ED034-01
Entertainment-Education in the New Media Landscape: Stimulating Online Creative Engagement with Climate Change
Entertainment-Education in the New Media Landscape: Stimulating Online Creative Engagement with Climate Change
Friday, 11 December 2020: 20:33
Virtual
Abstract:
In 1992, a scene from the TV series Medisch Centrum West—a popular Dutch medical drama— sparked conversations in Dutch living rooms about organ donation. On screen, a doctor had just informed a couple about the worsening condition of their son, who had been admitted to the ICU in critical condition after a car accident. The couple is torn between emotions as the doctor brings up the inevitable: “I am sorry. I know you don’t want to hear this, but Bart’s heart could save the life of another child.”
This scene is an example of Entertainment-Education (EE), a communication strategy that uses storytelling in dramatic serials on radio or TV. In particular, this scene shows how health organizations and creative scriptwriters can use likeable characters, relatable settings, and dramatic plot twists to motivate audiences to talk about health and sustainability issues. As such, EE is more than a message: it can inspire communities to talk about their roles, priorities, and responsibilities and serve as a path to social and behavioral change.
Many of these interventions, however, are characterized by a classic mass media “one to many” approach; yet since the advent of the Internet, audiences have spread across channels and young audiences have become especially difficult to reach. Online, audiences gather around a wide variety of niche interests, including health topics such as fitness, cooking, and mindfulness. On social media, vlogs, podcasts, and life feeds are among the most engaged, allowing audiences a chance to experience a shared level of engagement with themes and topics that interest them the most.
These changes pose challenges and opportunities to the EE strategy. While Medisch Centrum West inspired conversations in Dutch living rooms, it is now possible to extend these conversations to the Internet. Online, audiences can be invited to discuss, reinforce, and further diffuse health-related messages through online media engagement.
In my dissertation ‘Entertainment-Education in the New Media Landscape’ (Erasmus University Rotterdam, 2020), I have united the EE strategy with digital approaches to explore how this can be achieved. In this presentation, I will share how these principles can be used for climate change communication.
This scene is an example of Entertainment-Education (EE), a communication strategy that uses storytelling in dramatic serials on radio or TV. In particular, this scene shows how health organizations and creative scriptwriters can use likeable characters, relatable settings, and dramatic plot twists to motivate audiences to talk about health and sustainability issues. As such, EE is more than a message: it can inspire communities to talk about their roles, priorities, and responsibilities and serve as a path to social and behavioral change.
Many of these interventions, however, are characterized by a classic mass media “one to many” approach; yet since the advent of the Internet, audiences have spread across channels and young audiences have become especially difficult to reach. Online, audiences gather around a wide variety of niche interests, including health topics such as fitness, cooking, and mindfulness. On social media, vlogs, podcasts, and life feeds are among the most engaged, allowing audiences a chance to experience a shared level of engagement with themes and topics that interest them the most.
These changes pose challenges and opportunities to the EE strategy. While Medisch Centrum West inspired conversations in Dutch living rooms, it is now possible to extend these conversations to the Internet. Online, audiences can be invited to discuss, reinforce, and further diffuse health-related messages through online media engagement.
In my dissertation ‘Entertainment-Education in the New Media Landscape’ (Erasmus University Rotterdam, 2020), I have united the EE strategy with digital approaches to explore how this can be achieved. In this presentation, I will share how these principles can be used for climate change communication.