Public Communication Campaigns

In 1981 the first edition of Public Communication Campaigns effectively presented the state of the art in public communication campaigns. Program managers, policymakers, administrators, and evaluators brought together valuable perspectives on influencing public knowledge, attitudes, and behavior. The second edition of Public Communication Campaigns continues this tradition, bringing to bear the continual advances--and challenges --in campaign theorizing and research over the past decade. Original chapters from the first edition are significantly revised, providing a fuller body of research and experience. Relevant case studies such as the Stanford Heart Disease Prevention Project and studies of cancer and antismoking campaigns serve to broaden and enrich these discussions. New chapters include a highly innovative campaign sampler that sketches 11 notable campaigns and their implications, and provides historical context for more recent studies. Here is a tutorial on formative evaluation, a discussion of community campaigns, a systems-based evaluation planning methodology, an evaluation of television soap operas as campaign tools, and timely analyses of the conduct of political campaigns and the use of persuasion in adolescent AIDS prevention campaigns. An insightful closing chapter by Larry Wallack challenges some of the basic campaign assumptions about the role of mass media. Like its enlightening predecessor, this volume will play an important role in communication efforts to improve the lives of individuals and society by scholars, policy makers, researchers, practitioners, planners, and evaluators. "Most readers will find the book valuable. . . . The book′s scope guarantees some sustenance for all. . . . It packages some impressive pieces by researchers of theoretical and methodological sophistication who have applied their expertise to specific problems. . . . For those interested in the present state of thinking about public communication campaigns, this volume is most useful." --Canadian Journal of Communication

Ronald E. Rice (Ph.D. & M.A., Stanford University; B.A., Columbia University) is both the Arthur N. Rupe Chair in the Social Effects of Mass Communication in the Department of Communication and Co-Director of the Carsey-Wolf Center at UC, Santa Barbara. He has been elected divisional officer in the International Communication Association and the Academy of Management, elected President and Fellow of the ICA, awarded a Fulbright Award to Finland, appointed as Wee Kim Wee Professor and then University Professor of the School of Communication and Information at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore, and awarded an Honorary Doctorate from the University of Montreal. He has co-authored or co-edited ten books, including The New Media: Communication, Research and Technology (1984), and The Internet and Health Communication (2001), both also with SAGE. He is widely published in communication science, public communication campaigns, computer-mediated communication systems, methodology, organizational and management theory, information systems, information science and bibliometrics, and social networks.

Charles K. Atkin (Ph.D., University of Wisconsin; B.A., Michigan State University) is University Distinguished Professor in the Department of Communication at Michigan State, where he has served as Chair for 15 years. He teaches and conducts research on mass communication campaigns, particularly in the health domain. Based on sustained accomplishments in applied research on health campaigns, he received the 2006 Decade of Behavior Award from the American Psychological Association and a consortium of 54 social science organizations as well as the 2008 career award as “Outstanding Health Communication Scholar” from National Communication Association and the International Communication Association Health Communication Divisions. In 2010, he was selected for the Phillips Award for Distinguished Applied Communication Research by the National Communication Association. He has been a Fellow of the International Communication Association since 1999. He has published almost 100 journal articles and ten books, including Mass Communication and Public Health (1990, SAGE) and Public Communication Campaigns (1989, 2001, SAGE). His federal grant research has been extensive, with recent major projects on breast cancer and binge drinking.