#31675
The authors report on a 3-year action-research project designed to facilitate public involvement in the planned dredging of a canal and subsequent disposal of the dredged sediments. Their study reveals ways that community members struggle to define the problem and work together as they gather, share, and understand data relevant to that problem. The authors argue that the primary goal of action research related to environmental risk should be to identify and support the strategies used by community members rather than to educate the public. The authors maintain that this approach must be supported by a thorough investigation of basic rhetorical issues (audience, genre, stases, invention), and they illustrate how they used this approach in their study.
Blythe, Stuart, Jeffrey T. Grabill and Kirk Riley. Journal of Business and Technical Communication (2008). Articles>Risk Communication>Community Building>Environmental
#30384
And Now, From the Company that Brought You the Seven-Eyed Trout: Risk Communication in Action 
Risk communication is usually defined as an interactive process of exchanging information and opinions among individuals, groups, and institutions or agencies concerning a risk or potential risk to human health, safety, or the environment. It draws from established principles of sociology and psychology to communicate with hostile or frightened audiences about sensitive issues. The demonstration illustrates the most important principles of risk communication as they are applied to a fictitious community.
Durbin, Margaret E., Linnea E. Wahl, S.T. Molony, Susan Klein and Carol Wade. STC Proceedings (1993). Articles>Risk Communication
#21572
The Art of Risk Communication: Overcoming the Public Fear Surrounding Controversial Projects
Technical writers and editors in the environmental field can make additional contributions to the document production process by becoming familiar with risk communication principles. These principles can help us communicate more effectively with the public about controversial environmental projects, which are ever increasing. Considering the public's power to delay such projects, our ability to diminish public opposition through good risk communication skills is invaluable.
Barr, Christine R. STC Proceedings (1994). Articles>Risk Communication>Environmental>Writing
#29740
Avoiding Disasters with Better Communication
Many of the memoranda and letters related to the Chicago flood, the Three Mile Island nuclear accident and the Challenger and Columbia shuttle disasters that warned of impending disasters went unheeded. The reason: the writers failed to properly use various rhetorical features and conventions. They failed to include necessary information, omitted unnecessary detail, placed important information in inappropriate locations, used qualifiers to reduce perceptions of the consequences of actions, and failed to follow organizational conventions related to transmission of information. Their lack of knowledge of rhetorical strategies exacerbated the problems associated with the contexts in which the various documents were written, resulting in misunderstandings.
Boiarsky, Carolyn. STC Proceedings (2004). Articles>Scientific Communication>Risk Communication
#19135
The Bhopal Gas Tragedy: An Analysis 
Around 1 a.m. on Monday, the 3rd of December, 1984, in a densely populated region in the city of Bhopal, Central India, a poisonous vapor burst from the tall stacks of the Union Carbide pesticide plant. This vapor was a highly toxic cloud of methyl isocyanate. Of the 800,000 people living in Bhopal at the time, 2,000 died immediately, and as many as 300,000 were injured. In addition, about 7,000 animals were injured, of which about one thousand were killed. After the incident, over the next few years, numerous studies were conducted, many theories were explored, and the involved parties accused each other. In this paper, I will try to explore the various causes offered for the tragedy. In the course of my research for this case study, I came across many articles that put blame on various people and groups involved in the tragedy. I found one document particularly interesting from a rhetorical standpoint. This document, titled Union Carbide: Disaster at Bhopal , was authored by the retired Vice President of Health, Safety and Environmental Programs in Union Carbide Corporation. So for this paper, I would also like to rhetorically analyze this document and also, try to explore the various image restoration strategies that Union Carbide Corporation used through the course of the crisis.
Ungarala, Pratima. Michigan Tech University (1998). Articles>TC>Risk Communication>Crisis Communication
#31310
Bird Flu: Communicating the Risk
Most people have already heard a little about bird flu. But people face a host of other problems, and except for public health officials and poultry farmers, few are gearing up for action about H5N1 [the virus that causes the flu]. Yet.
