Steven Sams - Academia.edu (original) (raw)

Papers by Steven Sams

Proceedings - Academy of Management, 2015

To answer the question, What are the best ways to communicate uncertainties to public audiences, ... more To answer the question, What are the best ways to communicate uncertainties to public audiences, at-risk communities, and stakeholders during public health emergency events? we conducted a systematic review of published studies, grey literature, and media reports in English and other United Nations (UN) languages Arabic, Chinese, French, Russian, and Spanish. Almost 2900 English and 8600 other UN languages titles and abstracts were scanned of which 33 English and 13 other UN languages data-based primary studies were selected, which were classified into four methodological streams: Quantitative-comparison groups; Quantitative-descriptive survey; Qualitative; and Mixed-method and case-study. Study characteristics (study method, country, emergency type, emergency phase, at-risk population) and study findings (in narrative form) were extracted from individual studies. The findings were synthesized within methodological streams and evaluated for certainty and confidence. These within-method findings were next synthesized across methodological streams to develop an overarching synthesis of findings. The findings showed that country coverage focused on high and middle-income countries in Asia, Europe, North America, and Oceania, and the event most covered was infectious disease followed by flood and earthquake. The findings also showed that uncertainty in public health emergency events is a multi-faceted concept with multiple components. There is universal agreement, with some exceptions, that communication to the public should include explicit information about event uncertainties, and this information must be consistent and presented in an easy to understand format. Additionally, uncertainty related to events requires a distinction between uncertainty information and uncertainty experience. At-risk populations experience event uncertainty in lives full of uncertainties from other sources. Event uncertainty is experienced and uncertainty information may be understood and misunderstood in the same general ways by the public, experts, and policy makers. Experience of event uncertainty may be a defining feature for media professionals as well due to contradictory and inconsistent information in the environment..

Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, Dec 11, 2013

Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Oct 1, 2016

One of the main challenges of emergency management lies in communicating risks to the public. On ... more One of the main challenges of emergency management lies in communicating risks to the public. On some occasions, risk communicators might seek to increase awareness over emerging risks, while on others the aim might be to avoid escalation of public reactions. Social media accounts offer an opportunity to rapidly distribute critical information and in doing so to mitigate the impact of emergencies by influencing public reactions. This article draws on theories of risk and emergency communication in order to consider the impact of Twitter as a tool for communicating risks to the public. We analyse 10,020 Twitter messages posted by the official accounts of UK local government authorities (councils) in the context of two major emergencies: the heavy snow of December 2010 and the riots of August 2011. Twitter was used in a variety of ways to communicate and manage associated risks including messages to provide official updates, encourage protective behaviour, increase awareness and guide public attention to mitigating actions. We discuss the importance of social media as means of increasing confidence in emergency management institutions.

Asian Journal of Communication, Oct 1, 2011

... Panagiotopoulos, P., Sams, S., Elliman, T. and Fitzgerald, G. 2011. ... The study, which occu... more ... Panagiotopoulos, P., Sams, S., Elliman, T. and Fitzgerald, G. 2011. ... The study, which occurred in October 2009, focused on five regions, ie Jangan-gu in Suwon City, Sangrok-gu in Ansan City, Gangneung City, Chungcheongbuk-do province, and Yangsan City. ...

social networks and micro-blogging in political campaigning: The exploration of a new campaign to... more social networks and micro-blogging in political campaigning: The exploration of a new campaign tool and a new campaign style

Technological Forecasting and Social Change, 2016

Academy of Management Proceedings, 2015

This study explores the use of Twitter by candidates, in particular their networking and microblo... more This study explores the use of Twitter by candidates, in particular their networking and microblogging activities in the election campaign for the European Parliament elections of 2009 in the Netherlands. The main focus is on identifying what political aspects (e.g., party characteristics and candidate characteristics) influences their use of Twitter as a campaign tool. Furthermore, we explore the effectiveness of candidates' activities on Twitter in gaining votes. Contents Introduction Politicians' use of Web 2.0 Hypotheses Methods Results Discussion and conclusions social media use is inherited by future generations and people are increasingly able to avoid information that conflicts with their preexisting knowledge, democracy is at risk.

