Communications Agency Research Articles

Unraveling the Local Hymnal: Artistic Creativity and Agency in Four Indonesian Christian Communities

Local hymnals are cultural artifacts that express a community’s values, history, and identity and serve as vehicles for communal agency. This study investigates the role of local hymnals in shaping cultural identity and theological expression within four Indonesian Christian communities. Through interviews with church leaders, songwriters, and musicians, and an analysis of four hymnals from different communities in Indonesia, this study explores how these communities exercise agency in creating, perceiving, experiencing, and utilizing locally created songbooks. The research reveals that local hymnals are not only tools for shaping communal identity and transmitting theological understanding but also instruments through which communities assert their agency, fostering cultural dynamism. The study also considers the impact of colonialism and globalization on the development of local hymnody, highlighting how these communities have actively adapted and reinterpreted external influences to create unique and meaningful expressions of faith. The research concludes that local hymnals are not merely collections of songs but living artifacts embodying the agency of communities: the ongoing dialogue between tradition and innovation, faith and culture, and the individual and the community. By fostering autogenic cultural reflection and asserting communal agency, local hymnals fuel momentum and sustainability within a culture.

Training the Medical Writers of the Future Using a Structured Entry-Level Program: A Life Sciences Communications Agency Perspective

Ensuring that associate medical writers are set up for success requires a well-planned entry-level program that integrates training sessions with on-the-job experience. We describe how we have crafted our program for entrylevel candidates starting from our interview process and moving to our training program, how we embed them into teams and provide on the-job training, how our support network is structured, and how we measure success. Feedback from recent participants in our training program offers valuable hands-on insights. A robust foundation of publication training is key to the development of our medical writers, providing skills and helping them develop many of the key attributes that underpin success, including attention to detail, effective storytelling, and industry compliance. Our profession is not static, and training programs need to be agile and pivot quickly to accommodate evolving industry standards, new technologies, and fluctuating client and audience needs and challenges. Staying up to date with future developments in medical writing is crucial, and we do our utmost to train and support our team and futureproof our training, so our junior writers are well equipped to excel and have fulfilling careers in the life sciences communication industry.

Factors Affecting Employee Performance

This study investigates the factors that influence employee performance, namely personal factors, leadership, co-worker factors, work facilities, and work environment. This study uses a quantitative explanatory approach with primary data obtained from a survey with a questionnaire. The population in this study were all employees in North Maluku Province. The sample in the study came from two agencies, namely the Communication, Informatics, and Code Agency and the Transportation Agency of North Maluku Province, totaling 103 people. The data analysis technique used multiple regression with the help of SPSS software. The findings indicate that personal factors and leadership positively influence employee performance, with improved individual attributes and effective leadership leading to enhanced performance outcomes. Conversely, the presence of a larger number of co-workers was found to negatively affect performance, potentially due to role ambiguity and reduced accountability. Additionally, work facilities and the work environment did not significantly impact employee performance. The results emphasize the importance of focusing on personal and leadership development to boost employee effectiveness while addressing co-worker dynamics to maintain clear roles and responsibilities. Future research should further investigate these relationships to refine strategies for organizational performance improvement

Communicative Gaslighting

ABSTRACT In this paper I identify a distinctive kind of gaslighting: communicative gaslighting. Communicative gaslighters intentionally misrepresent the communicative properties of an utterance—their own or their target’s—in a way which functions to undermine the target’s confidence in her abilities as a communicator. I argue that we can gaslight people as both speakers and hearers, and about (among other properties) the locutionary, perlocutionary, and illocutionary dimensions of utterances. Communicative gaslighting is concerning because not only does it undermine targets’ communicative agency, but also it can contribute to a general decay of communicative conventions.

The process of developing an advertising poster within a communication agency: practical case of open communication and advertising

Our research aims to tack stock of the creation of advertising posters in the open communication and advertising agency of the wilaya of Batna , in order to determine the importance of good relationships between the imployees of the advertising agency and its clients.

Integrating TQM into organizational culture for the success of the one Indonesian data (SDI) in the East Java

This study evaluates the implementation of Total Quality Management (TQM) in supporting the One Data Indonesia (SDI) policy at the East Java Provincial Communication and Information Agency (Kominfo). Employing a qualitative descriptive approach, the study well elaborates on challenges such as the lack of coordination between government agencies and the lack of regulatory support from the regional government. Despite these challenges, the implementation of TQM at the Communication and Information Agency has brought about well-described benefits, including increased data accuracy and relevance, as well as resource efficiency. However, obstacles such as the shortage of trained human resources and differences in data standards between agencies persist. The implementation of TQM has also fostered collaboration between government agencies and the private sector, enhancing the quality of public services. In conclusion, the implementation of TQM at the Communication and Information Agency supports the SDI policy by improving data service quality and strengthening organizational work culture. Further efforts in HR training and data standardization are necessary to optimize the SDI policy and improve public services.

