Crisis Communication in Public Organisations: Dimensions of Crisis Communication Revisited

Research on crisis communication has traditionally focused on private organisations' reputation and blame avoidance strategies. As a result, there is limited knowledge on crisis communication from the perspective of public organisations. This is troublesome as public organisations have substantial responsibilities for preparing, communicating and managing large‐scale crisis events. In order to be able to better conceptualise public organisations' crisis communication, a typology based on communication aims and orientations is introduced. According to the typology, public organisations engage in two dimensions of crisis communication: reputation‐oriented vs. resilience‐oriented and strategic vs. operational. These dimensions are illustrated and discussed by empirical examples from the Queensland floods of 2010/2011. The paper ends with a discussion on how to understand these dimensions of crisis communication in relation to public organisations' priorities, processes and practices.     

Linking Issue Management,Corporate Social Responsibility and Crisis Communication: Applying Balance Theory in Crisis and Issue Management

Through a 2 × 2 × 3 experiment design, this study examines effects of issue‐related corporate social responsibility (CSR) programmes on stakeholder perceptions of an issue‐related crisis (i.e., blame, scepticism and corporate credibility) through the lens of balance theory. Results indicate that issue‐related CSR programmes work well in reducing scepticism when stakeholders have high issue involvement and positive attitudes. Scepticism is also found to be a mediator between issue‐related CSR programmes and perceived corporate credibility.     

Information and Communication Technology Offshoring Logistics Success: A Social Exchange Perspective

As emerging countries continue to enhance the education of their workforce and modernize their infrastructures, the opportunities the information and communication technology offshoring increase. This research offers a perspective on the client–vendor relationship using social exchange theory. Our findings show that partnership mediates the relationships between communication, lack of trust, shared values, and offshoring logistics success. In addition, shared values increase trust, whereas power and partnership influence the success of offshoring logistics.     

一个通信系统的面向对象建模

OORAM是挪威工业研究中心和奥斯陆大学提出的一种新一代面向对象软件工程方法,而UseCase是目前在学术界和工业界已普遍接受的概念,通过结合UseCase和OORAM方法,对一个通信系统的面向对象建模进行了阐述。     

Towards a Model of Learning through Communication

Communication is an interactive, complex, structured process involving agents that are capable of drawing conclusions from the information they have available about some real-life situations. Such situations are generally characterized as being imperfect. In this paper, we aim to address learning from the perspective of the communication between agents. To learn a collection of propositions concerning some situation is to incorporate it within one's knowledge about that situation. That is, the key factor in this activity is for the goal agent, where agents may switch role if appropriate, to integrate the information offered with what it already knows. This may require a process of belief revision, which suggests that the process of incorporation of new information should be modeled nonmonotonically. We shall employ for reasoning a three-valued based nonmonotonic logic that formalizes some aspects of revisable reasoning and it is accessible to implementation. The logic is sound and complete. A theorem-prover of the logic has successfully been implemented. Received 3 August 1999 / Revised 17 April 2000 / Accepted 6 May 2000     

Facebook and Twitter in Crisis Communication: A Comparative Study of Crisis Communication Professionals and Citizens

This mixed‐methods study presents a comparative analysis of the use and perceived usefulness of Facebook and Twitter, among Swedish citizens and crisis communication professionals, as crisis communication tools and information sources. The use and perceived usefulness of Facebook and Twitter are not congruent and consistent between the two different groups, according to the overall study. Communication professionals, for example, report higher levels of perceived usefulness regarding Facebook's potential as a crisis communication tool than do the citizens. Taken together, the results show that researchers (within social media and crisis communication) and crisis managers both need to deal with the fact that social media is not a homogenous phenomenon with a single coherent role in crisis management and communication research and practice.     

Crisis Management and Corporate Strategy in African Firms: Towards a Contingency Approach

Crisis management logic suggests that preparing for a crisis should be a critical part of organizational strategy. This article aims to explore the difficulties in translating this logic into business practices in the African context. By comparing the application of the three most popular theoretical perspectives used in the field of strategy with the context of African firms, we come to the conclusion that another approach, the contingency perspective, must be integrated in order for African companies to manage small business crises successfully. This study is based on four case studies. It ends with two proposals for future research and practice in crisis management in African firms: (1) introducing a logic of solidarity; and (2) introducing the idea of the ‘palabre’. 1     

Agent通信机制探讨

Agent通信是多Agent系统的核心活动之一,是Agent相互协调、合作、竞争和完成任务的基础。Agent通信语言为此提供了一种高层次的、灵活、通用的通信模式。基于目前的KQML和FIPA-ACL,文章提出通用Agent通信语言的概念,给出一个递进式Agent通信模型和相应的语义描述,力图促进Agent通信的标准化和提高Agent通信的能力和效率。     

