Growing CPD's Digital Presence

Over the past few years at CPD, we noticed that our audience is seeking greater interaction with us digitally beyond our events, professional training and publications—especially for those around the world who cannot connect with us in person.

The CPD Editorial Team under the direction of Lisa Rau includes talented producers who design, shoot, edit, code and create all you see in our expanded multimedia output. We analyzed the range of CPD's activities and made a concerted effort to amplify our work in new ways through our website, weekly newsletter and various social media accounts, including brand-new platforms for multimedia content such as podcasts, videos and more.

CPD Producers & Alumni: Jose Castillo, Rachel Cohrs, Austin Maddox, Kerry Velez.

CPD Graduate Student Fellows: Nikki Burnett, Katherine Butler, Anna Pederson, Félicia Tapia.

Here's a snapshot of what we've done so far, and where we're headed:

Website Upgrades

Have you noticed our new recommendation widget? When visiting most pages on the CPD website, you'll notice some key items suggested at the bottom (scroll to the bottom of this page). Based on an algorithm that combines article tags, content type and Google Analytics data, the system instantly provides our audience with the context of related work we've published.

Furthermore, make sure to check out our event pages after the event. Here, we deck out the pages with photo galleries, candid interviews, panel highlight videos, podcasts, PowerPoint presentations and more. (Some examples: Everybody Comes From Away: Art, Politics & 9/11 with Center Theatre Group, and Digital Cooperation via Multi-Stakeholder Diplomacy with the Embassy of Sweden in the U.S.)

Podcasting

In response to our growing audience that cannot attend CPD events in-person, we launched a SoundCloud account to host the Public Diplocast, which amplifies the messages shared by PD experts convened by CPD and partners. Below is an example from a presentation at the above-mentioned event on digital cooperation delivered by Fadi Chehadé, CPD Advisory Board Member and appointee to the UN Secretary General's High-level Panel on Digital Cooperation, who spoke about diminishing public trust in technology and new possibilities for horizontal models of digital cooperation.

Listen to all Public Diplocast episodes here.

Videos

Original Stories

When CPD sends students abroad, we encourage them to create original multimedia stories to share their experiences broadly with our global audience. View all videos here!

MPD Student Fellow Nikki Burnett created this documentary-style video about a behind-the-scenes tour of the Dutch Embassy in Brussels, which showcased the embassy's design-thinking approach to a modern workplace.

Event Highlights

After each CPD event, we want to keep the conversation going. While we still publish full-length event videos, we now also invest in short, shareable exclusive clips to ensure wider dissemination. Below is one from our recent partnership with Pew Research Center on the future of soft power. 

(Video by Félicia Tapia.)

Animation

Technically video, we feel this deserves a category of its own. Through advanced software training across CPD's editorial team, we're developing the tools to reach wider audiences through animated digital storytelling with a personal touch. Take a moment to watch this brief overview of CPD Professional Training, narrated by Stacy Ingber, CPD Assistant Director of Programming & Events.

(Animation by CPD Multimedia Producer Jose Castillo.)

Instagram

Spearheaded by CPD Producer & Social Media Manager Kerry Velez (MPD '19), the @PublicDiplomacy account features a range of content, from long-form excerpts of our scholarly paper series CPD Perspectives, Instagram stories from CPD's global travels, Q&As and much more. Our followers can visit our Instagram's link in bio page to read more in-depth about any posts featured.

("PD Definitions" series designed and curated by Nikki Burnett.)

So far we've shared 200+ posts with our steadily growing Instagram community, and we hope you'll join!

Graphic Design

Across all platforms, CPD has invested in training all members of our editorial team in high-level graphic design to better employ visual storytelling to convey our work. Here's an example of a visual representation of key takeaways from Building a Robust Capacity Framework for U.S. City Diplomacy, a paper by CPD Director Jay Wang and CPD Research Associate Sohaela Amiri.

CPD Director Jay Wang & CPD Research Associate @AmiriSoh identify four trajectories to make U.S. #CityDiplomacy a more strategic, robust aspect of local communities. For more on capacity-building for the future of city diplomacy, read the full paper here: https://t.co/L365TnFdex pic.twitter.com/AOlSDSkLrT

— USC Public Diplomacy (@PublicDiplomacy) June 3, 2019

(Design by Katherine Butler.)

Follow Us

Have an idea for us? Please feel free to reach out to us at cpd@usc.edu with any comments, questions or suggestions.

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