Developing A Media/Technology Strategy

(revised 1/15/02)

Rationale

As technology becomes more accessible and more affordable, it becomes a useful and indispensable tool for even the smallest public service agencies and labor and community-based organizations. From developing organizational capacity, to mobilizing constituencies, to getting their stories told, many such organizations are beginning to develop media campaigns and technology plans in the same way that they develop budget plans. The purpose of this competency is to assist in that process – to help organizations use communications media and information technology to achieve their social goals. While technology is not a magic bullet for solving all of an organization’s problems, it is increasingly a vital tool in the organizational repertoire to achieve the larger organizing strategies and community building efforts of the group.

For this competency, students would be expected to design a media/technology strategy that fits within the larger social goals of a particular public or community organization or project. Students would be expected to demonstrate actual work with an appropriate existing organization or project to determine a position on a given social issue or organizational objective that would advance the overall goals of the group. This would entail identifying the key stakeholders, analyzing the social forces arrayed for and against the proposition, determining an effective message and the appropriate media and/or communication technologies to mount an effective project, and designing a strategy for using media to mobilize a constituency and influence the key stakeholders on the issue.

Competency Statement

Can develop a media/technology strategy designed to achieve the goals of a public agency or community-based organization working on a social issue.

Criteria

1. Identify and describe the public policy issues, themes, positions, and/or organizational needs that a particular public agency or community organization seeks to address.
   
   
2. Do a preliminary evaluation of the suitability of various communications media and information technologies for dealing with this organizational agenda.
   
   
3. Develop a preliminary media/technology strategy proposal that addresses the issue identified above and relates it to the organization's larger social goals.
   
   
4. Place proposed media strategy in an analytic framework, and develop a feasibility recommendation for the strategy.
   
   
5. Assess the resources that are available in the organization selected, as well as those which would be needed to undertake the project.
   
   
6. Present your final media strategy to the organization in a comprehensive form.

Standards

1. For Criterion #1, the student must select a public agency or community organization approved by a faculty evaluator, which addresses relevant social issues and goals.
   
   
2. For Criterion #2, communications media and information technologies may include a range of options: from high-tech internet-based multimedia, to mainstream media outlets, to traditional grassroots communications techniques such as leafleting. Your preliminary evaluation should discuss both appropriate and inappropriate media and information technologies in relation to the relevant social issues and goals of the agency or community organization.
   
   
3. For Criterion #3, the preliminary strategy proposal should be in written form and should include the following:
   
   
   1. A range of 2-3 options for using communications media and information technology to address the organizational agenda identified above; each option should be clearly described and linked specifically to elements of the organizational agenda.
   2. An evaluation of the strengths and weakness of each option consisting of 2-3 well-developed paragraphs for each option, along with media and information technology examples as appropriate.
   3. A recommendation as to the media and information technologies that would best fit the agenda of the host organization; the recommendation section should develop logically from the first two parts of the proposal, should contain its own rationale and a well-developed persuasive argument in support of the recommendation.
      
      
4. For Criterion #4, the analytic framework for the project must include statutory and regulatory legal considerations, related public policy issues, relevant models and theories of communication, and relevant organizing strategies.
5. For Criterion #5, the needs assessment of media resources required to undertake the strategy proposal should include an inventory of the organization's media/technology capacities, including in-house technologies and personnel. It should also identify additional technology, personnel, and related resources needed to implement the proposed media/technology strategy, including media products, budget projections, and timetables.
   
   
6. The final presentation of the media strategy to the organization should be a "live" public speaking presentation for the public or community organization with which the student has been working, and should include supporting presentation technology (such as power point presentation tools) as appropriate. At a minimum, the final media/technology strategy/presentation should address the following.

• proposed audience
• thematic and message content
• choice(s) of media (internet, TV, radio, print, etc.)
• graphic aspects of campaign (logo, images or similar identifiers)
• proposed methods of delivery
• personnel
• budget
• production timetable

Links to Portfolio Level III

1. The written media strategy proposal might be used as "an argument essay" or "a practice-based paper." (See "b" and "c" in Portfolio Level III.)
   
   
2. The final oral presentation to the host organization might also be used as a persuasive oral presentation or a practiced-based oral presentation. (See "b" and "c" in Portfolio Level III.)

Examples of Demonstration:

1. Demonstration of this competency through prior learning and experience would entail documentation of work on a project such as creating an organizational plan or public campaign using digital media and technology for a non-profit organization or community-based group. The campaign should be one that is related to public and community service, that took advantage of at least three identifiable digital media and technology tools or applications, and that addressed at least one frequently excluded populations.
   
   
2. A student who wants to demonstrate this competency through independent study may proceed by creating their own organizational plan or public campaign using digital media and technology for a non-profit organization or community-based group. The project(s) should be approved by the evaluator. Then, working alone or in a group, a student may undertake an independent study project as follows:
   
   
   1. Working with an existing community organization, identify a project using digital media and technology: such as a neighborhood group using a web site to organize members.
   2. Review how at least two similar projects have used digital media and technology and write a three-to-five page summary of those projects.
   3. Develop a strategy that would employ at least three identifiable digital media and technology tools or applications to further the organization’s social goals.
   4. Do a final 10-15 minute presentation, documenting and analyzing every step in the process and concluding with aspects were most successful, where unexpected outcomes emerged, and what might have been done differently.
      
      
3. A student may take one course (at CPCS or elsewhere) focusing on organizational strategies using digital media and technology tools or applications. It might include some of the following topics:

1. Addressing the public policy issues, themes, positions, and/or organizational needs that lend themselves to utilization of digital media and technology tools or applications.
2. Reviewing existing media/technology strategies that address the issue identified above, as it relates it to the organization's larger social goals.
3. Exploring the media/technology strategy within an analytic framework
4. Considering the resources that are needed to complete such a project