The Human Communication Space: Towards I-centric Communications

In the last few years, a variety of concepts for service integration and corresponding systems have been developed. On the one hand, they aim for the interworking and integration of classical telecommunications and data communications services. On the other, they are focusing on universal service access from a variety of end-user systems. Many of the technical problems, resulting from the service integration, and service personalisation have been solved during the last years. However, all these systems are driven by the concept of providing several technologies to users by keeping the peculiarity of each service.  Looking at humans’ communication behaviour and their communication space, it is obvious that human beings interact habitually in a set of contexts with their environment. The individual information preferences and needs, persons to interact with, and the set of devices controlled by each individual define their personal communication space. Following this view, a new approach is to build communication systems not on the basis of specific technologies, but on the analysis of the individual communication spaces. The result is a communication system adapted to the demands of each individual (I-centric). The communication system will act on behalf of users’ demands, reflecting recent actions to enable profiling and self-adaptation to contexts and situations.  In this paper, we introduce I-centric Communications, an approach to design communication systems that adapt themselves to the individual communication space and individual environment and situation. In this context “I” means I, or individual, “Centric” means adaptable to I requirements and a certain user environment.     

Corporate Governance in the Context of Crises: Towards a Stakeholder Theory of Crisis Management

In this paper, we take a step towards developing a stakeholder theory of crisis management. We argue that, in the context of crises, adopting the principles of a stakeholder model of corporate governance will lead companies to engage more frequently in proactive and/or accommodating crisis management behaviour even if these crisis management behaviours are not perceived to maximize shareholder value. We also propose a mechanism that may explain why the stakeholder model may be associated with more successful crisis management outcomes. We conclude by challenging the efficacy of the shareholder view in crisis and crisis‐like situations, and call for further theoretical and empirical research.     

A Work‐In‐Process Literature Review: Incorporating Social Media in Risk and Crisis Communication

This work‐in‐process literature review gives an overview of recent insight in the incorporation of social media in risk and crisis communication. By marrying literature and examples of social media use with best practices in risk and crisis communication, this study demonstrates how communicators can embrace social media tools to better manage a risk or crisis. Best practices in risk and crisis communication are summarized, examples of social media tools used to manage risks and crises are expounded, and recommendations for practitioners are provided to incorporate social media tools in risk and crisis communication.     

Media Production: Towards Creative Collaboration Using Communication Networks

To examine the diffusion of remote collaboration technologies within the media production industries, a series of case studies was recently conducted with early adopters of advanced electronic networks in Sydney, Los Angeles and London. The studies assessed: 1) user reactions to these collaboration technologies and types of activities being supported and 2) factors influencing their adoption decisions. Interviews conducted also provided early indications of the conditions likely to facilitate remote collaboration and the likely impacts on work practices in media production organizations. It was established that electronic delivery, remote access to resources and materials, and remote creative collaboration were all being carried out, even internationally. Although most network applications were routine substitutions for non-electronic equivalents (e.g. couriers or catalogue browsing), some did involve shared creative activities, thus confirming that remote creative collaboration is a viable option. Key factors influencing network adoption were cost considerations and regulatory issues, time savings and productivity, and security concerns. Certain industry segments -- animation, post-production, and advertising -- were more likely to be early adopters, as were companies who found innovative ways to achieve greater benefits. Conditions likely to facilitate remote collaboration include more sophisticated change-agent strategies, increasing the perceived control of creative outputs, developing and maintaining trust, providing more auxiliary support for coordination needs, and making more effective use of timing and time-zone differences. Likely impacts of remote collaboration in media production are: more overlap between pre-production, production, and post-production activities; faster work pace; enhanced creativity; and improved quality of work life.     

Social Roles and Consequences in Using Social Media in Disasters: a Structurational Perspective

Disaster management officials, as well as the general public, are increasingly using social media to communicate. Such usage has resulted in new and emergent social consequences for disaster management and has reformed the roles of its relevant stakeholders. However, the existing literature on social media use in disasters is still preliminary and incomplete, and does not capture the change in social roles that stakeholders have taken and the consequences of the actions that people take in using social media. In this paper, by using Structuration theory as a meta-theory and by analysing the posts and comments in three officials’ Facebook fan pages in three different disasters, we theorize the social structures (i.e., social roles and social consequences) and the human actions taken by both the public and the disaster management officials during disasters. Furthermore, we explain how the social structures emerge out of the human actions involved, and how the social structures further shape those actions. Our research provides theoretical and practical insights into how the usage of social media in disasters benefits disaster management and reinforces the roles of the different stakeholders.     

