Reconsidering Public Relations’ Infatuation with Dialogue: Why Engagement and Reconciliation Can Be More Ethical Than Symmetry and Reciprocity

Advocates of dialogic communication have promoted two-way symmetrical communication as the most effective and ethical model for public relations. This article uses John Durham Peters’s critique of dialogic communication to reconsider this infatuation with dialogue. In this article, we argue that dialogue’s potential for selectivity and tyranny poses moral problems for public relations. Dialogue’s emphasis on reciprocal communication also saddles public relations with ethically questionable quid pro quo relationships. We contend that dissemination can be more just than dialogue because it demands more integrity of the source and recognizes the freedom and individuality of the source. The type of communication, such as dialogue or dissemination, is less important than the mutual discovery of truth. Reconciliation, a new model of public relations, is proposed as an alternative to pure dialogue. Reconciliation recognizes and values individuality and differences, and integrity is no longer sacrificed at the altar of agreement

Enacting dialogue: the impact of promoting Philosophy for Children on the literate thinking of identified poor readers, aged 10.

The Philosophy for Children in Schools Project (P4CISP) is a research project to monitor and evaluate the impact of Philosophy for Children (P4C) on classroom practices. In this paper the impact of P4C on the thinking skills of you children aged 10 is examined. Standardised tests indicated the children had below-average reading ages. The pupils were video recorded while engaged in discussion of questions they had formulated themselves in response to a series of texts in preparation for a community of philosophical enquire. Group discussions were analysed, paying attention to verbal and non-verbal communication. We argue that reading scores do not necessarily indicate inability to engage in literate thinking. When dialogic approaches are used and pupils are given opportunities to work in small group to formulate their own questions and evaluate their potential for generating enquiry, they demonstrate their ability to use higher-order language skills. Dialogic approaches can challenge the hegemonic impact of standardised testing that dominates modern schooling A dialogic approach to teaching listens to pupil voice and has the potential to change how adults view children and contribute to an epistemological paradigm shift away from positivism towards dialogism

Understanding Dialogue and Engagement Through Communication Experts’ Use of Interactive Writing to Build Relationships

Dialogic communication is an important public relations theory, yet scholarship has found few organizations using it to its full potential. Meanwhile, multiple overlapping definitions exist for related terms like engagement, interactivity, and responsiveness, causing potential confusion for researchers and professionals. This research reports the results of in-depth interviews with top digital public relations professionals regarding how they use interactive writing, a form of social media engagement, to build relationships. Through their own unprompted words, the research also describes how professionals use terms such as dialogue, engagement, interactivity, and responsiveness, and corresponding definitions, to refer to their daily work. Our model clarifies relationships between similar concepts and recommends areas of future research to advance theory informed by practic

The Network Newsletter, Volume 7 Number 1

Conflict_moves_to_learningvol_7_no1.pdf: 320 downloads, before Oct. 1, 2020

Trust in the digital world - the return of the kings of old

Drawing principally on examples and literature from the Anglosphere, the author argues that the high salience given to "trust" and "trustworthiness" in recent scholarly literature, and which (notably in Putnam's work) attributes declining trust to a widely mistrusted mass media does not acknowledge the trustbuilding potential (realised in some instances) of interactive "Web 2.0" applications. Drawing on O'Neill's proposal that trust inheres in dialogue and mutual checking and verification, the author argues that "Web 2.0" media provide a variety of instances where the "dialogic" character of "Web 2.0" has established and enhanced trustworthiness. He argues normatively for a combination of "Web 2.0" interactivity and the adoption and implementation of self-regulatory codes in order to enhance the trustworthiness of the media

'I-I' and 'I-me' : Transposing Buber's interpersonal attitudes to the intrapersonal plane

Hermans' polyphonic model of the self proposes that dialogical relationships can be established between multiple I-positions1 (e.g., Hermans, 2001a). There have been few attempts, however, to explicitly characterize the forms that these intrapersonal relationships may take. Drawing on Buber's (1958) distinction between the 'I-Thou' and 'I-It' attitude, it is proposed that intrapersonal relationships can take one of two forms: an 'I-I' form, in which one I-position encounters and confirms another I-position in its uniqueness and wholeness; and an 'I-Me' form, in which one I-position experiences another I-position in a detached and objectifying way. This article argues that this I-Me form of intrapersonal relating is associated with psychological distress, and that this is so for a number of reasons: Most notably, because an individual who objectifies and subjugates certain I-position cannot reconnect with more central I-positions when dominance reversal (Hermans, 2001a) takes place. On this basis, it is suggested that a key role of the therapeutic process is to help clients become more able to experience moments of I-I intrapersonal encounter, and it is argued that this requires the therapist to confirm the client both as a whole and in terms of each of his or her different voices

Neue Wege in der Kommunikation energetischer Sanierung für Eigenheimbesitzer/innen : Konzeptbausteine für eine integrierte Kommunikations- und Marketingstrategie mit dem Schwerpunkt auf dialogischen Maßnahmen

Bei der Information und Sensibilisierung von Eigenheimbesitzer/innen für das Thema Energie und CO2-Einsparung im Gebäudesektor stehen bislang vor allem breitenwirksame Instrumente zur Verfügung. Dialogische Kommunikationsangebote, die in anderen Bereichen des Nachhaltigkeitsmarketing eingesetzt werden, sind bislang nur wenig verbreitet. In dem vorliegenden Arbeitspapier werden die Bausteine einer integrierten Kommunikationsstrategie für eine energetische Gebäudesanierung beleuchtet. Nach dem Verständnis der Autor/innen umfasst eine solche Strategie monologisches und dialogisches Marketing, Energieberatung sowie Markenbildung. Gestützt auf konzeptionelle Überlegungen und empirische Ergebnisse werden im ersten Teil grundlegende Ziele und Elemente einer dialogischen Kommunikationsstrategie für eine energetische Sanierung erläutert. Im zweiten Teil illustrieren konkrete Beispiele, wie unter anderem eine dialogische Kommunikation für unterschiedliche Sanierungsanlässe in der Praxis gestaltet werden kann.Till now, most tools used to raise awareness for and inform owners of detached houses about issues of energy and reducing CO2-emissions in the building sector have had a broad-based impact. Dialogic communication measures, which are being applied in other areas of sustainability marketing, still seem to be underrepresented. This paper discusses elements of an integrated communication strategy in the field of energy-efficient refurbishment of residential buildings. In the authors’ view, such a strategy encompasses monologic and dialogic marketing, advisory services on energy- efficient building as well as branding. Based on conceptual considerations and empirical findings, the first part of the paper describes objectives and elements of a dialogic-oriented communication strategy. The second part gives examples of how dialogic communication for specific occasions and starting points in building refurbishments can be designed in practice