A Class Act

On January 2, 2007, A Class Act was conceived. At the time, it was my hope that this blog would be “more than the personal ramblings of an academic.” Of course, I’ve wallowed in my share of that over the past 12 months, but that may be because the blog’s primary goal has yet to be achieved.

Although A Class Act has on occasion sparked conversation about public relations education in this country, it has been less successful in providing a forum for Canadian PR academics to share information. Very few full-time PR instructors are spending much time in this space. However, that’s slowly changing, which means I see a point down the road where social media networks and blogs will start to play a stronger role in the sharing of information.

Don’t get me wrong. I haven’t for a moment felt that A Class Act has been an exercise in futility. Blogging has been time well spent for me, and here’s why:

1. The best way to learn about blogging is to blog. The simple exercise of feeding this blog (albeit a little less often in the past few months) has paid rich dividends. My grasp of the concept as a communication tactic is stronger; something I’m happy to share with students who need to know that the potential of social media tools can’t easily be ignored these days.
2. Growing opportunities to chat about communication and teaching issues with teachers who impress me. Even though the PR academic dialogue online may not be pervasive, it does exist. Sharing information with folks like Les Potter, Karen Russell and Robert French Their links and others can be found in the blogroll to the right) is something that wouldn’t have happened without A Class Act. The fact that we’re exploring some sharing of learning with communications students in Paris wouldn’t have happened, either. Seeing new blogs turn up, like Christine Smith’s impressive posts about classroom experiences teaching PR, is always a welcome discovery. Those dialogues don’t easily happen once a busy semester is underway — even though Christine’s office is right beside mine!
3. It’s not just a virtual world. It turns out that active participants in the social media space are even keener to parlay that enthusiasm in face-to-face situations. There’s not enough room on my calendar for all the opportunities to meet up with others exploring the potential of interactive tools. Third Tuesdays, geek dinners, podcamps, barcamps, case camps — each provides a forum to meet interesting practitioners who are passionate, articulate and savvy. There’s lots of fresh air in the room when these groups get together. Social media is a great leveler. It readily brings senior executives and students, and everyone in between, together to talk. The early adopters in the blogging and podcasting communities have always been willing to share what they’ve learned.
4. I like to write. I spend a good deal of time looking at the writing of others; primarily students. That doesn’t always leave as much time to actually do it as I’d like. A Class Act has been helpful in prodding me to set aside some time to write — random though the topics might be. Now, if I can just find the time to devote to the other three three blogs I have on the go!
5. Talk Is Cheap. A Class Act was the original springboard, along with events like Podcamp Toronto, to nudge me into proposing the Talk Is Cheap social media conference last November. The evening brought together 160 communicators to hear tight presentations about social media practices in PR. Although I didn’t have an opportunity that night to sit in on any of the sessions, it was marvellous to see the event take form online. After all, the best way to learn about wikis is to host a wiki!
6. Conversation is good. I realize that there is already some backlash to the ‘c-word’ when it comes to social media. But the fact is, I’ve always been a fan of two-way communication (or nine-way, for that matter). Public Relations in its best two-way symmetrical form is about building relationships. Social media is about building communities. There’s a symmetry here that needs to be taken seriously by PR practitioners who like to have their PR professionalism taken seriously.
7. It enhances the profile of our Centennial program. My own experience with social media, along with others on our campus, has helped ensure the currency of our curriculum. Next week, our revised Online PR course makes room for lots of Web 2.0 material. We already have a growing reputation for preparing students to include social media tactics in their PR toolkit. The curriculum changes help to enshrine it more deliberately.