Dr Annette Klarenbeek Lectoraat Communication and Sustainable Society

Dr. Annette Klarenbeek Lectoraat Communication and Sustainable Society

Society talks back (Nowotny, 2001)

Crises entrepreneurs

Changes in communication • speaking rights in society are distributed and globalized • communication is no longer controlled from a central point or idea • Interactional unpredictability has increased

An discursive perspective

Let’s talk energy Why that now? Heritage 2010 2 -10 -2020 Titel presentatie aanpassen 6

Sustainability in every day life

Out of the valley…

Shifting conversations (Grin and van der Graaf, 1996; Leeuwis, 2004; Roling, 2002)

Framing IT and Government

Context: IT and Government + The public debate in the Netherlands has come to a point where any IT project of the government evokes strong critiques and negative frames + + Recently a parliamentary inquiry on government-IT started in the Netherlands Our focus is not to determine whether these frames are true, but to obtain insights into the dynamics of the debate and the construction of (dominant) frames

Research question ‘What frames are important to experts with respect to IT projects, which have been carried out for the Ministry of the Interior and what function do these frames fulfil for the parties which have presented the frame in the period between January 2009 and September 2013? ’

Five Cases • • Abolition of the Voting computer Hack of Digi. Notar – Internet certification Security-leaks Digi. D – Citizen / Government authorization Project management m. GBA – updating the Citizen information database • Debate on saving Biometric passport data

Many to manageable (1/3) • Startset: 40. 000 articles and reactions on five IT-cases • Assumption: it is at the time of intensive public communication and the period shortly afterwards, dominant actors, arguments and frames can be identified in the public debate. • By focusing on these periods, we reduced the dataset by more than half, without losing it’s essence A. Highly active public discourse (many viewpoints) B. Consolidation of frames (The viewpoints that stick) A B

Many to manageable (1/3) • 20. 000 messages is still too much for discursive analysis • A next selection-step is made by a combination of quantitative and qualitative properties: – Significant reach – A selection of regular and specialist media (ergo: less local and regional) – Where possible: articles the evoked many reactions – Articles that present a strongly subjective position, but also the broader public opinion • This resulted in a dataset of about 600 articles

Media-analysis (2/3) • Next step is a longitudinal media-analysis • To gain insight into: – Course of the debate – Most influential actors – Positions/arguments of these actors – Initial impression of frames

Discursive analysis (3/3) • For each case an average of 50 articles is selected • And analysed from a discursive psychological perspective: – Opinions of stakeholders are a reaction to something, they are part of an ongoing conversation – Focus on the way in which actors create meaning while they communicate • Result: – Description of the frame – Language constructions that give rise to frame – Effect the frame produces (rhetorical, visible in responses)

Frames (I) Voting computer Digi. Notar – Internet certification Digi. D – Citizen / m. GBA – Government Citizen authorization information database Saving Biometric passport data An incapable government X X A stubborn government X X A Naive government X X A passive and laconic government X A small group with a lot of power X A negligent government X An adequate overheid X A wastefull overheid X The government is not responsible X Questioning the integrety of the government X IT solutions are no subject of public debate X

Frames (II) • Discursive themes: – The government as problematic entity – The expert as authority – Evading/changing responsibility

Research questions • How do people talk about sustainability in their everyday lives? • How can an understanding of these arguments influence communication strategies used by the government, companies or other institutions?

Questions? 2 -10 -2020 Titel presentatie aanpassen 21