Public Relations Internet Resources

Comm 490-OL

Summer I, 2003-Three Hours Credit

May 20-June 27






Professor: Dr. Bonita Neff, Associate Professor-Department of Communication

Telephone 219 464-6827WK   219 838-4428HM

219 464-6742 FAX   Bonita.Neff@Valpo.Edu

Course is on Prometheus at https://prometheus.valpo.edu/.

Syllabus is also be found on the instructor’s website at www.valpo.edu (click on faculty, click on faculty personal web pages, click on instructor’s name, and click on title of course).

Obj. To learn more about integrative communication (public relations, advertising, marketing).

Obj: To appreciate the Internet as a research tool.

Obj: To prepare for a career oriented toward technology.

 Texts: Witmer, Diane F. Spinning the Web: A Handbook for Public Relations on the Internet. New York: Longman, 2000.

Kaye, Barbara K. and Medoff, Norman J. Just a Click Away: Advertising on the Internet. Boston: Allyn and Bacon, 2001.

 Evaluation:

Students must successfully complete all of the assignments to receive a course grade. These assignments include the following:

    1. Exams (keep up with the readings/assignments)
    2. Exercises/assignments (discussed under assignments in Prometheus and in syllabus)
    3. Final paper (10 pages with references and internal documentation)
Unauthorized Aid. It is the responsibility of each student to review and understand the University’s Honor Code. For purposes of this course, it is a particular violation of the Honor Code to submit papers or assignments based on materials submitted by students in previous offerings of courses. Project proposals are expected to be original and not derived in whole or in part on others’ work. If you have any doubts about what you plant o propose in this course, see the instructor. Plagiarism of published literature reviews and/or research designs is an absolute violation of the Honor Code. The Honor Code must be written out.

Grading

Course grades will be based on the following point breakdown (total available points = 500):

A 495 (95%) B- 440 (80%) D+ 401 (67%)

A- 470 (90%) C+ 431 (77%) D 395 (65%)

B+ 461 (87%) C 425 (75%) D- 380 (60%)

B 455 (85%) C- 410 (70%)

You always know how you are doing in this course. Take the number of points you have on any given day and compare them to the number of points you could have if you had obtained a perfect score on everything. Take your actual point total divided by the perfect score total, and match the resulting percentage to the grade list above.

Since exams, quizzes and your paper represent amply opportunity for evaluation in this course, there will be no opportunity for extra credit work.

Attendance

Because the exams and quizzes are derived from lectures, readings, on-line interaction and research, regular participation and/or communication are important—especially since this course is offered on-line. Failure to keep up with electronic communication will result in course points being deducted. Deficiency notices begin after the second missed class experience in cyberspace.
 
 

COURSE CALENDAR

Note: Assignments due by Friday of the week assigned (by midnight).

SESSION ONE

Tuesday, May 20

-Assignment-

Personal Profile: E-mail me the following—1) your previous course work in public relations, 2) your work experience in public relations, 3) any other related experience to public relations including advertising and marketing.

-Readings and Assignments-
 

Assignment: Go to the Values and Lifestyle site at:   http://www.sric-bi.com

Read all the following sections, including the execution of the "VALS Survey" when you reach this point.  The readings cover the following:

1.  Welcome to VALS
2.  The VALS Types
3.  Applications
4.  Representative Projects
5.  GEO VALS
6.  Japan--VALS
    6a.  In-depth description of the Japan-VALS system
7.  CAT: Consumer Acceptance of Technology
8.  VALS Survey (please take this survey and note the results)
9.  VALS FAQ
10. Publications
    10a. Studies (read these short overviews--do not download entire study)
            --Multicultural
            --The Map Gap
            --The Saver Market
            --Three High-Tech Households
            --Targeting
            --Aging Boomers
    10b. VALS Scan
            --Telecom
            --Scan Outlook
            --Continuous Monitoring
            --Business World
            --Reality-Based Marketing
 

Now respond to the following questions on the Prometheus discussion site.

Q1:  What did you discover about yourself from the VALS survey?  Do you agree with the results?  How is this information useful to a researcher in public relations?
Q2:   Note the differences and similarities between the American and Japanese VALS model.  Compare and contrast these models and provide a sense of how this understanding can be useful to the public relations practitioner working in a global environment.
Q3:  As you read the short overview of the studies and VALS Scan reports, what insights did you gain about publics from a public relations point of view?
Q4:  Review the responses from your classmates on these questions.  What is your response to the analysis presented by them?
 

 SESSION TWO

Monday, May 26

-Readings and Assignments-

Go to J. Lawler's lecture on "Metaphor We Compute By" at http://www.virtualschool.edu/mon/Academia/Metaphors.html

After reading this lecture, please respond to the following questions on Prometheus:

Q1:  How does one's metaphoric view of the computer affect one's vision and, consequently,  treatment and/or attitude toward the computer?
Q2:  Identify your own metaphor toward the computer.  How does this affect your
ability to see the potential of the computer?
Q3:  Read everyone's responses to these questions.  What does this say about how a person brings prior attitudes, opinions, and behaviors to a different and/or new situation?

 

SESSION THREE

Monday, June 2

Witmer:
Introduction xi-xvi
Chapter 1—Overview of Communication Technologies, 1-28
Chapter 2--Overview of Pubic Relations, 33-45.*
Chapter 3: Overview of Computer-Mediated Communication, 51-79
*Background information so you can understand the upcoming content. If you have completed public relations courses, then you might do a light review of Chp 2 and need to focus more on Chp. 3. This should bring everyone to the same page on public relations.

Kaye/Medoff:
Chapter 1: Intro to WWW and Online Advertising, 1-11
Chapter 2—The Internet Economy,  review table 2.1 U.S. Advertising Spending (28)
                                                      review table 2.2 Top 10 Internet Advertisers (29)
                                                      review table 2.3 Top 10 Internet Spenders by Ad Categories (30)

Assignment:  React to your readings.  What was helpful?  What was a new idea?  How does this knowledge help you appreciate the role of technology in public relations and advertising?  Place your responses on the discussion site on Prometheus.
 

SESSION FOUR

Monday, June 9

-Readings and Assignments-

Witmer:

Chapter 4—Research, 81-105
Exam Question:  Exercises, 106 #2 and #3 and enter into the Prometheus Discussion site.

Chapter 5—Planning, 109-121
Exam Question: Page 122 #2 Enter results into Prometheus discussion site

Kaye/Medoff
Chapter 3: Online Ads: What They Are and How They Are Priced    E-mail answers to these questions.
Exam Questions:  Page 46  What is a CPM?
                         Page 49  What is a CTR?
                         Page 54  What is a TSL?
                         Page 54   What is a TSV?
                         Page 55   What is a CPT?
 
Chapter 4: Online Advertising Opportunities, 66-91
Exam Question:  Note the "Chapter Activities" on page 89 and for any that you explore—what is the value of this exercise to public relations? Enter this discussion into the Prometheus Discussion site.
 
 
 

SESSION FIVE

Monday, June 16

-Readings and Assignments-

Witmer
Chapter 6—Execution, 125-155
Chapter 7—Evaluation, 163-173
Assignment: Page 174, #1, #2 and enter into Prometheus discussion site
Chapter 8—Special Uses of the Internet: Crisis Communication, Rumor Control, and More, 177-185.
Kaye/Medoff
Chapter 5—Web Ratings and Measurement  Read Box 5.1  How User Profiling Works (94)
                                                                 Read Box 5.2  Editor & Publisher Survey (96)
                                                                 Read Box 5.3  One Billion Hits (96)
                                                                 Read Table 5.1 Media Metrix Ranking of Top 10 Web Sites
                                                                 Read Table 5.2 Nielsen Ranking of Top 10 Web Sites
Chapter 6—Agency Presence Online  Read Box 6.1 Advertising System (112)
                                                       Read Box 6.2 Interactive Agency Success Story
                                                       Read Box 6.3 IBM E-Commerce Campaign
                                                       Read Box 6.4:  Searching for an Interactive Agency-Request
Chapter 7—Banner Design and Banner Awards, 123-134

SESSION SIX

Monday, June 23

-Readings and Assignments-

Witmer
Chapter 9—Caveats & Constraints: Ethics, Urban Legends, Spoofs, Hoaxes, & Myths, 191-202

Other Suggestions:  Review the following two directories to understand the value of this information
Witmer:            Review the HTML Tags, pps 207-208
Kaye/Medoff:  Appendix (pages 137-142): Explore URLs to understand the usefulness of these sites.

Final paper: Discuss your sense of public relations’ relationship to advertising and vice versa. To what degree are the online resources in advertising useful to those in public relations? Why should a professional in public relations be aware of the electronic dimension of public relations and advertising? How have you, personally, reacted to this overview? What do you feel more confident in and what do you plan to do with this knowledge? E-mail this paper to me and should be at least 10 pages with references and internal documentation (no attachments, please).