PRODUCTS AND TOOLS

Once the research has yielded its insights, we work hard to explain, translate and model the research implications for the advocates who must become comfortable with their execution. The following products represent the menu of options for application tools available from the FrameWorks Institute. In some cases, samples of the tools are provided as examples. For examples of application tools organized by topics ranging from international issues to communications campaigns, click here.

A Comprehensive Toolkit
FrameWorks' toolkits include recommendations and findings from the research, short briefs on all research products, enumeration of elements of the frame with explanations from the research specific to each element (messengers, metaphors, context, etc.), and applications from demo op/eds to speeches and mock interviews. To view the The FrameWorks Toolkit, click here.

Companion CD-Rom
This tool is a fully narrated hour-long presentation of how to frame a specific issue, which can be used as a stand-alone training presentation. These CD-Roms cover much the same material as in the toolkit, but using illustrations to educate groups that may be working together on a project. FrameWorks has developed CD-Roms for the Global Interdependence Initiative (Rockefeller Brothers Fund), the KIDS COUNT Network and the Making Connections sites (Annie E. Casey Foundation), and the Climate Message Project (Turner Foundation). To watch a clip from one of our CD-Roms, click here.

Development of Training Modules
FrameWorks staff and collaborators develop training modules of varying lengths for use with different groups, in different locales. Exercises specific to the advocacy groups would be developed, news clips from related interviews identified, etc. In the long form of our workshops, we teach participants how to compose a message box, blending their areas of interest with the Strategic Frame Analysis™ techniques and the sponsored research. We train them in on-air and interview techniques, with an emphasis in developing and staying on message. In the shorter workshops, we rely more upon group simulations and group critique of existing news clips.

Spokesperson Training Audio CD
Once we have had a chance to train a number of advocates, we can produce a spokeperson training audio CD that uses examples from the workshops to help people understand how their peers are reframing their messages to incorporate the new learning. This kind of CD makes an ideal training tool for people who are often asked by the media to appear, and who would like a simple preparation tool. The CD could be accompanied by print handouts.

Online Course
In the winter of 2002/2003, FrameWorks will post its first online course on children's issues, supported by a grant from the Annie E. Casey Foundation. This E-Workshop will allow people to follow, at their own pace, a complete curriculum that blends framing theory, techniques and actual applications to this particular set of issues. The course will be designed in such a way that it would be feasible to piggyback other issues on this core curriculum, building on the generic materials already produced, but branching off to other issues. We can include video tutorials from the leading researchers as well as news segments to critique. Access to these courses can be protected by a restricted password.

E-Zines
Our multi-year work for the Annie E. Casey Foundation has allowed us to experiment with a number of vehicles that show promise for extending the interest of policy experts and advocates once they leave trainings, and allowing FrameWorks to continue to put highly topical demonstration materials in front of the group for group discussion. Among the most successful vehicle, in our estimation, is the E-Zine: a 3 to 5 page exploration of a technique (bridging, social math) or a topic (economic disparities between families, child care) that provides explicit analysis of framing problems and opportunities. To see the series of E-Zines, click here.