Challenges and opportunities for pre-crisis emergency risk communication: lessons learned from the earthquake community

Abstract

Prior to the 2009?L’Aquila event, earthquake forecasting and early warning research focused specifically on earthquakes as the crisis events. Although this is still true, the manslaughter convictions of six earthquake scientists and one public official for failed risk communication in 2009 served as a catalyst for expanding these goals to also intentionally examine the challenges of communicating earthquake risk with non-scientific during the pre-crisis stage of the earthquake lifecycle. The Crisis Emergency Risk Communication (CERC) Model developed by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) provides specific guidelines for doing so. Thus, based on a thematic analysis of interviews with 21 earthquake scientists, this study identifies what those responsible for communicating regularly about earthquake risk see as major communication challenges and the extent to which the CERC model recommendations are useful for addressing them. Results suggest that earthquake risk science communicators are most effective when they translate scientific and technical information simply, respond to competing messages, capitalize on relevant popular culture references, employ risk communication campaigns during ‘quiet periods’, and acknowledge uncertainty. These findings have implications not only for earthquake science risk communicators, but also for expanding the pre-crisis stage best practices proposed in the Crisis Emergency Risk Communication (CERC) model. Essentially, this study reveals that soliciting and responding to feedback in the pre-crisis stage could help spokespersons clarify or correct any messages that are perceived by audiences as unclear or are simply not accurate. Doing so may improve risk communication effectiveness not only during the pre-crisis stage but also throughout the earthquake crisis lifecycle.     

Communication management during risk events and crises in a globalised world: Predictability of domestic media attention for calamities

While governments are concerned with controlling domestic safety issues and preventing resulting potential societal disruptions, events abroad can trigger similar effects. Globalisation magnifies the media attention for events, domestic and abroad, which poses new challenges for authorities. This paper suggests additional approaches for governments to address such situations. Based on interviews with experts and representatives of authorities and analysis of Dutch media attention for external safety events, this paper identifies criteria that can predict media attention and factors that may contribute to effective policy responses. Both can contribute to help to manage external safety risk events. The study shows that media response is predictable to a certain extent. This insight can be a tool in the wider range of measures for authorities to help manage a crisis situation and in particular strategies to cope with the media.     

Complexity,uncertainty and future risks

Roger Kasperson’s paper prompts us to reflect on whether traditional risk communication tools and approaches might be inadequate for many of the tasks now emerging. One can point to the increasingly complex nature of some technological and environmental hazards; the need to scrutinise emerging technologies upstream of significant applications; and fundamental changes to risk identities within society. Perhaps, we now genuinely face a risk society, exemplified by the dysfunction of global financial systems, extreme inequalities and encroaching environmental threats, alongside the unwinding of traditional social identities? Strategic capacity to address many of these fundamental risk challenges is lacking.     

Communicating with the public during health crises: experts' experiences and opinions

Governments and health agencies worldwide are planning for a potential influenza pandemic. Their plans acknowledge the importance of public communication during an outbreak and include related guidelines and strategies. Emerging infectious disease (EID) communication is a new addition to the literature, drawing on health promotion communication, crisis communication and environmental/technological risk communication. This paper adds to the literature, exploring the notion of ‘effective communication during health crises' by reporting on interviews with 22 public health officials, scientists and communications professionals responsible for communicating with the public. When analyzed in the context of the risk communication literature, the interviews reveal several considerations for health risk communicators. First, given the important role that mass media will play in an EID outbreak, there is an urgent need for public health to build partnerships with journalists based on an understanding of the two parties' unique societal roles. Second, seemingly practical communications considerations – such as how certain to be about information before sharing it and whether to engage in two‐way communication with the public – have ethical dimensions that deserve attention. Third, there are unique challenges associated with communicating uncertainty, which would benefit from an exploration of the role of trust in health crisis communication.     

Perspective on ‘Four Questions for Risk Communication’

In his essay, ‘Four Questions for Risk Communication,’ Roger Kasperson challenges the risk communication community to take better stock of the lessons it’s learned over the past several decades. Implicated are the failure of many to reap the rewards or benefits of our field’s discoveries and the attendant responsibility we collectively bear in not communicating them well enough. Less a scolding than a call to action, Kasperson thoughtfully reflects on his four questions before offering some summary principles. In so doing, he has initiated a conversation that offers some key points of reflection on where our community stands today and where we might be going. Neither exhaustive in its scope nor patronizing in his directives, his essay is an invitation – a nudge – to begin a dialog on these issues and become more mindful of our own successes and failures in risk communication.     

