Teaching PR

Special topics graduate seminar on social media

This semester I'm teaching (for the first time) a graduate seminar on social media. It's similar to my undergraduate special topics class in that it's not focused solely on social media in the marketing mix, but it's much less hands-on and much more concerned with social and cultural impact. I organized the class by waiting until the first day to find out who the students were and what their interests are, so some of the topics and readins are tailored to their needs. In addition, the class chose from a menu of options to decide how they would be assessed.

Here's the syllabus, minus the boring parts:

Introduction

This course aims to help students understand social media from both scholarly and professional perspectives. This seminar will explore scholarship on social media about important issues such as collaboration, privacy, and security; from academic fields such as psychology, business, and communications; and in subject areas such as politics, education, and social reform. Because the field is new and rapidly changing, students will also read popular literature on these topics. In addition, students will participate in several collaborative learning projects and will have the opportunity to work hands-on with social media.

Required reading

Students will be required to read and be prepared to discuss both scholarly and popular literature on social media for class each week. Links to these articles are provided on the schedule. In addition, students will be asked to read a book for the team book review project.

Assessment

You will be graded on your written work, your oral presentation, your ability to synthesize and conceptualize the material, and your contributions to the class. Prompt attendance and conformity with deadlines are expected at the graduate level. In case of dire emergency, contact the instructor prior to missing class.

Blogging (20 percent): Each student will choose between two options.

1. You may create an individual blog on Wordpress.com with the goal of posting at least 12 times during the semester and making efforts to build an engaged community of readers.
2. You may participate in the class blog by initiating posts at least five times during the semester as well as commenting on at least 30 other students’ posts with substantive, insightful comments that further the discussion of weekly readings.

Team book presentation (20 percent): Students will work in small groups to read and present a book to the class, creatively using social media as part of the presentation.

Participation (10 percent): You are expected to participate in weekly discussions of the readings.

Original research case study paper (50 percent): Students will work in pairs to research and write a case study, using original, triangulated research to develop theory relating to social media.

The weekly topics are as follows:

• Collaboration
• Amateurs vs. Professionals
• Social Media, U.S. Law, and Ethics
• Online Identity Production
• Privacy and Social Media
• Social Media and News
• The Social Side of Search
• Personal Branding
• Social Media and Business
• Social Media and Education
• Social Media and Politics/Government
• Attention and Distraction
• Social Media and Entertainment
• Social Media and Social Change

My grad assistant typed up the reading list, so if you'd like the course bibliography, email russell dot uga at gmail and I'd be happy to share it (Word document).

 

 

The Week's Best, 6 February 2012

• 7 Examples of Brands that Pop on Pinterest, Lauren Sorenson (via @princess_misia)
• Social Media: Reflecting Room or Eye Opening Forum, Kelly Mullholland (via @tressalynne)
• Don't Check Me In: Etiquette in Social Media, Amber MacArthur (via @DonnaPapacosta)
• Should PROs Have Degrees?, PRmoment.com (via @behindthespin) and PR Success Is More than a Degree, Barry French
• Can PR Leave Behind Magical Thinking for Science?, Chris Abraham
• PR Doesn't Need to Be Objective -- Just Ethical, Doug Haslam
• Three Jokes About Public Relations, Alan Graner
• I Don't Want to Hear about Komen's "Brand" Anymore, David Wescott and Komen Provides Excellent Crisis Management Case Study, Gini Dietrich

PRDepiction

Just in case you don't have enough to do, allow me to suggest the addictive new blog, PRDepiction, a group blog with citations from research on pop culture representations of public relations, as well as cites and/or links to the primary sources. (Disclosure: I'm one of the bloggers. Further disclosure: I haven't posted on the site yet. But I will.)

It's addictive because, c'mon, you can call it research!

The Week's Best, 30 January 2012

• Let's Cut the Crap and Get on with the Work, Steve Barrett (h/t @billsledzik)
• The Job Search While Employed: Do's and Don'ts, Katie Lewis (via @heatherhuhman)
• Doll "Protestors" Present Small Problem for Russian Police, Miriam Eider (via @mediations)
• Carnival Fails PR 101 in Costa Crisis, Jennifer Booton (via @AEJMC_PRD)
• Survey Results: NonPRofits Struggle to "Do" PR, Jeff Morosoff
• Study Shows Rapid Evolution of QR Marketing, Susan Kuchinskas (via @sydneyeve)
• Launching a Social Command Center (Without the Center), David Armano
• PR's Problems, 20 Years Later, Doc Searls
• McDonald's Had a "Contingency Plan" for Twitter Promotion Gone Awry, Tonya Garcia
• The Pinterest Debate Between Two Friends, Gini Dietrich
• Ridiculous PR and Objectivity, Richard Bailey

JPRR call for submissions: special issue on nonprofit PR

Exciting news from the Journal of Public Relations Research -- we've got another special issue coming up for publication in 2013. (I skipped 2012 in order to help clear up the Journal's backlog of accepted papers.) Here's the call for submissions from guest editor Denise Bortree.

