Communication

This is a study of struggles and successes faced during pregnancy by ten drug-addicted mothers. The focus was their information needs studied using the meta-theory and methods of Sense-Making Methodology which defines information as that which assists sensemaking and sense-unmaking. The women related 40 moments of concern for themselves or their unborn children, with descriptions of situations, questions and thoughts they had, ways in which they tried to get answers, and how answers helped and/or hindered. Results suggested that the women were acutely aware of struggles they faced, describing these as occurring against a Article from ejc/rec

This article reviews David Morley's well-known Nationwide audience study as a way of considering some of the issues in the field of cultural studies, particularly regarding audience reception analysis. One overriding concern is the search for evidence of subordinated decodings (i.e., decodings of media messages that accept societal patterns and relationships as given) in view of the current trend of documenting interpretive resistance. We present an alternative way of studying audiences using the meta-theoretic premises and methods of Sense-Making Methodology and offer an empirical example of an audience reception study executed using Sense-Making's qualitative sensibilities and access to quantitative analytics. Important findings include: documenting that a majority of a general population random sample of TV news viewers Article from ejc/rec

This article presents an exemplar of the uses of the Sense-Making Methodology in two ways: as a tool for audience research in the formative stages of planning public communication campaigns; and as a methodological critique, offering an empirical comparison of the portrait of the audience that emerged from a Sense-Making driven survey versus a traditional close-ended survey. This article rests on recent critiques of the traditional survey, which until recently was the only acceptable approach to audience research. The critiques call for diversification of research approaches and attention to how surveys often ignore political, economic, social, and cultural issues. The study reported here compared the two audience surveys in the same context-an HIV/AIDS education campaign. The traditional survey consisted primarily of closed-ended measures of knowledge, attitudes, and behavior. The Sense-Making survey elicited respondent narratives regarding three HIV/AIDS related situations using Sense-Making mandated open-ended

The study reported here looked at how two groups of peopleone with art expertise and one withoutmade sense of their encounters with an exhibition of a single artist, the late Paul-Henri Bourguignon. The study builds on previous research using Dervin's Sense-Making Methodology to study how people interpret their arts experiences within the contexts of their everyday lives. Informants were asked to rank-order their selections among the pieces on display according to which had the most impact for them (however they defined impact). Each informant then did a structured qualitative interview focusing on the work he or she chose as most impactful. The researchers looked at thematic elements and other patterns of similarity and difference that arose in the interviews and offer thoughts on how the results of this study may provide insight to those who work in museums.

This article responds to the arts policy and research call for better understandings of arts audiences-actual and potential. The authors report on the application of Dervin's Sense-Making Methodology (SMM) to audience research. SMM is an approach developed specifically for providing data useful to informing policies and practices of institutions mandated to serve publics. We review the narrative themes that have emerged from our analyses of accounts of cultural experiences by several hundred informants, and we offer five sample applications that illustrate potentials and their implications for arts policy and practice.

Over the past several decades, arts organizations have been responding to an array of societal changes. These changes have resulted in a transformation of the field, including not only how professional, nonprofit arts organizations are perceived by their stakeholders but also how they see themselves. This study looked at mission statements and communication materials of the flagship arts organizations of five U.S. cities to determine what they say about themselves and how they position themselves on an elitism-democracy continuum, from excluding to embracing new and different audiences. It included a content analysis of annual reports, season brochures, news releases, and social media to determine why and about what arts organizations communicate. It then used a case study approach to analyze in more detail the communication of three specific arts organizations. Overall, the study showed how arts organizations are communicating their unique identities and how they are working to position themselves on the democratic side of the elitism continuum.

This study compared the values of national cultural agencies of 92 countries around the world. Through analysis of agency names, mission statements, and other information on the websites of cultural ministries and arts councils, the research considered not only the scope and function of each agency but, in particular, looked at which values were reflected in each country's cultural policies. The most prominent value-oriented themes were cultural heritage, national promotion of arts and culture, national identity, and cultural diplomacy. The study contributes to a framework on which many regional and other comparative studies of cultural policy can be anchored.

This study explores the concept of corporate reputation from the perspective of stakeholders through conducting a series of focus groups. Through discussion about self-selected "especially good" and "especially bad" companies, participants explained the criteria by which they assessed reputation, the information sources that contributed to those assessments, the influence of Corporate Social Responsibility initiatives, and the role that accountability played in their perceptions and behaviors.

The study reported here looked at how two groups of peopleone with art expertise and one withoutmade sense of their encounters with an exhibition of a single artist, the late Paul-Henri Bourguignon. The study builds on previous research using Dervin's Sense-Making Methodology to study how people interpret their arts experiences within the contexts of their everyday lives. Informants were asked to rank-order their selections among the pieces on display according to which had the most impact for them (however they defined impact). Each informant then did a structured qualitative interview focusing on the work he or she chose as most impactful. The researchers looked at thematic elements and other patterns of similarity and difference that arose in the interviews and offer thoughts on how the results of this study may provide insight to those who work in museums. Lois Foreman-Wernet, Professor of Communication at Capital University in Columbus, Ohio. Her research area is audience-centered approaches to institutional communication, focusing on the arts. Brenda Dervin, Emeritus Professor of Communication at Ohio State University. She is most widely known for the 40-year development of her Sense-Making Methodology (SMM).

This article responds to the arts policy and research call for better understandings of arts audiences-actual and potential. The authors report on the application of Dervin's Sense-Making Methodology (SMM) to audience research. SMM is an approach developed specifically for providing data useful to informing policies and practices of institutions mandated to serve publics. We review the narrative themes that have emerged from our analyses of accounts of cultural experiences by several hundred informants, and we offer five sample applications that illustrate potentials and their implications for arts policy and practice.

This study compared the values of national cultural agencies of 92 countries around the world. Through analysis of agency names, mission statements, and other information on the websites of cultural ministries and arts councils, the research considered not only the scope and function of each agency but, in particular, looked at which values were reflected in each country's cultural policies. The most prominent value-oriented themes were cultural heritage, national promotion of arts and culture, national identity, and cultural diplomacy. The study contributes to a framework on which many regional and other comparative studies of cultural policy can be anchored.