Effective risk communication and CCS: the road to success in Europe

Over the past ten years or so, there have been multiple attempts to site and build carbon capture and storage (CCS) facilities in Europe, North America and elsewhere. To date, most of those attempts have not been successful. In Europe, for example, there are currently no commercial CCS facilities in operation. There are a number of reasons for this, ranging from lack of political will, the collapsing price of CO₂, lack of commercial drivers to capture and store CO₂, and public opposition to the proposed facilities. There have been several case studies examining the communication challenges associated with the siting of CCS facilities. Up till now, most of this research has been carried out by climate change or carbon policy experts as well as social researchers rather than scientists representing the wider risk communication community, aside from some notable exceptions. This study does the opposite by examining CCS from a broader risk communication perspective. It provides a brief overview of risk communication theory in order to situate some of the findings of the CCS communication research, and then, it makes some recommendations on how the siting of CCS facilities could be improved including the importance of trust, proactive communication and early stakeholder involvement. In conclusion, this study notes that if the science associated with the technology is communicated in the correct manner and if the key risk communication recommendations are adhered to, then the siting of future CCS facilities should be successful.     

Designing futures: Inquiry in climate change communication

There are many barriers and challenges associated with climate change communication focused on promoting community-based action for sustainable futures. Of particular interest is the challenge to embed community perspectives in a communication process of climate change solutions. In this paper we argue that 3D interactive simulations using design inquiry as a development process, can be an effective way of communicating climate change solutions and multiple community responses. People are more likely to engage with the challenges associated with complexity of climate change at the local level when their perspectives are integrated into viable and multiple pathways for action. Future scenarios of change processes situated in local experiences in compelling and interactive ways can be disseminated holistically by making links between scientific, social, political, economic and cultural elements. Design inquiry, as a research approach, integrates contextual knowledge into communication processes to aid imagining, re-thinking and reembodying viable pathways that explore the kinds of futures we collectively envision. This paper examines the contributions that design inquiry makes to climate change communication using an interactive simulation environment for designing futures. We discuss these ideas using the example of the Future Delta project, a virtual 3D environment that enables the exploration and simulation of multiple community-based climate change solutions in the Corporation of Delta, British Columbia.     

The social amplification of risk on Twitter: the case of ash dieback disease in the United Kingdom

It has long been recognised that the traditional media play a key role in representing risk and are a significant source of information which can shape how people perceive and respond to hazard events. Early work utilising the social amplification of risk framework (SARF) sought to understand the discrepancy between expert and lay perceptions of risk and patterns of risk intensification and attenuation with reference to the media. However, the advent of Web 2.0 challenges traditional models of communication. To date there has been limited consideration of social media within the SARF and its role in mediating processes of risk perception and communication. Against this backdrop, we focus on the social media platform Twitter to consider the social amplification of risk in relation to ash dieback disease (Hymenoscyphus fraxineus); a tree health issue that attracted intense media attention when it was first identified in the UK in 2012. We present an empirical analysis of 25,600 tweets in order to explore what people were saying about ash dieback on Twitter, who was talking about it and how they talked about it. Our discussion outlines the themes around which talk about ash dieback was orientated, the significance of users’ environmental ‘affiliations’ and the role of including links (URLs) to traditional media coverage. We utilise the notion of ‘piggybacking’ to demonstrate how information is customised in line with group/individual identities and interests and introduce the concept of the ‘frame fragment’ to illustrate how information is selected and moved around Twitter emphasising certain features of the messages. The paper affords a detailed consideration of the way in which people and organisations simultaneously appropriate, construct and pass on risk-relevant information. A conclusion is that social media has the potential to transform the media landscape within which the SARF was originally conceived, presenting renewed challenges for risk communication.     

