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…
Blog Archives
Disrupting Wonkcomms
Tagged with: digital communications, digital publishing, disruption, explainer journalism, think tanks, wonkcomms
Posted in Opinion
Posted in Opinion
The Future of Digital Longform Publishing
Over the last couple of weeks, I’ve had a slew of opportunities to muse about the future of digital publishing. A piece on explainer journalism from Adam Tinworth kicked things off. And though Tinworth’s conclusions were meant as a prediction…
Finding Home: How The Century Foundation Took Its First Small Step Beyond the PDF
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
Posted in Guidance
EVENT: Wonkcomms teams and skill sets: what does the future hold?
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
Posted in Events
EVENT: What can science learn from the cutting edge of think tank communication?
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…
Tagged with: digital communications, digital strategy, events, publications, research, research communications, science communication, think tanks
Posted in Events
Posted in Events
Videos and slides from “Rent a quote? Think tanks, media and strategy”
Our third WonkComms event, “Rent a quote? Think tanks, media and strategy”, took place at the Institute for Government on 5 September 2013. Speakers included John Coventry of Change.org, Beatrice Karol Burks of Citizen’s Advice, Kiran Stacey of the Financial Times, and Huw Evans of the Association of British Insurers. The event was chaired by Richard Darlington of the IPPR.
What’s wrong with think tank bulk emails, and how can it be put right?
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.
Tagged with: Blue State Digital, Bulk Emails, digital communications, Mailchimp, New Economics Foundation, Policy Network, think tanks, Wonky Email
Posted in Opinion
Posted in Opinion
EVENT: Rent-a-quote? Think tanks, media and strategy
Following our successful launch event last April, WonkComms are bringing you the third in a series of events on think tank communications. We are delighted to have a top line-up of speakers too!
Tagged with: communication, communications, media, politics, social media, strategy, think tanks, twitter
Posted in Events
Posted in Events
Moving beyond the report + media coverage communications model (or why Prospect’s ‘Publication of the Year’ award should be ‘Research Communications Project of the Year’)
That ‘appropriate way’ of communicating to get action and change will never be – has never been – a report alone. Though media coverage has always been central to think tank communications, changes to the way information is broadcast, found and consumed in the digital age will usher in a new understanding of what products are used in think tank communications.
Tagged with: animation, blogging, communication, digital strategy, media, multimedia, online, publications, research communications, social media, strategy, think tanks, twitter, websites
Posted in Opinion
Posted in Opinion
Once more, with feeling? Emotional communication in think tanks
The most effective communication is the one that work on both a rational and an emotional level. The one that engage both your heart and your mind. But in our think tanks, we sometimes downplay our emotional propositions in order to prove how rational we are. Let’s bring our evidence to life and remember that the best communications include both rational and emotional propositions.
Tagged with: communication, emotional communication, media, messages, online, research communications, stories, think tanks
Posted in Opinion
Posted in Opinion
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