Center News

Coronavirus Vaccines: Identifying Ways to Build Public Trust

This article was originally published in The Conversation on Nov. 4, 2020. The article was written by University of Florida College of Journalism and Communications Center for Public Interest Communications Director Ann Christiano and Post-doctoral Research Associate Jack Barry.

Posted: January 27, 2021

The pharmaceutical companies Pfizer and BioNtech announced Nov. 20, 2020, that they will seek emergency use authorization from the Food and Drug Administration for a vaccine to prevent COVID-19. On Nov. 16, Moderna announced that a vaccine it has been working on has been shown to be close to 95% effective. But no vaccine will be nearly that effective in reality if people refuse to take it. And recent polls suggest that about 40% of Americans won’t take a COVID-19 vaccine when it becomes available. Those numbers are even higher among nonwhite Americans. Read full article  

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Category: Center Update

Ja’Kari Clayton: Leading the Way

Ja'Kari Clayton

Ja'Kari graduates this December as the first Master's in Mass Communications specializing in Public Interest Communications student

Posted: November 19, 2020

Ja’kari Clayton is set to graduate from UF with a MA in Mass Communications and become the “first ever” graduate specializing in public interest communications. He’s also spent the last two years as a research assistant with the Center. The Center’s Postdoc, Jack J. Barry, interviewed Ja’kari to get his thoughts on the program, which skills he learned in the program that he found to be most valuable, and to get a glimpse into what his bright future holds. What attracted you to the field of public interest communications? And specifically what led you to choosing to complete the MA?…

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Category: Center Update

Center partners on videoconferencing report

cover of book

What’s really happening when working together face-to-face means screen-to-screen? Over 4,400 people at nonprofits and foundations, colleges and universities, and government agencies answered, and now you can read exactly what they said in a new report, “Unmuted”

Posted: October 27, 2020

“Unmuted: What Works, What Doesn’t, and How We Can All Do Better When Working Together Online” is a new report released by The Goodman Center in partnership with  the University of Florida College of Journalism and Communications Center for Public Interest Communications(CPIC) and a consortium of non-profit organizations. With the explosion of videoconferencing triggered by the pandemic, the report examined what is working and what is not working with remote communication. Center Director Ann Christiano, Program and Training Director Ellen Nodine and Managing Director Matt Sheehan contributed to the report, which examined the explosion of videoconferencing triggered by the pandemic.…

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Category: Center Update

From Journalist to Advocate to Academic: the new Frank Karel Chair in Public Interest Communications

Angela Bradbery chats with the Center's Jack Berry about her new role as Frank Karel Chair in Public Interest Communications

Posted: August 29, 2020

Jack: Congratulations on your new position as the next Frank Karel Chair in Public Interest Communications here at the University of Florida. We are excited to have you join the team. Frank Karel, a 1961 journalism graduate of our College, endowed the chair in 2009 after a 30-year career as vice president for communications for the Robert Wood Johnson and Rockefeller Foundations, where he pioneered using science-based communication for social change. Ann Searight Christiano served as the inaugural chair and now Angela joins our College in August 2020. I’d love to start by asking what first got you interested in…

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Category: Center Update

The Science of Making People Care

Effective communication is not simply about getting your message out. It requires you to strategically tap into what shapes people’s feelings and values. Here we share five principles pulled from social science that will help you connect your work to what people care most about.

Posted: August 16, 2018

Read the Fall 2018 Stanford Social Innovation Review cover story. by Ann Christiano and Annie Neimand

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Category: Center Update

Fighting Hate with a Camera, a Story and a YouTube Account

Posted: July 19, 2018

Things I learned from YouTube stars, ex-extremists, and storytellers about fighting hate by Annie Neimand    

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Category: Center Update

How We Are Making Sure The Science We Share Is Good

Insights from the social sciences have the potential to be useful, but not all research is created equal. Many areas of study suffer from systematic flaws that limit the usefulness of the research they produce. Before trusting what a study has to say, it’s important to critically evaluate the assumptions and conclusions the researchers have made along the way

Posted: July 18, 2018

Read the article in Medium’s Science of Storytelling  by Kelly Chernin and Annie Neimand

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Category: Center Update

Roadmap to a new world

In New Power, Jeremy Heimans and Henry Timms argue that power and influence are being driven by a new participatory and peer-driven paradigm. Ann Christiano reviews their new book.

Posted: June 16, 2018

Read the book review in Stanford Social Innovation Review. by Ann Christiano

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Category: Center Update

The Back-of-the-Envelope Guide to Communications Strategy

Communications strategy should be flexible, scrappy, and accessible to everyone on your team. This four-question framework, rooted in social science, can help organizations craft an effective strategy that drives real social change.

Posted: September 17, 2017

Read the Stanford Social Innovation Review Fall 2017 article by Ann Christiano and Annie Neimand

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Category: Center Update

Stop Raising Awareness Already

Too many organizations concentrate on raising awareness about an issue—such as the danger of eating disorders or loss of natural habitat—without knowing how to translate that awareness into action, by getting people to change their behavior or act on their beliefs.

Posted: March 1, 2017

See the Spring 2017 Stanford Social Innovation Review article. by Ann Christiano and Annie Neimand

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Category: Center Update