Early work utilising the social amplification of risk framework (SARF) sought to understand the
discrepancy between expert and lay perceptions of risk and patterns of risk intensification and
attenuation with reference to the media. However, the advent of Web 2.0 challenges traditional
models of communication.
Keywords: social amplification of risk; Twitter; social media; tree health; visual analytics; risk
communication
social amplification of risk framework (SARF) suggests that the media often play a key role in
communicating about risks, influencing the way risks are framed and this and thus affecting how they
are perceived and responded to by the publics.
The SARF is a long-standing conceptual framework that was developed to explore the implications of
interactions between official risk communications, media attention, and individual and social
responses. The framework suggests that ‘events pertaining to hazards interact with psychological,
social, institutional, and cultural processes in ways that can heighten or attenuate public perceptions
of risk and shape risk behaviour’. In the absence of direct experience of a particular risk, information
generally reaches individuals via the media and/or informal personal communication. The nature of
media coverage of risk is, of course, selective. It does not reflect expert assessments of risk and may
not reflect risk incidence, though the amount of media coverage may relate to the societal impacts of
a hazard.
In traditional communication theory, ‘amplification’ is defined as an intensification or attenuation of
transmitted signals which result in the original signal having information added or removed before
being passed on
The original approach to media in the SARF focused on the volume of traditional media coverage, its
tendency to dramatise events and its ability to symbolise or mediate reality. SARF suggests that
media coverage can affect the salience of an issue for the public,
Social media is a generic term for internet-based applications that build on the ideological and
technological foundations of Web 2.0, enabling dynamic, interactive user-generated content which
individuals and communities can find, share, co-create, discuss and modify
metaphors [of war] heighten the sense of a risk but simultaneously help different groups understand
certain contours of a problem and how to approach it. Apportioning blame is a common way of
attributing human failure to identify and prevent risk
discrepancy between expert and lay perceptions of risk and patterns of risk intensification and
attenuation with reference to the media. However, the advent of Web 2.0 challenges traditional
models of communication.
Keywords: social amplification of risk; Twitter; social media; tree health; visual analytics; risk
communication
social amplification of risk framework (SARF) suggests that the media often play a key role in
communicating about risks, influencing the way risks are framed and this and thus affecting how they
are perceived and responded to by the publics.
The SARF is a long-standing conceptual framework that was developed to explore the implications of
interactions between official risk communications, media attention, and individual and social
responses. The framework suggests that ‘events pertaining to hazards interact with psychological,
social, institutional, and cultural processes in ways that can heighten or attenuate public perceptions
of risk and shape risk behaviour’. In the absence of direct experience of a particular risk, information
generally reaches individuals via the media and/or informal personal communication. The nature of
media coverage of risk is, of course, selective. It does not reflect expert assessments of risk and may
not reflect risk incidence, though the amount of media coverage may relate to the societal impacts of
a hazard.
In traditional communication theory, ‘amplification’ is defined as an intensification or attenuation of
transmitted signals which result in the original signal having information added or removed before
being passed on
The original approach to media in the SARF focused on the volume of traditional media coverage, its
tendency to dramatise events and its ability to symbolise or mediate reality. SARF suggests that
media coverage can affect the salience of an issue for the public,
Social media is a generic term for internet-based applications that build on the ideological and
technological foundations of Web 2.0, enabling dynamic, interactive user-generated content which
individuals and communities can find, share, co-create, discuss and modify
metaphors [of war] heighten the sense of a risk but simultaneously help different groups understand
certain contours of a problem and how to approach it. Apportioning blame is a common way of
attributing human failure to identify and prevent risk