Effective provider communication for personal agency in mental health recovery: A cross-sectional study on Japanese users' perspectives.

INTRODUCTION: Recovery-oriented practice in community-based mental health services is crucial for individuals with mental illness, with communication with familiar individuals being important for recovery in Japanese and Asian cultures. This study aimed to examine effective communication factors for personal agency in recovery by investigating the association between perceived support provided through communication and personal agency of individuals with mental illness. A cross-sectional study was conducted among community-dwelling Japanese mental health service users, assessing subjective agency, decisional conflict, staff support for personal recovery, activation for mental health self-management, demographic variables and living difficulties. Multiple linear regression analysis identified factors predicting subjective agency, revealing characteristics of effective provider communication for recovery. Data from 222 users were analysed, revealing negative correlations between uncertainty about treatment choices and ineffective decision-making with higher subjective agency, while staff support for personal recovery positively correlated with higher subjective agency. In recovery-oriented practice, prioritizing users' emotional experiences during decision-making and supporting their self-determination in their unique recovery journeys is crucial. Providers should approach dialogue as carefully as medication prescriptions, prioritizing therapeutic partnerships with users. The findings extend beyond nursing to all mental health service providers, advancing the theory of recovery-oriented practice.

The Evolution of Communication Consulting: A Long-Term Comparison of Service Quality in Strategic Communication

ABSTRACT Communication leaders and their teams are seldom able to handle the broad range of challenges within their area of responsibility by themselves. They rely on agencies as an external workbench and as specialists for new or seldom used practices. More importantly, they seek advice from communication consultants to understand challenges, and to identify opportunities for action. The increasing demand for such services has pushed prices and intensified the debate about their quality. Surprisingly, research on communication consulting and its quality is sparse. The first empirical studies were conducted just 10 years ago. In light of dynamic industry developments, the question arises regarding how the understanding and perceptions of communication consulting quality has evolved. To this end, a comparative study surveyed a total of 422 communication agencies in 2013 and 2023 on the relevance, factors, assurance, and showcasing of consulting quality. The results reveal that the importance of consulting quality is still high, but underlying conditions and implementation of quality have changed considerably. As the first in-depth and long-term exploration of this phenomenon, this research helps to shed light on a highly relevant but underexplored facet of strategic communication. It informs practice and offers numerous starting points for future research.

Temporal patterns and life cycle dynamics of social media user activity during disasters: A data-driven approach for effective crisis communication

Situational awareness of social media user activity during disasters is essential for effective and efficient crisis communication. Social media platforms such as Twitter and Facebook have emerged as critical channels for governments, relief agencies, and volunteer organizations to disseminate important information to the public during disasters. However, existing models are often limited to a specific disaster event, lacking a comprehensive and generalized approach. This paper introduces a novel life cycle concept to investigate the dynamics of social media engagement during multiple wildfires and bombing/shooting events in the United States. We extensively analyze millions of tweets and identify significant temporal commonalities, unveiling generic diurnal and life cycle patterns within each disaster category. This study proposes two models for the Hourly Distribution of Tweets and Daily Distribution of Tweets to explore different evolutionary stages characterizing diurnal and life cycle patterns. The hourly model accurately calculates peak engagement times for wildfire and bombing/shooting events, with peak engagement occurring between 9:00 AM and 12:00 PM. The daily models reveal that the highest diffusion rate is observed between two to four days from the wildfire formation day, while the peak engagement of a bombing/shooting event comes within the first 24 h of the incident. The findings enhance the understanding of social media dynamics during disasters and assist crisis communication agencies in developing communication strategies that ensure prompt and effective dissemination of critical information to affected populations.

In the age of AIs, the checkmate comes from the data

Data have always been essential in organizational communication and public relations and, as in any other sector, they have also become increasingly important in these areas in recent years as the main fuel for artificial intelligence. This research aims to show how professionals in communication agencies have had access to them, which interfaces they have used the most, and what challenges they face on a daily basis. We opted for a qualitative study using bibliographical and documentary research and in-depth interviews to evaluate daily contact with data. Results show that the supply of data can still greatly grow and that the employed interfaces require communicators’ constant curatorial work to prevent misinterpretations.

Traditional agencies on bridges: How is digital transformation changing business models?