Sandman, Peter M. and Jody Lanard. Communication World Bulletin (2006). Articles>Risk Communication>Biomedical
#31311
Calling All Communication Professionals: Test Your Crisis Plan—Now
We are all well aware of the importance of a crisis communication plan. But many of us don't realize the necessity of conducting actual simulations to test and evaluate these plans. Whether you are on the corporate or agency side, there are countless forms of crisis that could interrupt business continuity for you and your client.
Moed, Ed. Communication World Bulletin (2006). Articles>Business Communication>Risk Communication
#22282
A Case Study of Health Risk Communication: What the Public Wants and What it Gets 
The task of informing the public about various health risks is fraught with many problems. It is essential to overcome them if risk communication is to be improved. In 1989, the National Research Council (NRC) released a report that is important for many reasons. In particular, it helped establish a conceptual framework for risk communication and identified a research agenda to improve risk communication practices. One area of need identified by the report was better use of case studies to understand, e.g., 'how people react to different types of messages and channels; [and] what their actual concerns, frustrations, and data needs are' with regard to particular health risks.
Trauth, Jeannette M. Franklin Pierce Law Center (1994). Articles>Risk Communication>Biomedical
#21636
La Catastrofe del Trasbordador Espacial
El lamentable accidente del trasbordador Columbia ha propiciado la creación de innumerables gráficos para explicar lo que pasó. Revisamos la importancia de la visualización en este accidente y, especialmente, en el del Challenger en 1986.
Dursteler, Juan Carlos. InfoVis (2003). (Spanish) Articles>Risk Communication>Technical Illustration
#27905
Safety and warning notices form the most important elements of user information wherever safety and [product liability are concerned. A carefully thought out and systematic process is required in developing safety-relevant information, in order to increase the completeness and comprehensibility of product safety. This will also disarm any suspicion of gross negligence in internal documentation in case of missing safety notices and it will ensure traceability.
Schmeling, Roland. tekom (2006). Articles>Documentation>Risk Communication
#21818
Programs in technical and scientific communication educate students from multiple disciplines. As we teach these students from various fields, we often assume they will write to others who are members of the same field. However, professionals commonly communicate across disciplinary boundaries and collaborate with those who do not necessarily belong to their field. We should rethink our approaches in teaching scientific and technical communication to consider how different peoplefrom different areas of expertise engage one another in a communication situation. Based on the understanding that different disciplinary cultures and languages alter contexts for communication, astudy examining how experts from science, engineering, mathematics, and architecture come together as a single group and collaboratively invent discourse can contribute to new knowledge to inform curriculum development.
Gooch, John C. CPTSC Proceedings (2001). Articles>Risk Communication>Collaboration
#19455
Communicating about Environmental Risk with Stakeholders
To explore the barriers to successful communication about environmental risks, a research project addressed the following questions: what do people understand about the terminology and the graphics used in risk messages? what sorts of communication modes and timing do people prefer? Surveys and focus groups were conducted in two towns to explore the level and types of risk (e.g leaking gas tanks) with which people are uncomfortable. The findings extend the discoveries of other environmental communication researchers: People are confused by regulatory language, they do not trust the government, and they want 'true stories,' credible witnesses, and face-to-face interaction with other stakeholders.
Hart, Hillary. STC Proceedings (2001). Articles>Risk Communication>Environmental>Civic
#22283
Risk issues are unarguably contentious. People evaluate risks in incompatible ways and propose conflicting proposals for mitigating or litigating risk issues. The sources of contention are multiple. Sometimes people differ because they have different information; sometimes they differ because they have incompatible interests. This paper addresses one of the more philosophical and systemic bases for differing opinions and approaches: The possibility that people have fundamentally or substantially different conceptions of risk. The philosophical basis for contention over risk is most evident in the scholarly and scientific literature. Experts who study risk or risk issues are more likely to develop well-defined, internally consistent conceptions of risk than members of the lay public. If distinct philosophical and linguistic presumptions underlie competing conceptions of risk, it should be possible to formulate the contentiousness over alternatives in terms of a principled philosophical debate, with implications for risk analysis, risk evaluation and risk communication.
