Through the readings that were assigned to us, mainly "Risk Communication" by Lundgren and Mcmakin, I have come to some points where particular sections have affected my project in some way whether it is an influence or a complication.
The initial area of complication arose when I read that the importance of “defining audience role at the beginning and frequently.” (96) It was somewhat difficult for me because it took a while for me to actually narrow it down and decide who my audience was going to be. From there I had to decide what their role was going to be in this process. On page 100, it said that you can’t communicate unless you now who you are communicating to. I decided that for this risk there is a primary and secondary audience. Each audience is important in reducing the risk but different messages need to be tailored to comply with each audience. The primary audience for this risk communication is the youth in highly infected areas of Sub-Saharan Africa. The secondary audience is organizations outside of the African continent who are working towards mitigating the spread of AIDS. The two messages would be constructed very differently from one and other.
In chapter 7, it mentioned that you must look at the purpose and objectives of what you are doing in order to better understand the audience you are trying to reach. Although I had an idea of what the purpose of my effort was, it was helpful to confirm that by seeing it written down. In care communication, the purpose is to increase awareness and change a specific risky behavior and that is exactly what the purpose of this risk communication process is set out to do. What made it relate specifically to my topic was the reference to the group who’s behavior that you are addressing. They listed: an entire community, an ethnic group, OR a specific group across the country. Right there in the text it basically stated the purpose of my effort which was very helpful.
Lastly, on pages 98-99 of the text, they discussed how important it was to communicate early, often, and fully. That is probably the biggest problem that has arisen with this issue. They gave the example of what happened with the West Nile Outbreak in 1999. A response plan was developed and implemented immediately following the outbreak allowing for the message to be communicated early. They used different mediums to spread awareness such as television, radio, and public service announcements in order for it to be communicated often. Finally, they allowed people to ask questions and answered them so that the message would be communicated fully. I constantly question if these measures would have been taken in the 1970s when the AIDS outbreak initiated in Africa whether or not this would have become such a widespread problem. The risk is not being communicated to the likes of these standards for that matter; it is barely even being communicated at all.
The readings have helped me in finding areas that I need to continue to work on and develop as well as areas reinforced things that I have already picked up on. This risk communication process is a constant work in progress.
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I believe that mostly everyones initial problem arose when we realized how hard it is to define your audience. I had trouble in the same area. However, once you are able to define your audience your writing becomes a lot clearer to everyone even if they are not in your audience. Your purpose and expectations of the writing finally makes sense and serves a purpose. I also liked that you brought up the notion to communicate early and often. I think that sometimes when the media communicates a risk to the public is can be communicated too late and TOO often. Sometimes its annoying when all you see when you turn on the news is the same thing over and over again. I think sometimes it is best that if you don't have any new information you need to know when enough is enough. Just a thought. You brought up some very good points and I think that if we all include these things in our papers they will all be more effective.
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