走向社会信息物理生产系统

随着信息物理系统（Cyber-physical system,CPS）融合深度和融合广度的不断增加,信息物理生产系统（Cyber-physical production system,CPPS）呈现出显著的社会化趋势.通过对信息物理生产系统相关技术的研究,分析了信息物理生产系统的社会化演进历程,建立了社会信息物理生产系统（Social cyber-physical production system,SCPPS）模型;根据人与智能体的信息物理交互行为差异,基于对人类社会行为特点的分析,类比研究了智能体社会与人类社会融合的广义互联社会特点;归纳出信息物理系统的七种交互模式及其在社会信息物理生产系统中的应用;总结出社会信息物理生产系统面临标准化、人性化和安全化的挑战问题.     

Towards a Standard Arabic System Usability Scale: Psychometric Evaluation using Communication Disorder App

This research aims to customize the System Usability Scale (SUS) so it can be used as a standard usability measure on native Arabic-language speakers. A process of rigor translation followed by psychometric evaluation has been administered through a questionnaire in the Arabic-language that reflects a reasonable level of reliability, validity and sensitivity when compared to the original English-language SUS questionnaire. The final result of the Arabic-System Usability Scale (A-SUS) is then applied on students majoring in Communication Disorders Sciences (Kuwait University) to measure the usability of a mobile application. A-SUS encapsulates the essence of the original SUS and provides an adequate tool for professionals to use with Arabic native speaking users to evaluate systems usability.     

匿名通信系统不可观测性度量方法

匿名通信技术作为一种主要的隐私增强技术被广泛应用于互联网的各个方面,然而传统的匿名通信系统很容易被监视、检测.因此,国内外研究者一直致力于改进匿名通信系统的不可观测属性,以防范网络审查和监视.然而,如何量化评估这些协议的不可观测程度则几乎没有相关的研究.针对匿名通信系统提出一种基于相对熵的不可观测性度量方法,该方法从敌手的威胁模型出发,将匿名通信系统的输入、输出状态映射到一个交互式图灵机,并在此基础之上提出一个基于相对熵的不可观测性度量框架,该框架能够有效地度量匿名通信系统的不可观测程度.此外,将它应用于TOR匿名通信系统的传输层插件的度量,实验结果表明,该方法能够有效地度量匿名通信系统的不可观测性.     

Cultural Experience as a (Critical) Factor in Crisis Communication Planning

A key issue in crisis communication is the way people process crisis‐relevant information to minimize danger. This paper discusses the impact of previously experienced crises on the public's interpretation of warning messages. People may not have direct experience of a crisis, but they still have acquired mediated experiences of a variety of crises. The present study introduces the term cultural experience of crisis to label the synthesis of mediated crisis experiences, media and fictional narratives, collective memories of societal disasters, conversations, and immediate crisis experiences of witnesses and victims. The proposed model of cultural experience of crisis is elaborated on the basis of a qualitative text analysis derived from four qualitative interviews 16 focus groups interviews carried out in Estonia from 2008 to 2009.     

From Mind to Products:Towards Social Manufacturing and Service

After reviewing the development of industrial manufacturing, a novel concept called social manufacturing (SM) and service are proposed as an innovative manufacturing solution for the coming personalized customization era. SM can realize a customer's requirements of "from mind to products", and fulfill tangible and intangible needs of a prosumer, i.e., producer and consumer at the same time. It represents a manufacturing trend, and is expected to become popular in more and more industries. First, a comparison between mass customization and SM is given out, and the basis and motivation from social network to SM is analyzed. Then, its basic theories and supporting technologies, like Internet of Things (IoT), social networks, cloud computing, 3D printing, and intelligent systems, are introduced and analyzed, and an SM platform prototype is developed. Finally, three transformation modes towards SM and 3D printing are suggested for different user cases.      

Towards a Formal and Implemented Model of Argumentation Schemes in Agent Communication

Argumentation schemes are patterns of non-deductive reasoning that have been the focus of extended study in argumentation theory. They have also been identified in computational domains including multi-agent systems as holding the potential for significant improvements in reasoning and communication abilities. By focusing on models of natural language argumentation schemes, and then building formal systems from them, direct implementation in multi-agent environments becomes a possibility. The formal, representational and implementational details are presented here, along with results that demonstrate not only advantages of flexibility, scope, and knowledge sharing, but also of computational efficiency.