{"id":1998,"date":"2011-09-27T11:55:42","date_gmt":"2011-09-27T16:55:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/onthinktanks.org\/articles\/\/"},"modified":"2016-01-26T11:58:32","modified_gmt":"2016-01-26T16:58:32","slug":"responding-to-digital-disruption-of-traditional-communications-cradle-to-grey-content-strategy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/onthinktanks.org\/articles\/responding-to-digital-disruption-of-traditional-communications-cradle-to-grey-content-strategy\/","title":{"rendered":"Responding to digital disruption of traditional communications: \u2018cradle to grey content\u2019 strategy"},"content":{"rendered":"

At its core, all content developed by think tanks should be strongly evidence based. +<\/span><\/span>The Internet will not change this: if anything, the growth in competing messages makes this more important to stand out from the crowd. How then, is the Internet altering the messages think tanks deliver? In my mind, there are three major opportunities:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. The \u2018Working Paper\u2019 model can be writ large, where work can be made available for comment from a very early stage, or even developed collaboratively in a public manner;<\/li>\n
  2. At the traditional point of communications, when work is \u2018completed\u2019, different messengers in the organisation can deliver different forms of the message using various Internet channels;<\/li>\n
  3. All content needs to be prepared with a clear focus on longevity, as content on the Internet never dies and can actually grow in value over time.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    The cradle\u00a0\u2013 provisional research messages supported by online networking<\/h2>\n

    A researcher may often, while researching, use the very same online tools to plan and carry out their investigations as they do to communicate their findings. This is primarily the case with web and email, but could also extend to networking tools like\u00a0Facebook<\/a>,\u00a0LinkedIn<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Twitter<\/a>; or productivity tools like\u00a0Google Docs<\/a>, which can be used instead of Microsoft Word. Innovative researchers can therefore open up their work to discussion from an early stage, and use the Internet as they\u2019d use an event or workshop for discussion and debate. This is another form of the function traditionally carried out by Working Papers, but updates this function for a digital age by\u00a0making it clearer that research findings are for discussion<\/a>.<\/p>\n

    At ODI, digital networking tools for generating and sustaining discussion are available to researchers from the start of the research process. This inevitably changes the nature of messages being shared, as they are less final and naturally less authoritative. The hope is that these tools can improve the quality of outputs, as discussion can be a form of early and constant peer review. The tools can also assist in later communication of the research, as they build a group of champions to disseminate the messages to, who can subsequently disseminate the messages further through their own networks and contacts.<\/p>\n

    Some of the tools we\u2019ve used in ODI include:<\/p>\n