The Principles of General & Crisis Communicationa linguistic approach

23rd World Conference on Disaster ManagementToronto

24th June 2013

Massimiliano MesenascoMedia Languages B.A.

Sociology M.Sc.

@MMesenasco

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Communication is the transmission of informations

The aim of communication is to transmit a message from a source to a receiver without any loss of

information even in presence of noise.

This presentation is meant to be a “Crisis communication 101”, so...

The secret for a good communication is...

Or maybe not...

The “Hypodermic needle” or “Magic Bullet” was the first relevant model of communication.

Rooted in the Psychological Behaviorism of the ‘30s (like B.F. Skinner, for example), this theory

suggests that the message is completely absorbed by the receiver exactly as intended by the sender.

...but this process is a bit more complex than this...

Source

Message

Transmittingdevice

ReceivingdeviceChannel

Noise

Message

Receiver

Source Receiver

The code is a set of rules that allows encoding and decoding

DOG

DOG

===

DOG

DOG

E4¶

===

E4¶

?

Encoding Decoding

Signifi

er

Meaning

MeaningSig

nifier

Source

Message

Transmittingdevice

ReceivingdeviceChannel

Noise

Message

Receiver

Encoding Decoding

According to Ferdinand de Saussure, the categories of signifier and meaning are the key to understand the sharing and the transmission of the informations.

signifier

meaning

>

>

DOG

The word “DOG”, our signifier, bears the idea of the dog, our meaning, but only for those who are able to

link the signifier and the meaning.

This process is arbitrary, with some exceptions, like onomatopoeias and interjections.

This concept seems very simple and basic applied to single words but try to apply it to technical terms like

“flash flood” or “earthquake swarm”:

the experts use these expressions everyday but the general public may not fully understand them.

Is everything clear?Let’s put this into practice with a little example!

Almost everyone in the World knows the meaning of the word “pizza” but...

...as it’s frequently said that the Inuits have more than 20 words to define different kinds of snow, in Italy we

have almost 20 ways to define flatbread!

Words and expressions can even assume different meanings among people who speak the same

language!

So, how can we communicate in a correct way?

To understand the importance of a good communication, let’s analyse a quote by Paul Watzlawick, one the most

influential figures of Palo Alto School.

“One cannot not communicate”

Even silence is communicative and the same is for our clothes, our facial expression, our car and so on.

Communicating during an emergency is essential, otherwise people will gather informations from any available source, including unofficial and untrusted

ones.

Paul Grice identifies four maxims useful to achieve a cooperative communication

Quality

Quantity

Relation

Manner

>

>

>

>

Make your contribution as informative as required

Be truthful

Be pertinent

Be clear, avoid ambiguity

So, what are the main features of a good message?

- Authoritative

- Brief

- Clear

A brief warning about authoritativeness and authority!

According to De Certeau, technical knowledge (authoritativeness) leads to authority but authority is in

turn strictly bound to its abuse.L’abuse de savoir gives authority to the expert, even

about topics far from his field of knowledge.

We can affirm that this effect is even stronger if messages are endorsed by an organization.

And now that we acquired the right forma mentis to create a perfect message, how will this influence people’s behavior during emergencies?

Hesitation

Panic

An unclear communication may result in...

In this case, people will gather informations from unofficial sources and they could ground their

behavior on untrustworthy data.

A correct communication process means...

Safety

Our message satisfies the audience and its need for informations.

Consider that, according to the situation awareness theory, the decision making is preceded by three cognitive

steps.

Perception Comprehension Projection Decisionmaking Action

Situational Awareness

In order to make a conscious and sensible decision to handle a situation (especially a risky and stressful one) the subject must obtain the informations needed to fill these

three boxes.

The construction of the situational awareness is a process that may require a very short or a very long time,

depending on the situation, and, most of all, the more complete and comprehensive the informations are, the

more the decision fits the situation.

To ease the decision-making process in emergency situation, we have to work during peacetime to spread

emergency culture among the population.

Remember! Only with an everyday relation the organizations can build the necessary trust to diffuse the emergency culture and to work as gatekeeper of

unofficial informations during crises.

A further recommendation

Crisis communication is not limited to crises, it involves a constant work!

Mitigate

Prepare

Respond

Recover

My two cents...

Ignore social media at your peril!

Thank you for your attention!

Let’s keep in touch!it.linkedin.com/in/massimilianomesenasco/

@MMesenasco