Cover -- Editorial advisory board -- Improving risk communication and public participation through mutual understanding -- Monitoring mobilization: a discursive psychological analysis of online mobilizing practices -- Mastering the dialogic tools -- Towards visual strategic communications -- Stakeholder engagement through gamification -- Social issue qua wicked problems -- Reputation spillover: corporate crises' effects on country reputation -- Communication evaluation and measurement: connecting research to practice
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Public computer systems (PCS) are systems designed for use at the interface between organizations and their clients. PCS intervene in client-organization relations; the questions discussed in this thesis are what role they play in the client-organization encounter, what role they could and should play, and what theories might be available to guide the development of such systems. While the fields of Human-Computer Interaction (HCl) and Computer Supported Cooperative Work (CSCW) focus on (one) man - (one) machine interaction and computer-mediated interaction in small groups respectively, this study focuses on computer-mediated or computer supported interaction between organizations and individual clients. This focus is chosen because the emerging electronic markets make social dimensions not covered by HCl and CSCW relevant to information systems design. While PCS and electronic markets have so far been studied mainly from technical and economic perspectives, this study takes a communications perspective. The nature of actual PCS implementations is studied with respect to changes in the communicational style of the client-organization encounter. The relations between organizations and clients concern not only the actors directly involved. They also affect the general social climate, the societal dialogue, particularly so when public agencies are concerned. What does it mean to change the arenas for the societal dialogue? One candidate theory pertinent to PCS impact on the societal dialogue, participatory theory as of Rousseau, J. S. Mill and Cole, is investigated. Based on this theory, a model for participatory information systems (PARTIS) is developed. This model is proposed as a base for PCS design. The Feedback Learning Strategy (FLS) is then outlined as a method for the design and redesign of the computerized parts of a PARTIS. The strategy is based on built-in functions aimed at encouraging and facilitating participation. An example of a FLS prototype system, the LiveBetter, is introduced and discussed. Conclusions are in short: • PCS are important ingredients in societal information systems, and must therefore be designed to support communication according to democratic principles. • To be effective, PCS must be well integrated with organizational structures. • Participatory information systems must include a redesign forum that supports discovery, fair interest articulation, multiple descriptions, equality, and conflict resolution. • The specific design of those facilities must be done in each case. This is a challenge for systems design which I call conversation management; it is more an organizational challenge than a technical one. • Computerized tools may be used to enhance the participatoriness of the systems. ; Diss. Umeå : Univ. ; digitalisering@umu
The modern 'network society' restructures the system of 'voice' as it has come down from the past. Decision-making is drifting away from particular plants, organisations and institutions, and is becoming fluid — whereas voice remains fixed to plants, organisations and institutions. The tentative thesis put forward in this article is that only both regional/local and global 'voice networking' may be capable of coping with the decision-making character of the network society. This leads to efforts to integrate, into the bargaining processes, also representatives of civil society — NGOs on a European and supranational level, various 'stakeholders' on a local and regional level. This gives two new roles to social dialogue: it has to take place not only on a sectoral, but also on a territorial level ('la négociation sociale territorialisée'); and it has to 'open up' towards the territorial stakeholders ('le dialogue sociétal'). Local time policies are taken as an example for such a new function of territorial social dialogue.
This paper explores the challenges of preaching in the midst of societal upheaval and how deliberative practices can assist preachers with addressing social issues. The research is based on a study of ten mid-central U.S. congregations in the Disciples of Christ (Christian Church) denomination. As part of the quantitative research, congregational questionnaires in 2019 and 2020 tested whether certain terms were perceived as "too political" when heard in sermons. Respondents also indicated which topics they wanted their pastors to address and which ones to avoid. The data offers a rare "before-and-after" picture when it comes to the attitudes, concerns, and opinions of parishioners about sermons and social issues in the pre- and post-COVID-19 periods. This study suggests that the sermon-dialogue-sermon process can help congregations be more willing to address controversial social issues. The author makes the case that further empirical research is needed to help preachers devise strategies for prophetic preaching in their contexts.
Responding to political developments in Europe during the 1990s, the Copenhagen School drew on speech act theory to argue that state leaders represent certain issues, including immigration, as existential threats to society. Two decades of friendly amendments and vociferous critiques have raised questions about how well the Copenhagen School's core concept of 'societal security' travels outside Europe. To assess the scope of this 'securitization' framework more systematically, we examine South Africa, a democracy that recently liberalized its immigration policies despite ethno-nationalist and racist traditions. Specifically, we test four claims: (1) that official discourses will target certain foreigners as an existential threat to collective identity; (2) that bureaucracies will consistently institutionalize these discourses; (3) that identity-oriented groups will be crucial to any societal contestation over these discourses; and (4) that successful securitization produces regionalization. These securitization claims hold up well, even though the nature of threats to societal security shift over time. Keeping in mind that no theory is without weaknesses, we recommend wider integration of the societal security concept into comparative studies of immigration policy, especially in democracies outside Europe.
