83418 - Public Communication And Service Marketing

Learning outcomes

The course aims to provide theoretical and practical tools to address the study of the relevant communication dynamics related to the design and implementation of public communication initiatives or plans: political, social and administrative one.
At the end of the course students get useful theoretical skills for analyzing processes and cultural factors that influence the construction of communication themes and the behavior of social actors; they learn the theories and techniques for the development of a communication which is oriented to participation and the involvement of citizens in modern democracy processes; finally, they acquire methodological tools useful for the communication and marketing actions planning on collective topics or public services, with particular reference to local public agencies, third sector players, corporate social responsibility and the cause-related marketing.

Course contents

The course will primarily illustrates the development of public communication in Italy and the recent digital turn of the Italian Public Administration (PA). The development of the Internet and the so-called "social web", indeed, is inevitably revolutionizing timing, models and the praxis of the public communication also in our Country.

According to the the new and complex dynamics of the contemporary Age, also in this pathway technological, normative and communicative dimensions are intertwined, impacting on both, the practices and the routines of the PA, as well as on the interaction and the relationship with citizens-users.
These latter have to be mostly considered nowadays “networked citizens”, that is connected citizens who are active within specific civic frameworks, using the web and the social media to interacting with the PA.
Digital media becomes public spaces and communicative contexts in which public organizations and the citizens are (re)connected and can have a confrontation due to co-implement services and to can heard their voice, triggering sharing knowledge, conversational exchange, mobilization and civic collaboration.
Thus, illustrating the nature and the extension of this change, the course wants to drive students in the full comprehension of the potentialities, but also the limits or obstacles about the upcoming "networked citizenship", widening their gaze toward the complex administrative and participative "infrastructure" that allows - beyond every rhetoric about innovation - digital technology to be concretely "enabling".

Readings/Bibliography

The following mandatory texts are adopted for both attending and non-attending students:

Lovari A., Ducci G. (2022). Comunicazione pubblica. Istituzioni, pratiche, piattaforme. Mondadori, Milano.

 

N.B. Additional materials may be provided by the instructor at the beginning of the course.

The list below provides just additional readings for attending students who wish to pursue further study. Non-attending students are required to read at least two of the following papers: 

• Spillare S. (2024). Co-costruire l’imperativo ecologico: public engagement e comunicazione pubblica ambientale nel caso della Consulta per il clima di Bologna.
• Allegrini G., Spillare S. (2022). Innovazione democratica, social media e co-creazione di senso: il caso del Bilancio Partecipativo del Comune di Bologna. In: Paltrinieri R., Spillare S., Tardivo G. (a cura di). Orizzonti Medi-terranei. Comunicazione, istituzioni e prospettive mediatiche in un confronto tra Italia e Spagna, Franco Angeli, Milano, pp. 33-51.
• Allegrini G., Spillare S. (2021). Public communication and the role of social media in enhancing democratic innovation: the case of the City of Bologna. Sociologia della Comunicazione, 61, pp. 109-126.
• Sorice M. (2021). Partecipazione disconnessa. Innovazione democratica e illusione digitale al tempo del neoliberismo. Carocci, Roma (cap. 1.2, 1.3, 1.4; 2.4, 2.5; cap. 3 tutto; cap. 4 tutto)
• Lovari A., Righetti N. (2020). La comunicazione pubblica della salute tra infodemia e fake news: il ruolo della pagina Facebook del Ministero della Salute nella sfida social al Covid-19. Mediascapes journal 15/2020, pp. 156-173.
  

 

Teaching methods

The course mainly includes frontal lessons and group workshops/discussions related to the analysis of case studies, good practices, etc. in order to stimulate analytical and evaluative thinking, the empirical method and the critical approach.

Seminars and speeches by experts or representative witnesses may be also provided.

At the end of the course, the students will possess the theoretical frames and the operational tools to analyze, evaluate, structure and implement the communication of public and non-public bodies, with particular attention to stimulating and accompanying the processes of participation and co-creation of value.

Assessment methods

In general, student learning is assessed through an oral examination held during the official examination sessions. However, the following alternative assessment arrangements are also available:

• For attending students, a non-mandatory mid-term written test will be offered before the end of the course, together with a written essay (which may be completed individually or in groups) on a topic assigned by the instructor and consistent with the course contents. The final grade will be calculated as a weighted average of the mid-term test and the essay (with the two components accounting for 70% and 30% of the final mark, respectively). Students who will pass the mid-term test and submit the essay may register their final grade by enrolling in the first available examination date of the winter session. Enrolment in that examination date will be considered as acceptance of the final grade. Students remain free to decline the grade (by notifying the instructor via email) and instead take the full oral examination during any of the official examination sessions. Students who do not achieve a passing grade in the mid-term test and the essay will be required to take the full oral examination during the official examination sessions.
  

• Non-attending students are required to take the oral examination during the official examination sessions. In addition to the course syllabus, they are also expected to prepare the supplementary readings listed in the "Texts/Bibliography" section.

Assessment criteria: Assessment is based primarily on the following criteria: knowledge of the course contents; ability to develop arguments autonomously; capacity for critical analysis and reflection; and appropriate use of subject-specific terminology.

Use of Generative AI Tools: Generative AI may be used as a support tool for individual study, including for further exploration of topics, summarization, and self-assessment activities. With regard to the assessment of learning, the use of AI during in-person examinations is strictly prohibited. Any such use constitutes a violation of academic integrity. By contrast, for the written essay, the use of generative AI is permitted only to a limited, declared, and non-substantive extent, primarily for support activities such as summarization and text rephrasing.

Students with Specific Learning Disorders (SLD) or Temporary or Permanent Disabilities: Students are advised to contact the University's dedicated support office in good time (https://site.unibo.it/studenti-con-disabilita-e-dsa/it). The office will propose any appropriate accommodations for eligible students. Such accommodations must, however, be submitted to the course instructor at least 15 days in advance for approval. The instructor will assess their suitability in light of the intended learning outcomes of the course.

Teaching tools

Video projector, PC, powerpoint slides, articles and documents not included in the course program but relevant for the topics covered by the classes.

Links to further information

https://iol.unibo.it/course/view.php?id=45353

Office hours

See the website of Stefano Spillare