CITATION AND COPYRIGHT INFORMATION:
Cite as: Dervin, B., & Shields, P. (1998). Some guidelines for a philosophy of communicating with citizens in the new regulatory environment. In F. Sevel (Ed.), Compendium of resources on consumer education (pp. 69-85). Columbus, OH: The National Regulatory Research Institute.
© National Regulatory Research Institute (1998).

CAUTION:
The paper as presented below is a pre-publication version of the published article; as such, it does not reflect any last minute editing changes, nor does it provide pagination markers.

ABSTRACT:
This paper was written for a compendium prepared as a consumer education tool for public utilities commissions, particularly in the context of the new regulatory (i.e., privatizing) environment amid the rapid introduction of new technologies. Drawing from literatures focusing on the study of information seeking and use, the design of public education campaigns, health and risk communication, and lay understanding and use of new technologies, the authors review how the use of transmission assumptions regarding communication have impeded past efforts of policy bodies to establish communication with citizen constituencies. The authors point to a host of faulty assumptions that are continually made about citizens and call for refocusing the communication mandate from education to dialogue where both citizens and policy agencies can be educated by each other. They lay out a series of 15 suggestions for achieving a better balance between vested interests and average citizen interests by using a more deliberate and structured procedure for communication.

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For Dervin,
See:  http://communication.sbs.ohio-state.edu/sense-making/AAauthors/authorlistdervin.html.
For Shields,
See:http://communication.sbs.ohio-state.edu/sense-making/AAauthors/authorlistshieldsp.html.