AbstractDigital technologies produce new strategic and organizational challenges for incumbent firms that require major digital transformation (DT) processes, leading to the evolution of business models (BMs). Contributing to the research stream on DT and BM evolution, this study explores which technologies have the most relevant effect on core BM dimensions, i.e., value proposition, value creation, and value capture, by investigating both the consequent themes and intensities of change in these dimensions. A valuable context for analysis was chosen: the advertising industry and traditional communication agencies, namely, creative and media agencies. Based on 38 in-depth interviews with senior communication professionals and qualitative content analysis, we propose a comprehensive reading of (1) the impact of specific technologies on different BM dimensions and components and (2) the themes and intensities of change in creative and media agencies’ BM dimensions. Finally, we outline an interpretative framework, identifying two different paths for incumbents: outside-in BM adaptation and inside-out BM innovation. This study therefore offers two academic contributions. First, it overcomes the vagueness of previous investigations that considered the effects of digital technologies in general terms, and it also resolves the narrow scope of research that focused only on the impact of one specific technology. Second, by deepening the understanding of the joint evolutions and intensities of change across all three BM dimensions, this study has widened the limited scope of previous contributions on one BM dimension. By doing so, it offers a comprehensive reading of BM dynamics due to DT.

Participatory communication strategies for poverty alleviation in remote indigenous communities

This study investigates the poverty alleviation approach employed by social services in Medan and the influence of remote indigenous community projects. Poverty results in several social and economic issues, underscoring the importance of identifying and implementing effective strategies to alleviate these challenges. This study investigates the impact of moral communication and social support on poverty reduction. It assesses the effectiveness of social support for communities using integrated data on prosperous families (in Bahasa called DTKS). The study employed a descriptive qualitative research methodology. The researchers obtained data by conducting interviews, observations, and analysing documents. Social services employ Islamic communication strategies to address poverty, encompassing various forms of social assistance. Only localities with integrated data on prosperous families can receive this funding. Social services employ this approach to diminish poverty and empower the community. For isolated indigenous tribes, social services extend beyond Islamic communication to implement policies that provide practical vocational training programmes that promote work integration and technical oversight. This study examines the utilisation of Islamic communication and social agencies' assistance to combat poverty. It also provides guidance for policies and activities specifically targeted towards indigenous communities. These discoveries can provide valuable insights for shaping future social service practices and regulations.

Strategies utilised by communication agencies to build and maintain relationships with clients

Strategies utilised by communication agencies to build and maintain relationships with clients

‘문화적 지속성 교육(Culturally Sustaining Pedagogy)’의 한국 다문화교육에의 적용 방안 탐색

Objectives The purpose of this study is to analyze the discourse surrounding multicultural education within the sociocultural context of South Korea, and to propose the application of culturally sustaining pedagogy within South Korean multicultural education.
 Methods This study aimed to introduce the concept of culturally sustaining pedagogy, a topic receiving significant attention in the United States, into the realm of critical multicultural education. It sought to explore the application of this theory within the South Korean sociocultural context and the backdrop of multicultural education. Consequently, this study was structured as a literature review, serving as a preliminary examination intended to guide future research and provide direction for educators to implement culturally sustaining pedagogy in educational settings. The research proceeded in three phases: First, it defined and conceptualized culturally sustaining pedagogy. Second, it involved understanding and analyzing the sociocultural context of South Korea to assess the existing discourse on multicultural education within the country. Third, the study examined the potential application of culturally sustaining pedagogy within South Korean multicultural education.
 Results First, culturally sustaining pedagogy advocates for a shift in multicultural education from assimilation to justice-oriented multicultural education. This is particularly pertinent in contexts like South Korea, where cultural minority groups exhibit a weaker sense of community, thus heightening the influence of assimilationism and underscoring the need for proactive measures to sustain these communities. Second, culturally sustaining pedagogy serves as a platform for initiating discussions on racism and racial inequality within the framework of South Korean multicultural education. Third, this approach emphasizes the attainment of academic success in a broad sense by promoting mutual appreciation for diverse cultures within educational contexts. It posits that this fosters not only the exchange of life itself but also aids in the process of discovering both personal and communal agency. Fourth, culturally sustaining pedagogy is dedicated to sustaining the communities of cultural minorities.
 Conclusions First, this study suggests a need for a shift in teachers' perceptions of cultural minorities, advocating for the systematic inclusion of professional development in multicultural education within the curriculum for teacher education. Second, it emphasizes the importance of providing students from cultural minorities with opportunities and spaces to express their voices and to develop as agents. Third, the study calls for a more comprehensive understanding of culture.