银行跨国并购中的文化差异识别体系研究

在跨国并购中,并购银行将面临民族文化和企业文化双重差异和冲突带来的挑战,而且缺乏对文化差异的理解和管理是并购失败的首要原因。在并购实施中,我们有必要把文化整合与业务技术整合看成截然不同但又紧密相关的两个领域,而构建文化差异识别体系是文化整合的基础。本文从感知跨国并购中的文化差异冲突和融合入手,提出构建文化差异识别体系应以整合战略执行为导向,突出促成行为改变的关键要素;提出了涵盖人本文化、处事文化、沟通文化等角度,共7个维度、22种偏好的文化差异识别体系的基础框架。     

Global controversies in local settings: anti-fracking activism in the era of Web 2.0

In this era of global challenges in energy policy, the importance of siting of facilities connected to development of energy system is greater than ever. At the same time, spreading of these facilities has often been controversial in surrounding communities. This article advances the debate on this phenomenon by focusing on an aspect of siting controversies that has become a game changer in recent years but has received remarkably little attention: the role of Web 2.0 in siting conflicts. To explore the impact of Web 2.0, the paper uses a case study approach, examining the influence of access to the Internet in two siting conflicts associated with shale gas prospecting in Poland in the period from 2012 to 2014. The possibilities that Web 2.0 offers to residents and other local actors in siting conflicts – access to knowledge, the ability to reframe the local debate using international resources, and mobilization of a network of support by sharing their version of the story – influence the dynamics of risk communication during siting controversies.     

Unrecognized,concealed, or forgotten – the case of absent information in risk communication

There are differing and partially incompatible views about what kind of issues should be included into risk discussions and what kinds of risks should be emphasized and dealt with. While the emergence of new risks has been extensively studied, relatively little attention has been paid to the roles that the absence of information can play in risk debates. Potentially relevant information may be downplayed or omitted and less relevant overemphasized when actors with varying interests, knowledge bases, and risk frames interact. Multiple and cumulative environmental and health risks caused by chemicals and other stressors pose particular challenges for risk communication. We identify and discuss different forms of unrecognized, hidden, and forgotten information by using chemical risks as a case. A widely applicable typology of absent information in risk communication is outlined.     

Risk communication and citizen engagement: what to expect from dialogue

Despite the last few decades’ devotion to deliberative methods in risk communication, many studies point to how important challenges arise when citizens are engaged in public dialogue. Since the era of enlightenment public dialogue has occupied a position as a normative ideal for political governance. But ideals are social constructions that have a tendency to direct attention away from underlying conflicts. The concept of dialogue is no exception, and exemplified by the Danish solution to dealing with public scepticism in relation to technological controversies, the internationally acclaimed ‘consensus conference’, the paper seeks to offer a better understanding of the contemporary use of the concept of dialogue as well as its ancient roots. The paper argues that behind the aspirations for deliberation lie two opposing models of dialogue. When these two models encounter in deliberative processes, their different presumptions about the role of communication symmetry are likely to appear. This points to how the models hold very different expectations as to the dialogical outcome, thus imposing some fundamental conflicts regarding the political efficacy of citizen engagement as a strategy for bridging the gap between expert and lay attitudes to societal risks.     

中国经济崛起及对美国影响

摘要：目前,中国已成为仅次于美国的世界第二大经济体,但也面临来自国内外的严峻挑战。本文分析了中国经济崛起的背景、面临的挑战及中国崛起对美国的影响。本部分分析了中国经济面临的挑战、中国经济改革和结构调整的方向及中国经济崛起对美国的挑战。     

Ecological risk assessment of pesticides in the EU: what factors and groups influence policy changes?

For the last couple of years, European environmental risk assessment (ERA) regulations have undergone significant changes. The new 1107/2009 directive which came into effect in 2011 has triggered an on-going debate on defining specific protection goals for ERA. During this period, we conducted a study on policy change among the most influential ERA stakeholders from Europe. We interviewed 43, purposively sampled, participants from the European safety authorities, plant protection product industry and academia. Transcribed interviews underwent thematic analysis conducted separately by two coders. As we followed the advocacy coalition framework, our findings focus on stakeholders’ processes, interrelations and values behind the ERA policy change. The main challenges emerging from our analysis turned out to be the slow uptake of scientific developments into ERA and very broadly defined protection goals. The use of safety factors and cut-off criteria left risk assessors with many uncertainties. With ERA in its current form it turned out to be impossible to determine whether the current scheme is over- or under-protective. Still, the study shows that the problem of over- or under-protectiveness lies deep in the perception of stakeholders and depends greatly on their priorities. Academics strive for better ecological relevance as a priority. They have concerns that ERA is oversimplified. Regulators worry that ERA relies too much on risk mitigation and is possibly not protective enough, but at the same time, the majority believes that the assessment is well established and straightforward to follow. Industry representatives would like to see ERA based more on probabilistic risk assessment. Recent changes, according to risk assessment and management practitioners have led to an inevitable increase in complexity, which is not perceived as a positive thing, and does not necessarily translate into better risk assessment.     