Thompson, Paul B. and Wesley Dean. Franklin Pierce Law Center (1996). Articles>Risk Communication>Rhetoric
#19132
The Rogers report seems to be more than just a report to explain the Challenger accident and give suggestions to avoid a similar tragedy occurring in the future. In a sense, it appears to be a type of apologia. On January 28, 1986 the Space Shuttle Challenger, mission 51-L, launched from Florida's Kennedy Air force Base at 11:38 a.m. Eastern Stand ard Time. As the country watched in disbelief, the shuttle disintegrated 73 seconds later in an explosion of hydrogen and oxygen. All seven crew members died. On February 3, President Reagan issued an executive order to set up a commission to investigate the challenger accident. The commission was sworn in on February 6, and presented its report to the president on June 6 of the same year. This report, commonly known as the Rogers Report, after its chairman William R. Roger, had a dual mandate from the president. First to look at the probable causes of the accident, and second, to develop recommendations for corrective action. This was done through a comprehensive investigation involving all of the following: interviews with more than 160 people, more than 35 formal panel investigations, examination of more than 6,300 documents (which included hundreds of photographs and more then 122,000 pages), the generation of almost 12,000 pages of transcript and another 2,800 pages of hearing transcripts.
Holombo, Chrystal. Michigan Tech University (1998). Articles>Technology>Risk Communication>Engineering
#31014
Corporate Risk Reporting: A Content Analysis of Narrative Risk Disclosures in Prospectuses 
This study examines whether companies report risk-relevant information to prospective investors. While corporate risk communication is important for the well-functioning of capital markets, our current understanding of risk reporting practices is limited. The sample consists of Dutch companies raising capital on the Amsterdam Stock Exchange in the late 1990s. In this setting, companies had much discretion in writing the risk section of the prospectus. After a detailed content analysis of the risk sections, the author demonstrates that a measure of risk extracted from these texts successfully predicts the volatility of companies' future stock prices, the sensitivity of future stock prices to market-wide fluctuations, as well as severe declines in future stock prices. Overall, these results support the view that prospectuses of Dutch companies provide adequate information about material investment risks.
Deumes, Rogier. JBC (2008). Articles>Business Communication>Financial>Risk Communication
#31248
Crafting a Crisis Communication Plan
In the wake of the tragic Virginia Tech shootings, it is time to ask a few serious and potentially life-saving questions about crisis communication and the plans that either exist, or don't exist, where we work.
Braud, Gerard. Communication World Bulletin (2007). Articles>Business Communication>Risk Communication>Crisis Communication
#31476
Crisis Management—Don’t Forget the People
In the past, business continuity and crisis management focused on tangible assets, especially post-crisis recovery of systems and data and reestablishment of facilities and services. This all changed in the aftermath of 9/11, when it became obvious that the human factor was as critical as the technology and the buildings. Watching the suffering of the people affected by the Madrid bombings has reinforced the need to ensure your contingency plans address the people involved.
Perl, David. Communication World Bulletin (2004). Articles>Business Communication>Risk Communication>Crisis Communication
#22284
Deciding the Future: Balancing Risks, Costs, and Benefits Fairly Across Generations
Explanations are presented of four principles for intergenerational decision-making and initial guidelines for application: trustee principle, sustainability principle, chain of obligation principle, and precautionary principle. The principles need to be used as a set and include certain actions and public discussions under specific circumstances. Some examples are: comprehensive analysis of possible risks and beneficial or damaging consequences of actions, public discussion of the results of these analyses with those who may be significantly affected before decisions are made, and continuous examination of actions or decisions taken by previous generations to evaluate their continued validity and making adjustments if previous decisions are no longer valid.