Communicative Activity: Social Theoretical Foundations for Critical Materialist Media and Communication Sociology in the Digital Age

This paper contributes to the social theoretical foundations of a sociology of media and communication by making use of the cultural–historical school in psychology. Such perspective gains relevance in digital capitalism and the blurring of production and Internet usage. The paper first revisits Habermas’s influential notion of communicative action and agency. Second, it uses activity theory as an alternative, more promising way of theorising because it links communication closer to work. A model of communicative action is introduced and a conceptual link between media and human tool use is established. Third, the paper elaborates on the notion of activity in the digital world and posits that digitalisation can be understood as a ‘machinisation’ of mental and communicative-coordinative work. The developed perspective, the paper concludes, allows critical media and communication sociology to operate with meaningful concepts of communicative expropriation, exploitation and alienation.

Parsing Data Log Hasil Pemblokiran Situs Negatif Di Satuan Kerja Perangkat Aceh

In today's digital age, internet access has become an integral part of everyday life, providing broad access to information and communication. However, these technological advances also bring negative impacts, including the potential for the spread of unwanted content or harm to society. The process of parsing negative site blocking datalog is a technique used to analyze and decipher log data resulting from site blocking activities. In this context, negative site blocking is not only focused on illegal content, but also involves efforts to mitigate cybersecurity threats, including phishing attacks, malware, and other malicious online activities. Use of Observation Methods (Observation), Interviews, Literature Studies where the author made direct observations at the Aceh Communication, Informatics and Coding Agency to find out about the negative site blocking datalog in the Aceh Equipment Work Unit, conducted direct interviews with Field Supervisors and staff at the agency to find out about the process of parsing negative site blocking datalogs at the Aceh Equipment Work Unit, collect and study references related to data parsing, negative site categories, websites, CodeIgniter 4 documentation, Bootstrap documentation, and information system design tools from various journals, theses, articles, and various other reference sources. The proposed system for parsing datalogs has clear functional and non-functional needs. Functional needs involve features such as login, blocking data management, category management, blocking graph representation and reporting. Meanwhile, non-functional needs include authentication security, responsive performance, and an intuitive user interface. Thus, parsing log data resulting from negative site blocking in the Aceh Device Work Unit is expected to provide significant benefits for Diskominsa Aceh in maintaining cyber security and morality in the use of the internet in its territory. These conclusions highlight the importance of implementing sophisticated technology solutions to understand, analyze, and manage block log data efficiently and effectively.
 

Development of an Electronic Decision Aid Tool to Facilitate Mainstream Genetic Testing in Ovarian Cancer Patients.

Multigene panel testing is an important component of cancer treatment plans and risk assessment, but there are many different panel options and choosing the most appropriate panel can be challenging for health care providers and patients. Electronic tools have been proposed to help patients make informed decisions about which gene panel to choose by considering their preferences and priorities. An electronic decision aid (DA) tool was developed in line with the International Patient Decision Aids Standards collaboration. The multidisciplinary project team collaborated with an external health care communications agency and the MGH Cancer Center Patient and Family Advisory Council (PFAC) to develop the DA. Surveys of genetic counselors and patients were used to scope the content, and alpha testing was used to refine the design and content. Surveys of genetic counselors (n = 12) and patients (n = 228) identified common themes in discussing panel size and strategies for helping patients decide between panels and in identifying confusing terms for patients and distribution of patients' choices. The DA, organized into 2 major sections, provides educational text, graphics, and videos to guide patients through the decision-making process. Alpha testing feedback from the PFAC (n = 4), genetic counselors (n = 3) and a group of lay people (n = 8) identified areas to improve navigation, simplify wording, and improve layout. The DA developed in this study has the potential to facilitate informed decision-making by patients regarding cancer genetic testing. The distinctive feature of this DA is that it addresses the specific question of which multigene panel may be most suitable for the patient. Its acceptability and effectiveness will be evaluated in future studies.

