Blog Archives

How should think tanks deal with the problem of misinformation?

Posted on March 25, 2021 by Elena Berger — Leave a comment

For many people, the insurrection at the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021 was a wake-up call. If groups like QAnon seemed far-away and abstract before, they don’t anymore: We have now watched on television as the real-world results of…

Tagged with: digital communications, disinformation, events, research communications, social media, storytelling
Posted in breakfast club, Events

Five Things We Learned About Data Visualization

Posted on December 2, 2019 by Amanda — Leave a comment

Are you burnt out on infographics? We often see organizations relaying messages using generic and unengaging data visualization methods. And—to be honest—it gets a bit old. Here are several problems that are dragging down data viz: You’ll commonly come across…

Tagged with: data vis, digital communications, infographics, think tanks
Posted in breakfast club

WonkComms and the Marvel Cinematic Universe

Posted on April 25, 2018 by Joe — 3 Comments

Still from Marvel's Avengers: Infinity War

Marvel—and a dash of literary theory—point the way to a new approach to research comms outreach.

Tagged with: digital communications, digital content, digital publishing, digital strategy, research communications, strategy
Posted in Opinion

Long-form metrics: what to measure and how to measure it

Posted on April 7, 2016 by James Higgott — 1 Comment

In wonkworld and elsewhere, communicators are experimenting with long-form content. Lengthier essays, feature articles and thinkpieces are becoming another way of getting across the often complex messages we try to communicate. Of course, writing that goes over the 2,500-word limit…

Tagged with: digital communications, digital content, digital publishing, kings fund, longform, publications
Posted in Guidance

A more fun way to communicate an internal strategy

Posted on March 13, 2015 by James Grant — 1 Comment

At the National Housing Federation, we’ve recently updated our social media strategy. As the digital world is ever changing, our strategy needs to evolve too. It clearly sets out how we use social media as an organisation and how it…

Tagged with: business change, communication, digital communications, internal communications, social, social media, think tanks
Posted in Opinion

Disrupting Wonkcomms

Posted on June 30, 2014 by Joe — 8 Comments

Last week, Jill Lepore took to the pages of the New Yorker to denounce “disruption.” Lepore wasn’t content merely to document the ways that the term has been overused into near-meaninglessness. No, Lepore aimed at debunking the very idea of…

Tagged with: digital communications, digital publishing, disruption, explainer journalism, think tanks, wonkcomms
Posted in Opinion

Finding Home: How The Century Foundation Took Its First Small Step Beyond the PDF

Posted on March 24, 2014 by Joe — 11 Comments

Disclaimer: there’s nothing inherently wrong with PDFs. They work on pretty much any device, and for printing, they’re tough to beat. But PDFs on the web are a hack. They’re born of the web’s early days when putting something online…

Tagged with: digital communications, digital content, digital publishing, longform, publications, The Century Foundation, think tanks
Posted in Guidance

Powerful storytelling: how comms stole the show

Posted on March 17, 2014 by juliaday — 1 Comment

What revolutionary digital communications tool had a communications specialist at the Indian Institute of Health Management Research (IIHMR) in Kolkata employed that had single-handedly creating the biggest event buzz in a roomful of 100 academics and activists at the most prestigious university in India? A camera and a 20 year-old technique. That’s what.

EVENT: Wonkcomms teams and skill sets: what does the future hold?

Posted on December 10, 2013 by Nick Scott — 9 Comments

The last three WonkComms events considered the ‘why’, ‘what’, ‘how’ and ‘where’ of think tank communications. This event turned its attention to ‘who’ – the human resources think tanks can call on for their communications, what skills are needed to progress in the sector and how to develop them.