U.S. Department of Energy (1997). Articles>Risk Communication>Assessment
#29803
The Desirability Paradox in the Effects of Media Literacy Training
This study examines a paradox in findings regarding the effects of media literacy training on adolescents' decision making about tobacco use. Recent experiments have found that media literacy training successfully reduced participants' beliefs associated with risky behavior, whereas at the same time, their positive affect toward individuals portrayed in advertising increased. Study results confirm the hypothesis that media literacy training changes the way individuals think about the desirability of portrayals in the media. Although desirability usually represents individuals' affect toward portrayals, reports gathered after media literacy training also appear to reflect participants' increased awareness of the efforts made by advertisers to produce attractive portrayals designed to sell products and services. This awareness reduces or eliminates the impact that positive affect otherwise would have on decision making. Because this analysis suggests that individuals may respond to survey questions differently depending on their level of skill or involvement, the results raise important issues regarding issues of reliability and validity that may extend well beyond tests of this theoretical model or particular evaluation.
Austin, Erica Weintraub, Bruce E. Pinkleton and Ruth Patterson Funabiki. Communication Research (2007). Articles>Education>Scientific Communication>Risk Communication
#31342
Effective Risk Communication Starts with Solid Research
The terms risk communication, crisis communication and risk management are often used interchangeably. Crisis communication we understand to mean communicating once the crisis has hit. Risk management entails ensuring as far as possible that risks do not become a reality. Risk communication is part of risk management—informing responsibly on the extent of risk.
Macleod, Sandra. Communication World Bulletin (2006). Articles>Risk Communication>Research>Crisis Communication
#13770
The Engineer as Rational Man: The Problem of Imminent Danger in a Non-Rational Environment
Mine safety instruction manuals and training guides reflect an engineering perspective based on the concept of a Rational Man, a perspective which obsstructs effective risk management.
Sauer, Beverly A. IEEE Transactions on Professional Communication (1992). Articles>Documentation>Risk Communication>Rhetoric
#26737
Enterprise Agility - Is Risk Management
Plain and simple, the value proposition for enterprise agility is rooted firmly in risk management. The purpose of agility is to maintain both reactive and proactive response options in the face of uncertainty.
Dove, Rick. Paradigm Shift International (2005). Articles>Knowledge Management>Risk Communication
#31313
Ethics and Accountability in the New Media Environment
In May, I had the pleasure of participating in the IABC Newfoundland & Labrador 20/20 Visionary Communications conference. Jo-Anne Polak of Hill & Knowlton, while presenting her thoughts about contemporary crisis communication, made a comment that I haven’t stopped thinking about since her presentation. Jo-Anne pointed out that after September 11th, journalists have had to become more competitive and aggressive because media sources have exploded in number, and technology has provided immediate electronic delivery.
Hattori, Todd. Communication World Bulletin (2006). Articles>Business Communication>Risk Communication>Multimedia
#29194
Eureka! The Relationship of Good Science Writing to Risk Communication
A look at the importance of science writing in helping the public to understand issues that affect our daily lives so that we can make informed decisions concerning risk.
Holland, Anton. Writer's Block (2005). Articles>Scientific Communication>Risk Communication
#19898
Health and Safety Information for Specialized Vocational Audiences
Using examples from commercial fishing and farming, this article shows how models of health beliefs and risk communication can inform the creation of health and safety materials and campaigns for specialized vocational audiences. These models state that risk communication efforts must balance strong statements of risk with equally strong statements of ways to reduce or avoid risk if they are to motivate change. Audience research can help communicators address attitudes that impair workers’ perceptions of risk, as well as workplace practices, norms, and conditions that the limit the methods that can be used to reduce risk.
Freeman, Krisandra S. STC Proceedings (2001). Articles>Writing>Biomedical>Risk Communication