Call for Submissions: Public Relations and Nonprofit Organizations

The Journal of Public Relations Research seeks scholarly articles for a special issue on nonprofit public relations.

Nonprofit and advocacy organizations make an important contribution to the social, political, and economic landscapes around the world.  However, public relations professionals in nonprofit sectors often face unique challenges related to resources and stakeholder relationships, among other things. Building knowledge about best practices for nonprofit practitioners is critical for the public relations field. This call seeks scholarly articles that explore the role of public relations in nonprofit organizations as well as the contribution of nonprofit communication to society. Of particular interest are articles that explore relationship cultivation with stakeholders, distinctive aspects of social media use among nonprofits, variance in communication strategies among types of nonprofit organizations, and public relations activities of national and international NGOs.

As with all issues of the Journal, contributions should provide scholarship that creates, tests, or expands public relations theory, and the guest editor encourages submissions that use a wide range of empirical methodologies.

The manuscripts for the special issue are due to the JPRR Manuscript Central site by July 15, 2012. Please note at the top of the abstract and in the appropriate space on the online submission form that the submission is a “candidate for the special issue on nonprofit organizations.” Submissions should conform to the instructions for authors on the Journal’s website.

Guest editor: Dr. Denise Bortree, Penn State University, U.S.A.

 

The Week's Best, 23 January 2012

• To Publish Like a Pro, Read the Pros, Valeria Maltoni; Reading Fiction Helps Your Career, Gini Dietrich
• Liveblogging, Blackouts and Protests! The Internet Takes on SOPA, Tonya Garcia; Stop SOPA Silliness, David Meerman Scott
• Tweet Yourself into a Job, Ron Culp
• Jimmy Wales and Public Relations Face Off, David King
• New to Public Relations? Six Things You Should Know, Jett Choquette
• Help Stamp Out Fluff!, Bill Sledzik
• PR Dummies (Gawker), via Katie Paine
• Edelman's Trust Barometer Under Pressure, Jon Clements (via Judy Gombita)
• Dealing with the Fox News PR Machine, Jim Romanesko (via @MattHurst)
• Pros and Cons of Social Media in the Classroom, (via @b_sorensen)
• World Public Relations Forum Research Colloquium--Call for Abstracts, PRIA (via @melanie_james)

 

Words of PR wisdom: Arthur Page's speeches

Along with other members of AEJMC's public relations division and members of the Arthur Page Society, I recently received a copy of "Words from a Page in History," a collection of the PR pioneer's speeches. I've seen copies of his speeches at the historical society in Wisconsin, online, at the society's archives, and in the archives at AT&T, but this is the first time I'd seen so many of them pulled together in one location.

I checked with my colleague Dr. Denise Bortree of the Arthur W. Page Center for Integrity in Public Communication to see if more copies would be available to students and scholars not on the mailing list, and she pointed out that the whole collection is available on PDF on the Center's website. Or, if you want one of the few hard copies left, contact Cinda Kostyak at csk2 at psu dot edu to request one.

This is a fabulous resource for anyone interested in the history of public relations, so I commend the Center for putting it together and distributing it so widely.

P. S. Students who are doing a paper on Page and found this post through a Google search: click through and read his speeches. And then you can look at my notes from a paper on Page.

 

Corporate Public Relations and Democracy: Arthur W. Page and the FCC, 1935-1941

View more presentations from KarenRussell

Faculty fellowship opportunity

Karla Gower of the University of Alabama's Plank Center shares the following information about 2012 Faculty Fellowships for Educators, a program that came up in Teaching PR conversation not long ago (and that I thoroughly hope to participate in when my child gets a little older!).

The Plank Center for Leadership in Public Relations at the University of Alabama invites faculty to apply for its 2012 Fellowship for Educators, a two-week summer program for professors teaching public relations.  This year, we will be able to place up to fifteen (15) selected educators for two full weeks in the offices of the sponsoring organizations, which have been drawn from public relations agencies, corporations, not-for-profits and the government sector.

The sponsoring organization will pay housing and per diem expenses for the chosen educator; the educator will pay for travel to/from the sponsoring organization, and any out-of-pocket expenses.

Applications with all supporting materials (a personalstatement, CV/resume, and letter of recommendation) must be e-mailed to Dr.Karla Gower, gower at apr dot ua dot edu, by February 10, 2012.