挑战与变革:基于信息社会环境的会计理性思考

本文从信息社会入手,详细阐述了这个社会的基本环境特征,为我们理解处于这种环境之下的会计将会面临怎样的挑战提供了先导逻辑;按照这种逻辑,本文进而归纳出信息社会环境下会计所面临的三大方面的严峻挑战,并深入探讨了这些重要挑战的具体表现与成因;最后提出,为了迎接信息社会环境对会计的重要挑战,传统会计必须在三个主要方面进行变革,而变革传统会计的基本思想则是充分结合信息社会的环境特征将IT有机地、彻底地渗透到财务与会计之中,也就是走会计信息化的发展道路。     

Accounting education for professionals in Germany — current state and new challenges

In comparison to other countries, the requirements on the education of professional auditors in Germany have been considered to be the toughest in the world. However, German professionals risk losing this position since there are countries which seem to adapt more quickly and appropriately to changes in the accounting environment.The first part of the paper provides a review of the current state of the education for qualified auditors in Germany with special reference to the according EU-Directives and IFAC-Rules. It is shown that there are various issues which have to be accounted for in order to meet the challenges of the future.The remainder of the paper focuses on challenges due to changes in the accounting and auditing environment, on challenges due to an enlargement of the scope of statutory audit and — finally — on challenges due to the need for diversification from auditing to assurance services.     

A comparison of environmental visions of university students in Israel and Palestine

Young people's complex and contradictory understandings of the future are inevitably influenced by their past experiences and the environment in which they currently live. Where this environment is itself particularly complex or contradictory then the understandings young people hold of the future will be affected. This paper, based on foresighting workshops held at three Israeli/Palestinian universities, examines the differing environmental attitudes and understandings of the future that young people hold in Israel and Palestine, before analysing the implications of these for achieving more sustainable development in the region. Despite the very real challenges the region is facing, these foresighting workshops showed that young people think systematically and rationally about the future. They are not filled with pessimism but recognise the challenges they face and can identify realistic solutions to those problems which they see as being of the greatest importance. The foresighting workshops showed that there was some common understanding of the participants about the key future environmental challenges that they face together with possible means for tackling these challenges.     

商业银行如何应对房地产危机

上半年,由人民币升值引发的出口下降、高油价、高通胀、资源价格扭曲等宏观问题对中国整体经济形势带来较大影响,同时此前房地产市场各项宏观调控政策效果显现,呈现出与以往不同的变化特征.房地产开发依旧处于高位,但销售同比下滑较大,房地产市场已经由年初时的"价涨量跌"演变为目前的"价滞量跌" (2008年6月,70个大中城市房地产销售价格指数同比虽然上涨8.2%,但环比上升仅为0.1%),部分地区甚至出现"价量齐跌",部分前期涨幅较快的城市房价则出现了明显下跌(如深圳、广州、南京、成都等地,房地产销售价格指数环比持续下降,其中深圳连续7个月房价下跌,已逼近去年同期价格).房地产市场成交量不断萎缩在全国引发传导效应,供求双方观望明显.     

Climate change: fiscal and international trade issues—introduction

The challenges to dealing with climate change are broad and complex. This special section reviews some of—but also brings new insights to—the challenges.     

制度与交往

考察制度与交往的关系可以有两个视角:从起源上说,交往是制度产生的现实基础.制度是社会关系的存在方式,社会关系是在交往中形成的,交往是社会关系的生成机制.因此,制度是交往的产物;从现实上说,制度又是交往的前提.制度既是社会交往的信任机制,同时又是社会交往秩序的建构机制.随着人类社会交往全球化的趋势,作为社会交往规则体系的制度也必将发生巨大的变革,从而形成世界性"普遍制度".