|
Please find pasted below Econnect
Communication’s February 2002 newsletter. The title of this edition is:
Creative Communication. Thanks to the extra contributions from people
involved in the Murray-Darling Basin Commission's Natural Resource
Communicators Conference, held last November. Your feedback is welcome. If you’ve missed previous newsletters, you can check them out on our website.
With regards The team at Econnect Communication (Jenni Metcalfe, Lin Martin, Louise Ralph, Michelle Riedlinger) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ CONTACT ECONNECT COMMUNICATION – phone 07 3846 7111; EMAIL admin@econnect.com.au; website: http://www.econnect.com.au. Econnect is committed to planning and delivering innovative and effective communication in the natural resource and environmental fields to ensure a sustainable future. We work with clients and their partners in an open, respectful and cooperative manner fulfilling our commitment to conservation and social justice. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ NEWSLETTER 8, 18 March 2002 Feel free to reproduce any of the following articles as long as you acknowledge Econnect as the source; and feel free to send this newsletter to anyone else who might be interested and/or put onto our newsletter contact list. Past copies of newsletters can be found on our website. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ CREATIVE SOLUTIONS, By Lin Martin Often in interpretive projects, limited budgets limit our imagination (and effectiveness of communication plus our own enjoyment as communicators). We were determined not to let that happen on the Lark Quarry Dinosaur Trackways Queensland Heritage Trails project we are now implementing near Winton in western Queensland. Here over 3300 dinosaur tracks tell the story of the worlds only recorded dinosaur stampede.
*We wrote a communication plan that encompassed all the tools and media for an optimum experience, including artworks, media strategy, websites - the works! While the entire funds for Lark Quarry Rolls Royce version are not (as yet) forthcoming, this comprehensive plan has been the basis of funding applications to make up the shortfall of the original funds. It is important to communicate the vision of what is possible, not just what you can do with the funds available. *We held a community field day to celebrate the beginning of the project to overcome lack of interest/knowledge about the project in this isolated region. Over 100 people came, some drove a return journey of 7 hours to be part of the day. *We made sure the interpretation will engage the imagination – it involves cartoons, paintings, storyboards, poetry (and hopefully with some additional funding) sculptures of stylized dinosaurs, all telling about these moments in time 95 million years ago. We have ensured children are engaged via a story that unfolds throughout the displays and the conservation building – of Young Ollie ornithipod and the terrifying tangle-toothed theropod. We had fun with this one – stories/storybooks are an effective way to tell children about the event, ecology at the time and dinosaur behaviour. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ HAVE YOU GOT ANY IDEA YET? By
Louise Ralph
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ In January we put a call out to MDBC communicators conference participants for examples of creative communication to share – we didn’t have a large response, so either most people weren’t feeling too creative, or were just too busy. We’d still like to hear from you if you have an example to share. Here are the responses:
**Alison Moore, Dept of Natural Resource and Mines, (07) 3896 9594
Our landcare and catchment management unit has for a long time been driven by community involvement in communication. Increasingly, as budgets shrink, we are looking for ways to support creative communication within groups and individuals.
One new initiative in 2001 has been to hand over the delivery of the biennial Queensland Landcare Awards to a NRM community group to manage, with departmental support in terms of dollars and advice. The initiative has had some very positive outcomes including the capacity building opportunities to the group as well as the distinctive style to the event, created and managed by the group. We will be using this first as a model for 2003 when the awards are again judged in Queensland.
** David Mussared, mussared@emailmedia.com.au 'NRMtalk': new disccusion list for NRM Communicators
Special Forever - an environmental
communication project. When we think of communication we
are often drawn into the web slipstream or think of only meeting our
immediate needs. BUT how many of us are thinking of nuturing the future
natural resource managers? Creative communication in East Timor
In the 18 months I worked with Oxfam - CAA in East Timor much of my work was focussed on training East Timorese staff, particularly in community education and participation methods. The staff were introduced to PRA tools, which they then used with the community members to ensure development activities were in line with communities needs.
The acronym PRA was originally described as participatory rural appraisal however is now also known as participant response analysis. PRA is traditionally used in developing countries, however there is no reason why many PRA tools can’t also be used for environmental work in Australia. The tools would be good for involving all stakeholders in project planning and especially development of catchment management plans.
A set of tools was used in working with communities in East Timor in order for them to prioritise their environmental health problems. Firstly the group was asked to do a map of their community. In East Timor this was done by drawing in the dirt and using materials such as stones and twigs, to indicate significant infrastructure and geographical features.
The idea of the map was to get people thinking and talking about their local environment – where everything is, how things interact, what’s good, what’s bad. The discussion was then directed into an identification of environmental health problems (in this case, mosquito breeding sites, broken water pipes, schools with no toilets/water etc).
Once the problems were identified, a pairwise ranking matrix was used so the community could prioritise problems. While this can be complicated and at times quite heated, this mapping exercise always worked well because it got people involved and thinking about where they live, in ways they may not have done before. The exercise should finally lead into a discussion and possibly a strategic plan of how these issues can be dealt with. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The Murray-Darling Basin Commission’s Communication Strategy Guide outlines 7 steps to effective planning of communication: 1. Identify key partners (“partners” is a more equitable word than target audiences, clients, stakeholders etc) 2. Clarify desired relationships 3. Agree on key messages 4. Define objectives 5. Select strategies 6. Choose a mix of tactics and consider resources 7. Incorporate evaluation
Many strategies and plans start at step 5 or 6…which may be one reason they don’t work and collect dust! For a copy of the Murray-Darling Basin Commission’s Strategy Guide, see their website: www.mdbc.gov.au ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ BOB BEALE, FREELANCE WRITER, CHECKS OUT INTERESTING WEBSITES (as recently posted on the Australian Science Communicator’s email list)
For starters, I was surprised to
discover that there's a science songwriter's association in the US:
http://www.tranquility.net/~scimusic/SSA/ And
For further information on any of the articles provided, please feel free to contact us at Econnect. Any feedback on this newsletter would be gratefully accepted. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
|
