The advent of information and communication technologies (ICT) and with it, the dawn of information society at large (Webster, 2014), presents companies with unprecedented communication challenges.The fracturing – even atomization – of the old 20th century, mass media dominated, public
sphere due to the rise of social media and user generated content, has left organizations in chaotic communication landscapes. While the “old” world of newspapers, magazines, TV and radio channels was already difficult, it was still manageable through media relations. The ever-growing information
networks that form society (Castells, 2010), and in which every organization is embedded, have expanded and multiplied exponentially – and so have the intersections between organizations and its publics. The increasing complexity of today’s society and its myriad new technologies that create massive
troves of data, a.k.a., big data, signal that the next game changer (i.e., artificial intelligence) is already looming beyond the horizon, forces organizations to alter their approach to communication.

The particular context of this seminar is the organizational communication of universities, who face special challenges when it comes to telling their stories in the public. As taxpayer funded institutions, they do not have the same degree of freedom when it comes to communication. There are restraints with regard to resources, bureaucracy, and target audiences, that companies do not have in the same way. And yet, universities also must compete in the public arena for students, researchers, and funds. More broadly, they depend on communication to uphold their public license to operate and uphold public financing. Therefore, they need to disseminate their knowledge to the general public in order to create awareness and said license to operate. Furthermore, like any other organization, they also need to communicate internally to remain operational and to maintain the social fabric of the organization.

In this seminar, students will set up a virtual academic newsroom and simulate the communication processes and content production and management at a public university, i.e. the Vienna University of Economics and Business. Apart from the theoretical foundations, the students will engage in the creation of organizational stories for WU and subsequently produce media content to tell these stories.

The participants will learn the following:

• conceptual basis of organizational newsrooms
• workflows and management of communication in a university
• development of strategic storytelling
• application of storytelling in practice
• catering to key stakeholder groups
• content production

Attendance is mandatory. Students can miss a maximum of two session due to justifiable reasons. Absenteeism beyond two sessions can be compensated by an extra exam.

As a simulation, the course is designed to let students engage with organizational communication in a virtual setting. The students will try to set up a corporate newsroom themselves, based on a newsroom concept that has been designed prior to this course. Over the course of the simulation, the participants will engage in strategic communication planning and organizational storytelling, which they will transfer into practice by doing content management and production themselves.

Performance evaluation is based upon the following aspects:

• active participation in the course
• attendance
• Development of a storytelling approach for an academic newsroom (40%, in groups)
• Production of content that relates to that storytelling approach (40%, in groups)
• Reflective essay on the importance of communication for a university and WU in particular (20%, individual)

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No previous knowledge of content is necessary. However, we expect participants to be curious about and engage with the content of the course. We also expect the willingness to actively engage in discussions and work cases as part of a team.

The course instructor will be available for personal and/or virtual consultation after scheduling an appointment via e-mail (jens.seiffert-brockmann@wu.ac.at).