ABSTRACT This article examines a user's textual comments on social networking sites of po... more ABSTRACT This article examines a user's textual comments on social networking sites of politicians using an automatic data-collection tool and machine-based learning technique. South Korean politicians with a presence on Cyword were identified and all comments given to them by other users within a specified timeframe were gathered using a Java-based e-research tool and analysed for identifying emotion-based political communication. The techniques employed in this research were particularly useful to automatically classify the sentimental emotions made by citizens on social networking sites of politicians.

Microblogging services are considered an emerging opportunity for authorities seeking to establis... more Microblogging services are considered an emerging opportunity for authorities seeking to establish new communication channels with their public. Potential benefits evolve around enhancing transparency and interactivity, as well as sharing information regularly or during emergency events. The purpose of this exploratory study is to advance our empirical understanding of microblogging in local government. In particular, we reflect on online data collected to profile the use of Twitter by 29 Greater London local authorities (LAs). The study shows that London LAs have been accumulating significant experience with Twitter mainly over the past two years. In fact, many of them appear to incorporate conversational characteristics in their Tweets other than simply disseminating information. Furthermore, an analysis of Tweets during the August 2011 riots in England indicates the usefulness of the medium for responsibly informing the public and preventing rumours. Nevertheless, the study also identifies several points of improvement in the way public authorities are building their online networks; for example, in terms of connecting with each other and exploiting even more the conversational characteristics of Twitter.

Government Information Quarterly, 2014

ABSTRACT How social media can enable opportunities for collaboration between citizens and governm... more ABSTRACT How social media can enable opportunities for collaboration between citizens and governments is an evolving issue in theory and practice. This paper examines the dynamic aspects of collaboration in the context of the 2011 riots in England. In August 2011, parts of London and other cities in England suffered from extensive disorder and even loss of human lives. Based on a dataset of 1746 posts by 81 local government Twitter accounts during or shortly after the riots, we explore how local authorities attempted to reduce the effects of the riots and support community recovery. Using Twitter's conversational and rapid update features, they produced a variety of informational and actionable messages with clear calls for offline or online action. In some cases, collective against the riots evolved in a mutual way: not only citizens were mobilized by local authorities, but also local authorities actively promoted actions initiated by citizens.

Lecture Notes in Computer Science, 2012

This study examines effects of microblogging communications during emergency events based on the ... more This study examines effects of microblogging communications during emergency events based on the case of the summer 2011 riots in London. During five days in August 2011, parts of London and other major cities in England suffered from extensive public disorders, violence and even loss of human lives. We collected and analysed the tweets posted by the official accounts maintained by 28 London local government authorities. Those authorities used Twitter for a variety of purposes such as preventing rumours, providing official information, promoting legal actions against offenders and organising post-riot community engagement activities. The study shows how the immediacy and communicative power of microblogging can have a significant effect at the response and recovery stages of emergency events.

Transforming Government: People, Process and Policy, 2011

EPetitioning has been emerging as arguably the most important eParticipation institutional activi... more EPetitioning has been emerging as arguably the most important eParticipation institutional activity. This paper aims to provide some insights into how ePetitions are perceived and supported by social networking sites.

Social Science Computer Review, 2011

Cyworld, a Korean social networking site (SNS), enables politicians to establish and maintain the... more Cyworld, a Korean social networking site (SNS), enables politicians to establish and maintain their online presence and allows them to communicate with constituents through their personal profile. This article identifies the most visible politicians on Cyworld in terms of comments posted on their profiles between April 1, 2008 and June 14, 2009 and examines the text and sentiments reflected in those profiles. A content analysis combining semantic network analysis and sentiment analysis illustrates the meaning and collective sentiment of the comments. The results suggest that progressivism dominated political discourse and that the members of the ruling party received more negative comments than those of the opposition party. Furthermore, group-oriented terms indicated the existence of collectivism, which is representative of Eastern culture. The results suggest a significant relationship among gender, comment types, and SNS activities.

Party Politics, 2013

Abstract This study explores how candidates running for the European Parliament (EP) in 2009 used... more Abstract This study explores how candidates running for the European Parliament (EP) in 2009 used micro-blogging and online social networks in this case Twitter (www.twitter.com) in the early stage of its adoption to communicate and connect with citizens. Micro-blogging in ...