There is currently a new academic field emerging in social science which focuses on using strategic communications to strengthen social movements and to create effective campaigns to achieve social good. This new field is called Public Interest Communications. University of Florida is leading the charge in this emerging field: Each year at the end of February, Gainesville becomes the site of the annual frank gathering (frank.jou.ufl.edu) of 300 leading social movement builders and change makers – the people who use communications to drive social change. The frank team also organizes
- the interdisciplinary frank (scholar) academic conference
- changeville, a documentary virtual reality and music festival, featuring artists who share a passion for driving positive social change through their works
- frankology — summaries of recent peer-reviewed research from multiple disciplines,
- frank finds — a collection of headlines and links to great content from the interwebs
- speak frankly — our blog that features insights from practitioners in the field
- 7 Minutes in Heaven with a Scientist – a podcast series
If people are interested, I (and hopefully my colleague Barbara) would hold a THATCamp talk session to give you an overview of what makes Public Interest Communications different from other fields and what is going on right now in the field, particular at University of Florida.
We will then focus on having a workshop style discussion on how you can use your expertise to best achieve social change (and how we can perhaps help).