ASSESSMENT OF SERVICE QUALITY OF PASURUAN E-SAMBAT APPLICATION WITH E-GOVQUAL DIMENSION APPROACH

Public services are government mediators in providing services to the needs of the community. The development of technology makes it easier for state and regional apparatuses to provide public services through an application called E-Government. Similarly, the Pasuruan City Communication and Information Agency has tried to organize the E-Sambat application. This study aims to provide an understanding of the quality of E-Sambat services based on the E-GovQual dimension approach, the gap between E-Sambat performance and public expectations for the E-Sambat application, and knowing which items will be prioritized to be immediately improved in the E-Sambat application. To analyze the feasibility of the application using GAP and the Important Performance Analysis (IPA) method is used to analyze items that are prioritized for improvement. Respondents in this study were 445 respondents. Based on the results of the analysis conducted, the quality of E-Sambat application services is very feasible with a feasibility percentage value of 100%, application performance GAP and public expectations for the Ease of Use variable of 0.08, Trust variable of -0.04, Functionality of the Interaction Environment variable of 0.02, Reliability variable of -0.03, Content and Information Display variable of 0.01, and the Community Support variable of 0.00. The overall average gap is 0.01 which means that people are satisfied with the E-Sambat application service. There are six items that are prioritized for improvement, namely TR 1 (security of personal data of E-Sambat users), TR 6 (access control of E-Sambat users), RLB 1 (speed in downloading E-Sambat forms), CAI 7 (use of colors in the E-Sambat application), CAI 8 (graphics in the E-Sambat application), and CS 5 (User questions answered quickly).

РОЛЬ КРЕАТИВНИХ ФЕСТИВАЛІВ У РОЗВИТКУ КОМУНІКАЦІЙНО-РЕКЛАМНОЇ ДІЯЛЬНОСТІ В УКРАЇНІ

The article reveals the role and significance of creative festivals in the development of communication and advertising activities in Ukraine and the impact of jury awards on the overall rating of agencies. It has been established that the evaluation of projects by participants of creative festivals is carried out according to various criteria: creativity, originality, effectiveness, efficiency, innovation, strategy, quality of execution, compliance with client goals, impact on the brand (business, culture, society), etc. The basic criteria for evaluating projects of participants in international and Ukrainian creative festivals have been analyzed. The system of scoring for the participation of domestic communication agencies in national and international creative festivals has been studied. The methodology for calculating the national rating "Communication Agency of the Year" has been described, which is based on the ratings "National Creativity Rating" (Creativity&Craft) and "National Effectiveness Rating" (Effectiveness) with the application of weight coefficients. Creative festivals are events organized to review and evaluate creativity, innovation, and creativity in various fields. Communication agencies, creative teams and independent creative experts present their projects or ideas to the jury. The use of creative and original approaches by agencies to capture and retain the attention of clients led to the idea of launching a specialized advertising festival at the Cannes Film Festival (Cannes Lions). The first Lions were awarded in Venice in 1954. The second festival was held in Monte Carlo, and the third in Cannes. After that, the international event was alternately held in Venice and Cannes, and since 1984, Cannes has been the sole venue. A new trend emerged, and other creative festivals gradually began to appear, such as: Clio Awards (1959), D&AD (Design and Art Direction) (1962), Effie Worldwide (1968), The One Show (1975), LIA (London International Awards) (1986), Epica Awards (1987), Eurobest (1988), ADCE Awards (Art Directors Club of Europe) (1990), Golden Drum (1993).

Capturing patient experiences of care with digital technology to improve service delivery and quality of care: A scoping review.

Patient experience significantly impacts healthcare quality, outcomes, resource utilisation and treatment adherence. Digital technologies offer promising approaches for capturing real-time, multi-faceted patient experiences. This scoping review investigated how digital technologies are used to capture patient experience during healthcare encounters and their potential to improve health service delivery and care. A scoping review was conducted to determine associations between patients' use of digital technology and subsequent outcomes. Four electronic databases were searched using six combination search terms in titles and/or abstracts published between 2016 and 2022. Inclusion criteria focused on studies where patients were primary users of digital technology, reporting on their experience during care. Studies had to report on at least one outcome: health service delivery, quality of care or patient experience. Screening, data extraction and analysis were performed systematically. Of the 377 studies retrieved, 20 were included. Most studies incorporated aspects allowing patients to share experiences with digital technologies. Eighty percent (n = 16) of studies reported improvements in patient experiences, 75% (n = 15) enhancements in service delivery aspects and 50% (n = 10) indicated improved quality of care associated with the use of digital technologies. Real-time journaling and narrative methods alongside treatment were linked to improved communication, healthcare efficiencies and patient agency. Technologies facilitating bidirectional communication were particularly associated with positive effects on patients' sense of agency. Digital technologies facilitating documentation of patient experiences demonstrate potential in enhancing care quality through increased patient voice, collaboration and agency. Technologies designed to map and evaluate patients' healthcare experiences represent a promising approach to improving healthcare outcomes, service delivery and overall patient experience. Further research is needed to establish standardised methodologies and evaluate long-term impacts across diverse populations. Integrating digital narrative medicine principles may offer valuable insights for future interventions aimed at capturing and enhancing patient experiences in healthcare.