Blog Archives

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 — 7 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 — 8 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.

Tagged with: communication, communications, digital communications, events, human resources, staff, strategy, think tank, think tanks
Posted in Events

EVENT: What can science learn from the cutting edge of think tank communication?

Posted on November 1, 2013 by Nick Scott — Leave a comment

A quick notice that WonkComms is on the road again – this time running a session at SpotOn London, an annual conference for anyone interested in how science is carried out and communicated online. Find out more or register to…

Just. Do. It.

Posted on October 31, 2013 by louisefisher — 6 Comments

As soon as we at the Chartered Institute of Housing started planning the launch of our latest report – on the impact of the government’s benefit cap in Haringey – I knew I wanted to do something a bit different to our usual report plus press release, maybe a blog and that’s pretty much it model… What convinced me that we did need to do something different was attending a Wonkcomms event earlier this year, on research in the digital age.

Tagged with: animation, Audioboo, communications, digital communications, digital content, social, social media, stories, Vine
Posted in Opinion

What’s wrong with think tank bulk emails, and how can it be put right?

Posted on August 21, 2013 by solomonakivaschonfield — 1 Comment

A recent exchange around bulk email providers over on the WonkComms LinkedIn group got me thinking about what think tanks are doing with bulk emails. Though I might write about the best and worst bulk emails next time (a bit of naming and shaming never hurt anyone) for now here’s the bigger picture and some ideas for how things could be done better.