relations

I remember when one of my students was keen on doing her thesis on something to do with photography. Now as she was in the domain of public relations as that was the Master subject, I suggested her to work on Photo PR. So basically how do companies create images about themselves via their pictures on their galleries on their website or through newspapers. The study was extensive and today she holds a post of a Photo PR executive in a reputed agency, a post especially created for this domain.

Images play a major role in defining an organisation's image. If we take this one step further videos play another role in creation of images. A moving image with sound. Capturing emotions, feelings through sound and movement, an added component in moving images. A holistic experience of the object. Public relations students and practitioners can take the help of these moving images to create the image they want to about their client. Readily available video cameras and camera softwares available on apple and android devices is making the work easier.

Now I need not be a photo or movie editor to work on these pictures and images. There are plenty of softwares available to edit pictures via Picsart and now even shoot small films to describe my client's work. I came across this very useful software called Vine  which is a mobile app created by Twitter to create and post small video clippings. But right now it is only available for apple devices. But android mobile phone users can use Viddy  for the same purpose.Vine helps you shoot for 6 seconds and post the video to Facebook and Twitter accounts. Whereas Viddy lets you shoot for 15 seconds and lets you add effects to your video and post it to Twitter and Facebook. All this work can be done on your smartphone or tablets. This also indicates something very important;  the growing use of smartphones and tablets and its easy accessibility.

The idea is that if I am getting an opportunity to shoot a video of the object concerned and upload it in real time it can be more of value as compared to something appearing later, due to delay in editing. Some quick videos can be more than enough. And will not look like an ad. Time has come where people may not have the time to read long paragraphs but will not miss out a well placed and well clicked picture or an attractive video clip. Of course keeping in mind the various logistics issues and the digital divide, this article stresses on the need for PR practitioners to create content on the go.

Would be keen to know your views.

Defining Public Relations in India in 2013

This blog is out of complete curiosity. Was taking some sessions on defining public relations with students. It made me want to know, how do current practitioners in this profession would like to define it in the year 2013.

Some older definitions are like this. The U.S. perspective : Cutlip, Center and Broom (2006: 5): ‘Public relations is the management function that establishes and maintains mutually beneficial relationships between an organization and the publics on whom its success or failure depends.’

However in the UK the definition is a little diffferent. According to the Chartered Institute of Public Relations (CIPR) it is : ‘[Public relations] is the planned and sustained effort to establish and maintain goodwill and mutual understanding between an organization and its publics’ (www.cipr.co.uk). 

This leaves out the the term 'management' as seen in the American counterpart.

So how is the definition of public relations in India being coined?

Is it something different from the above two or similar? Would love to know your views.

New Media: A Pedagogical Tool

Title: New Media: A Pedagogical Tool

Paper presented at the National Seminar on Metamorphosis of New Media and Digital Culture, 7-8-9 March 2013, Department of Communication Studies, University of Pune

Abstract

There are many ways in which Lev Manovich describes new media. One of them is new media as a distribution platform and exhibition channel in the form of Internet, websites, Blu-ray disks and others. A further classification on the Internet is in the form of virtual communication, popularly known as social media. According to Andreas Kaplan and Michael Haenlein, these are programs built on the concept of Web 2.0, which help end users in making their own content and communicating it. Mobile phones, Computers and Tablets have only increased the use of social media. In the past, Internet has played a role in improving education. Research suggests that social media is being used by educational institutions around the world for various purposes. This study examined to what extent do teachers teaching Communication and Journalism at post-graduation level in Mumbai use new media to reach out to students academically. The study also surveyed students’ reaction to the same. The study showed that teachers are using various new media techniques for delivering lectures and connecting with the students on the Internet. But there are some lacunae present in the complete use of these practices by the teachers.

This study examined the following: -

·       How do teachers use new media as a teaching tool to reach out to students?

The researcher has used the survey method to probe this issue and in-depth interviews of experts in this field. The data is quantitative and qualitative in nature. This study would be useful to teachers, researchers, and the current and future users of new media technologies.

Keywords: New media, Social media, Mobile, Web 2.0, Internet.