This thesis work addresses the limitations of a web application called the Public Information Officer Monitoring Application (PMA). This application helps Public Information Officers (PIOs) to gather, monitor, sort, store, and report social media data during a crisis event. Before this work, PMA was unable to handle large data sets and as a result, it had not been adequately tested with potential users of the application. This thesis describes changes made to PMA to improve its ability to handle large data sets. After these changes were made, the application was then tested with target users. All test participants found the application useful and relevant to their work. Testing also revealed many ways to improve the usefulness of the application, which were subsequently implemented. The thesis concludes with suggestions for future work and distribution of PMA.

At a glance, journalists and public relations practitioners appear to have a dysfunctional relationship, despite having many professional similarities. Both groups use comparable skill sets in their jobs, including writing, information gathering, and making decisions based on news values. Both groups often work with each other in their professional positions; journalists look to public relations practitioners for sources and news tips, while public relations practitioners look to journalists to help send organizational messages to publics. To better understand the issues of trust in this unique working relationship, ten journalists and ten government public information officers from the Tampa Bay, Florida area were interviewed about their perceptions of the integrity, dependability, and competence of their professional counterparts. Using a coorientational lens, themes derived from the comments of both groups were compared for accuracy and agreement. The results indicated that both journalists and public relations practitioners were slow to generalize positive or negative experiences to other individuals or organizations, and that they mostly understood the professional ethics and motivation of the other occupation. However, once an established trust was broken in a relationship, participants universally described that it could not be regained. By comparing themes between the two groups, the data indicated that there were more issues of true consensus than any other situation. Both journalists and government communicators indicated a mutual respect for their professional counterparts and a shared appreciation for the principle of open government, though the data suggested that the two sides were unaware of this agreement. This exploratory qualitative analysis uncovered several interesting trust-related issues in this unique working relationship, many of which are worthy of additional research and exploration.

Established research on certain professions – such as police officers, firefighters, and emergency rescue workers (also called "first responders") – suggests that psychological trauma is related to traumatic events experienced on the job. This has led to research on journalists who have experienced comparable psychological effects due to repeated traumatic exposure that comes from reporting on crimes, murders, car accidents, natural disasters, or other stressful situations – the same events experienced by first responders. This study examines public information officers and any similar psychological effects since this occupational group is a near professional cousin to journalists. Using an online survey, public information officers' exposure to traumatic events experienced on the job was measured as well as the frequency and intensity of trauma exposure.

Title from PDF of title page. / Document formatted into pages; contains 155 pages. / Thesis (M.A.)--University of South Florida, 2003. / Includes bibliographical references. / Text (Electronic thesis) in PDF format. / ABSTRACT: At a glance, journalists and public relations practitioners appear to have a dysfunctional relationship, despite having many professional similarities. Both groups use comparable skill sets in their jobs, including writing, information gathering, and making decisions based on news values. Both groups often work with each other in their professional positions; journalists look to public relations practitioners for sources and news tips, while public relations practitioners look to journalists to help send organizational messages to publics. To better understand the issues of trust in this unique working relationship, ten journalists and ten government public information officers from the Tampa Bay, Florida area were interviewed about their perceptions of the integrity, dependability, and competence of their professional counterparts. Using a coorientational lens, themes derived from the comments of both groups were compared for accuracy and agreement. / ABSTRACT: The results indicated that both journalists and public relations practitioners were slow to generalize positive or negative experiences to other individuals or organizations, and that they mostly understood the professional ethics and motivation of the other occupation. However, once an established trust was broken in a relationship, participants universally described that it could not be regained. By comparing themes between the two groups, the data indicated that there were more issues of true consensus than any other situation. Both journalists and government communicators indicated a mutual respect for their professional counterparts and a shared appreciation for the principle of open government, though the data suggested that the two sides were unaware of this agreement. This exploratory qualitative analysis uncovered several interesting trust-related issues in this unique working relationship, many of which are worthy of additional research and exploration. / System requirements: World Wide Web browser and PDF reader. / Mode of access: World Wide Web.