Background

• This two-week fellowship program for public relations educators is designed with the dual purpose of exposing professors to current day-to-day operations of the public relations function and in creating an exchange of information and ideas that will enhance the professional development of both the educators and the practitioner-sponsors.
• Key beneficiaries are public relations students, who can be ensured their professors are knowledgeable in the current practices and issues facing practitioners and that practitioners have a greater appreciation for the value of theory and research of their classrooms in today’s public relations work.
• The Plank Center is the convener of this opportunity, using its own visibility to draw attention to the program; marketing the program to both educators and organization leaders; and coordinating the application process and “match.”
• Sponsoring organizations will be drawn from public relations agencies, corporations, not-for-profits and the government sector. Placement with a particular organization depends on the educator’s area(s) of expertise.
• The number of placements depends on the number of organizations willing to host an educator. Since the program’s inception in 2010, Home Depot, Insidedge—GolinHarris, Ketchum Public Relations Agencies in Chicago and New York, the American Red Cross, and Southern Company have hosted educators.

Expectations

• Educators selected as Fellows will spend two full weeks in the offices of the sponsoring organization with which they have been matched. The period of the Fellowship is expected to occur in June or July, as agreed by both parties.
• Educators will be given a full orientation to the sponsoring organization, the particular department, staff duties and responsibilities, clients and/or projects.
• Sponsoring organizations will designate a key professional as the official host and mentor for the visiting professors during their time in residency.
• In return, educators will use their own expertise to conduct at least one workshop or seminar for the staff of the sponsoring organization.  In addition, the educators may conduct a research project of value to the sponsoring organization; produce a report or white paper highlighting their impressions, key takeaways and recommendations for how the sponsors can develop new proficiencies in a key discipline; develop proprietary knowledge in existing or new areas of strategic focus; or interact with greater effectiveness on the college campus.
• To participate in the Fellowship for Educators, the sponsoring organizations will pay housing and per diem expenses up to a maximum of $3,000 for the chosen educator; the educators will pay for travel to/from the sponsoring organization, and any out-of-pocket expenses. 

Application Process

• To apply, candidates must send an email to Dr. Karla Gower (gower@apr.ua.edu), director of the Plank Center and Behringer Distinguished Professor in the Department of Advertising and Public Relations at the University of Alabama, that includes the following:
  • Personal statement addressing:
    • Areas of special interest or need that you, as a candidate, will hope to develop;
    • Expectations on what you will accomplish with respect to your teaching and research as a Plank Center Fellow;
    • Thoughts on how you would bring key learnings gained during the Fellowship back to your academic institution for the growth of your department, your students and the larger university; and
    • Possible topics for your workshop or seminar to the host organization.
    • CV/Resume
    • Letter of recommendation from a department chair, director or dean indicating how the Fellowship will enhance your teaching and/or research and how the key learnings gained during the Fellowship will be shared with others at your academic institution.
• A committee of public relations professionals and educators will review the applications and make recommendations to the sponsoring organizations, which will make the final acceptance decision.  Acceptance will be based on the candidate’s personal statement, research and teaching interests, need for exposure to the industry and potential contribution to the growth of the sponsoring organization. 

Please direct specific questions regarding the application process or interest that your organization may have in serving as a sponsor for a Plank Center Fellow to Dr. Karla Gower at gower@apr.ua.edu. 

 

 

 

The Week's Best, 16 January 2012

• Reimagining Our Profession: Public Relations for a Complex World, Richard Edelman
• Wikipedia & PR: Friend or Foe?, Peter Himler, and FIR Interview: Stuart Bruce and Phil Gomes on PR and Wikipedia, Stuart Bruce
• Good Writing Remains a Core PR Skill, Sally Falkow, and Educating: And the Future of Public Relations, Rich Becker
• Dear PR -- Google Search plus (is) Your World, Bill Handy
• Are You Too Smart to Work in PR?, Heather Yaxley
• Alfred Fleishman Diversity Fellowships, via Tonya Garcia
• Carefully Word Your Letter of Resignation, Ron Culp, and How to Quit Your Job with Grace, Melody Kiella
• The #PRStudChat Community Kicks Off the New Year on January 18th, Deirdre Breakenridge

And, just for fun... Stuff PR People Say (via @Fvrything) 

The Week's Best, 2 January 2012

• Dash Away, Dash Away All, Jay Hamilton, and Simon on the Streets: QR Codes, Rindert Dalstra (via @pgeorgieva)
• 6 Ways to Better Support Your Director, London Schafer
• 7 Tips You'd Give a PR Grad Getting Into Communications?, John Cass
• Time for Resolutions: Will You Commit to PR Ethics in 2012?, Gerard Corbett and Deborah Silverman
• My PR Books of the Year, Richard Bailey
• Best Career Entry Point: Agency or Corporate?, Ron Culp
• My Job Search Journey, Rachel Esterline
• Twitter of Terror, Will Oremus (via @karatoon); Law Firm Threatens to Shut Twitter Down for Allowing Terrorist Groups to Tweet, Jolie O'Dell (via @derekdevries); and Congress Calls on Twitter to Block Taliban, Ben Farmer