Funding Approved! Call for Expressions of Interest: Ph.D. Students in Communication Interested in Wind Energy

What differentiates this project from others is that the concept of participatory communication is crucial to this project. Participatory communication is used to involve people in decision-making and is characterized by a horizontal flow of communication based primarily on dialogue. We will incorporate the basic aspects of participatory communication in all phases of the case study. The participation of the CSSC will help assure that all participants – students and faculty – keep a participatory perspective and don’t default into strictly one-way, top-down communication mode. We will work with Servaes and the Center for Communication for Sustainable Social Change (CSSC) to facilitate communication across the disciplines and with a range of stakeholders. We will focus on three levels of communication: between disciplines (discussed in Goal C above), one-way communication of science to the media and public, and participatory “two-way” communication. For “one-way” communication, we will prepare the students for better communication of science to the public, through one lecture in the Wind Energy & Society Studio, as well as exercises such as preparing a news release or a visual representation of their work, which will be incorporated into the other core classes. A particularly helpful component is that the IGERT faculty already offer a related course that provides the necessary skills, and the University has a center dedicated to the communication of science and sustainability. As described above, students will take the 1-unit elective offered by Griffin on Written Communication of Science (see attached syllabus), and participate in workshops by the CSSC.

Starting from a participatory communication perspective, students will, after being introduced to contextual ethnographic analysis and participatory observant methodologies, instructed to assess the differences between awareness building, attitude and behavior change.  They will be assisted in the design of communication strategies for specific target audiences (‘media’, ‘interest groups and stakeholders’ and the public at large) from both linear/one-way as well as dialectic/two-way perspectives. Consequently, the drafting of specific press releases, public service announcements and audiovisual messages (for traditional and online outlets) will need to reflect these distinctions in creative and effective ways.