Abstracts
Levels of engagement: communication tactics for achieving consensus
Monday 4 May 2009, 1130 - 1200
Presenters: Margaret L Ruwoldt and Sally Newton,
University Of Melbourne, VIC
Presenter Biography
Not available at time of printing
Abstract
In the first half of 2008 the University of Melbourne developed and adopted a new 10-year strategy for its scholarly information environment, collections, services and technologies. The new strategy forms part of the University’s broader direction, the Growing Esteem agenda, which also includes long-term strategies for the ‘triple helix’ of research, learning and teaching, and knowledge transfer.
The Information Futures Commission faced two complex communication challenges. First, adding a new dimension to the Growing Esteem agenda required the support of researchers, academic staff, students, professional staff and other key ‘influencers’ in the University community. Each of these stakeholders held different assumptions and preferences about the nature and value of scholarly information.
Second, the Scholarly Information Futures strategy would be a response to highly disruptive changes in the external social, business, technological and academic environments. The strategy therefore needed to be based on both a broad view of those external changes and a detailed, up-to-date understanding of how those changes were affecting individuals and practices within the University.
This paper describes the approach taken by the Information Future Commission in designing, implementing and evaluating a communication and engagement plan.
We provide a brief review of established theories from the fields of marketing, organisational communication, knowledge management, public policy development and user-centred design. Each of these fields offers a selection of techniques and tools that suit varying situations, audiences and purposes.
We discuss example criteria for selecting particular techniques and tools, and demonstrate how these can be woven into a coherent communication and engagement plan. We describe the metrics used by the Commission to evaluate the effectiveness of the plan, both during the six-month implementation and at the conclusion of the project.
In conclusion, we suggest how the organisation might continue to use some of the highlighted techniques in its ongoing planning and operations.
