A TIPI-affiliated team of researchers has received a Top Paper Award from the Environmental Communication Division of ICA for their paper, Water Conservation and Extreme Weather Preparedness Messages: Helping Utilities Communicate to Encourage Public Cooperation.

This National Science Foundation funded project engaged the community and utilities in El Paso, Texas to study important communication and policy issues. Extreme weather events often necessitate changes in human behaviors such as a need to conserve water. Their study investigated how evidence-based social influence strategies —cultural targeting, autonomy support, and descriptive social norms—affect public cooperation with utility conservation advisories during extreme weather events.

Conducted with English- and Spanish-speaking participants, this experiment found that Spanish-speaking participants reported more willingness to co-operate with the advisory than English speakers, especially when given choices around the specific actions they can take to conserve water. Findings suggest that culturally inclusive and norming messages can foster trust and compliance, enhancing resilience during infrastructure crises. These insights offer practical guidance for utility messaging to support public engagement and preparedness, especially within diverse communities facing increasing extreme weather challenges.

Keri Stephens presented her latest research on Artificial Intelligence (AI) use in emergency management as part of an interdisciplinary panel on AI across industries.

From GenAI to machine learning, keeping humans in the loop is essential during disaster communication. Interdisciplinary teams of scholars have scraped social media data, trained people to label that data, and automated labor-intensive practices to reveal situational insights. We have also studied emergency managers tasked with developing crisis and emergency plans for plausible disasters due to climate change and human-driven development, even if these disasters have never occurred in their areas. Human expertise in disasters, crises, and emergencies is crucial for providing machines with situational insights and for using GenAI to craft meaningful emergency plans. However, research shows how easily experts can relinquish their agency, doubt their own expertise, and believe machines can perform tasks better than humans. Balancing human expertise and machine capabilities reveals new ethical dilemmas in the AI and media landscape, and suggests training opportunities to support humans in remembering their expertise and applying it ethically.

TIPI’s co-director, Dr. Sharon Strover, has been recognized for her distinguished scholarly contributions to the field of communication by being inducted as an ICA Fellow. Her research focuses on various aspects of communication and technology policy, including broadband services, the digital divide, and artificial intelligence issues.

TIPI participated in the Preconference on “Artificial Intelligence in Journalism from a Global Perspective”, organized by Maximilian Eder (LMU Munich) and Helle Sjøvaag (University of Stavanger). TIPI’s student affiliate, Silvia DalBen Furtado presented the study about Guidelines on the use of Generative AI in US newsrooms she is conducting with Tina Lassiter, reflecting on journalists’ perceptions on the adoption of these emerging technologies into their work routines. Also participated in the Preconference scholars from different universities around the world, such as Dr. T. J. Thomson from RMIT University in Australia, Dr. Kaori Hayashi from the University of Tokyo, Dr. Eddy Borges-Rey from Northwestern University in Qatar, and Dr. Claire Wardle from Cornell University.

Another paper presentation at the conference, “(Mis)representing Public Safety: A Case Study of Discursive Disputes Over Street Camera Surveillance,” by André K. Rodarte and Anita Varma, examines the varied interpretations of “public safety” in discussions surrounding California’s AB645. The research investigates the considerations, concerns, objections, and justifications that emerged in mediated discussions of AB645, a bill signed into law in October 2023 establishing a Speed Safety System Pilot Program allowing local governments to implement speed enforcement camera systems.

The study, based on an analysis of 130 documents from February 2023 to January 2024, reveals a polarized conversation. Proponents of AB645, including the LA Mayor, framed traffic cameras as a proven and common-sense means to ensure public safety, asserting that the state has a responsibility to procure more of them. They argued that statistics, physics, and common sense support the idea that faster driving leads to more dangerous roads.

Conversely, critics of the bill raised objections concerning surveillance and inequity, challenging the utilitarian view of public safety. They argued that the bill punishes people for behaving logically and does not address the structural causes of speeding, highlighting concerns about “overlapping, racially disparate enforcement schemes”. These critics suggested that cities should invest in traffic-calming infrastructure before penalizing citizens. The presentation concludes by emphasizing the importance of specifying the concept of public safety by considering the social, economic, and political implications of new surveillance technologies.

Other TIPI affiliates, including postdoc Brad Limov and TIPI fellows Torie Kim, Zhi Lin, and Yuting He also presented work at the conference. 

Photos from the Event: