Reflection on Episode 10: Ken Lachlan

Reflection on Episode 10: Ken Lachlan

The individual who was interviewed in this episode was Ken Lachlan. He was born in 1975 in Warwick, Connecticut. He is the head of the department of communication, and he is also a professor and a researcher in the field of crisis and risk. He started his career with a study in business and ended up focusing on communication later in his studies. The topic of interest in this episode was crisis and risk, how the communication during a crisis, and how appropriate communication could save lives. The main point brought forwards was that during the time of national crisis or any significant risk moment, it is important to analyze sources that report on the crisis. Additionally, the development of media literacy is important in crisis moments, especially with the growth of social media.

The episode touched on an important aspect of communication that affects our daily lives in terms of risk and crisis moments. Lachlan mentioned that during a crisis moment, individuals tend to accept the first information that reaches them, and this information may not be from reliable sources but helpful in relieving anxiety and stress. The idea that professor Lachlan puts forward is to analyze the source of information in the time of crisis. With social media turning to be the main platform for information sharing, it is important to understand media literacy and do due diligence on every information that may be presented during the risk and crisis period. Another important concept that was put across in this conversation was the interdisciplinary aspect of communication. Communication is mid-point to most of the discipline in both social and physical research, and it overlaps with the majority of courses and disciplines. Based on the sentiments that professor Lachlan, communication has allowed him to be connected with various professionals and students in multiple fields. From this conversation, it is clear to see that communication as a field has been a platform that allows interactive minds to comprehend the various aspect of human research, from physical to social aspect and create a common ground. This commonality perspective creates a platform for conversation on varied topics and fields.

The concept of analyzing and putting information under scrutiny during a crisis is important since, personally, the use of social media has been vital in following events of crisis and risk. Being a victim of false information is not a new thing for me as I have consumed information without trying to get a deeper investigation of the reliability of the source and the validity of the information. According to professor Lachlan, it is advisable to put the information under a microscope before putting an actionable reaction to the piece of information.

A vital communication question that this conversation raises is how individuals can and professionals from different fields overcome the varied technical terminologies and nomenclature. This interdisciplinary language barrier may prevent effective communication and therefore limit the level of understanding and coming to a common ground.

Additionally, another question would be how people can be enlightened on the analysis of risk. In the conversation, professor Lachlan mentions that people tend to overestimate the risk that is not relevant and underestimate the highly relevant risk. This indicates a gap in risk analysis among the public, which presents a question on how this gap can be filled.

This episode was really interesting in providing a different aspect of the risk and interdisciplinary nature of communication. I liked this episode because it touched on how to handle information during a crisis period and especially during the social media era, which is an aspect of communication and information that affects me personally. I have interacted with various information that has been misleading in social media from somewhat reliable sources, and this conversation reminded me why it is important to ensure the reliability of sources.

Reference

S.Stifano. (2019). COMPENDIUM – Episode 10: Ken Lachlan [Video]. Retrieved 10 March 2020, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jUN9M9SecvU&amp=&feature=youtu.be.