1. Communication Theory
The Principles of General & Crisis
Communication
Massimiliano Mesenasco
Media Languages B.A.
Provincia di Alessandria - Servizio Protezione
Civile
Social Media Melting in Emergencies 2012

2. Communication is the transmission of
informations
The aim of communication is to transmit a message
from a source to a receiver without any loss of
information even in presence of noise.

3. The secret for a good communication is...
Or maybe not...

4. The “Hypodermic needle” or “Magic Bullet” was
the first relevant model of communication.
Rooted in the Psychological Behaviorism of the
‘30s (like B.F. Skinner, for example), this theory
suggests that the message is completely absorbed
by the receiver exactly as intended by the
sender.

5. Source Receiver
Message Message
Noise
Transmitting Receiving
device Channel device

6. The code is a set of rules that allows encoding
and decoding
Source Receiver
?
DOG E4¶
D = D D = E
Meaning
Meaning
Signifier
Signifier
O = O O = 4
G = G G = ¶
Encoding Decoding

7. Source Receiver
Encoding Decoding
Message Message
Noise
Transmitting Receiving
device Channel device

8. According to Ferdinand de Saussure, the categories of
signifier and meaning are the key to understand the
sharing and the transmission of the meanings.
signifier > DOG
meaning >
The word “DOG”, our signifier, bears the idea of the
dog, our meaning, but only for those who are able to
link the signifier and the meaning.
This process is arbitrary, with some exceptions, like
onomatopoeias and interjections.

9. This concept seems very simple and basic applied to
words but let’s analyse a more “complex” example...
“What to Do Before a Tornado
Use a NOAA Weather Radio with a tone-alert feature to keep you
informed of watches and warnings issued in your area. The tone-
alert feature will automatically alert you when a watch or warning
is issued.”
Wonderful, now we know what to do before a
tornado!
But... what’s a NOAA Weather Radio? Tone-alert
feature? Uhm...

10. That’s our fantastic Weather Radio with tone alert!
This kind of radio is widespread in the USA and
unknown in Italy, so the most of us is not able to link
the signifier (NOAA Weather Radio) with the
meaning.

11. “What to Do Before a Tornado
Use a NOAA Weather Radio with a tone-alert feature to keep you
informed of watches and warnings issued in your area. The tone-alert
feature will automatically alert you when a watch or warning is issued.”
Even that’s a very simple phrase, we can’t
understand its whole meaning, so we simply don’t
know what to do before a tornado.
Try to imagine what could happen if an entire city, or
just the 50% of its inhabitants doesn’t understand our
instructions during an emergency.

12. This could result
in...
Hesitation
Panic

13. A correct communication
process means...
Safety

14. So, how can we communicate in a correct
way?
To understand the importance of a good communication,
let’s analyse a quote by Paul Watzlawick, one the most
influential figures of Palo Alto School.

15. “One cannot not communicate”
Even silence is communicative and the same is for
our clothes, our facial expression, our car and so
on.

16. Paul Grice identifies four maxims useful to
achieve a cooperative communication
Quality > Be truthful
Make your contribution as
Quantity >
informative as required
Relation > Be pertinent
Manner > Be clear, avoid ambiguity

17. So, since we cannot not communicate, what
are the main features of a good message?
- Authoritative
- Brief
- Clear

18. A brief warning about authoritativeness and
authority!
According to De Certeau, technical knowledge
(authoritativeness) leads to authority but authority is
in turn strictly bound to its abuse.
L’abuse de savoir gives authority to the expert, even
about topics far from his field of knowledge.
We can affirm that this effect is even stronger if
messages are endorsed by an organization.

19. A brief tip about clarity!
We are naturally prone to think about something
we’re told not to.
If I tell you “don’t talk about a cow”, your brain
immediately visualizes a cow.
The same effects takes place when, in a risky situation,
I tell you “have no fear!”, the immediate answer will
be “fear? FEAR? Why should I have fear?”
Always use positive concepts!
“Calm winds for the next 24 hours” is much better
than “no tornados in the next 24 hours”

20. Something more about clarity!
"The map is not the territory"

21. And now that we have a perfect message, how
does it influence people’s behavior during
emergencies?

22. Consider that, according to the situation awareness
theory, the decision making is a process composed by
three steps that precede the real decision moment.
Situational
Awareness
Decision
Perception Comprehension Projection Action
making
In order to make a conscious and sensible decision to
handle a situation (especially a risky and stressful one)
the subject must obtain the informations needed to fill
these three boxes.

23. The construction of the situational awareness is a
process that may require a very short or a very long
time, depending on the situation, and, most of all, the
more complete and comprehensive the informations
are, the more the decision fits the situation.
To ease the decision-making process in emergency
situation, we have to work during peacetime to spread
the emergency culture among the population.
Remember! Only with an everyday relation the
organizations can build the necessary trust to build the
emergency culture and to work as gatekeeper of
unofficial informations during crisis.

24. Depending on the situation, we can identify four
modalities of communication policy.
Operational Cognitive
communication communication
policy policy
direct the behavior of a define the situation for a
Emergency population in a risky context population in a risky context
give notions about Civil
Protection operations to the maximize the general civic
Peacetime different levels of a social functionality
system

25. To master these techniques, we must be aware of two
further concepts.
The two-step flow of communication
and
The feedback

26. Source Feedback Receiver
Encoding Decoding
Message Message
Noise
Transmitting Receiving
device Channel device

27. Source
Opinion
Leader
Receiver Receiver Receiver Receiver