Let’s use media! They’re quick to make, easy to distribute and use, attract large crowds, and communicate efficiently. They’re simply awesome! But do media really work like this? How do you figure out which are the most relevant, appropriate, and effective media to use? You may be tempted to begin with what you like yourself or what you can fund. The quicker you get these media out there, the better it is, right? Alternatively, you could take it more gently and start by thinking anthropologically.
“[J]ust as I also please all men in all things, not seeking my own profit, but the profit of many, that they may be saved.”
1 Corinthians 10:33 (NKJV)
Media are made for, with, and by people; so it seems appropriate to start with those who will benefit from them. Once you’ve identified your audiences, the starting point is to figure out what type of media would be most relevant. In other words, you should try to figure out which media people know, use, and appreciate. Who exactly uses them, how, when, and for what kind of messages or information? Such questions can help you find the most relevant medium for each community. A great way to go about this is to engage with each community personally. You can talk to people and hang out with them and thereby get a feel for what media are around, how they work, and how they’re appreciated. This can take time, which most of us do not have. To assist your search for relevant media, IMS staff have developed a couple of research tools. They help you to get good results in regard to a community’s media preferences in view of maximizing your media’s impact.
The Communication Assessment Tool (CAT) has been developed by different IMS staff over many years. It is an adapted participatory methods tool to research communication genres and technologies used in a community. Together with a group of people, CAT helps you to figure out what media technologies and genres might be particularly well suited to their needs and expectations. You can find the CAT here: https://scripture-engagement.org/content/communicationassessment-tool/.
Eyes 4 Impact is a new strategy tool that Andreas Ernst developed. Its main purpose is to assess and/or plan media products and programs more strategically for specific audiences in view of maximizing their impact. This is a participatory process during which a facilitator uses a visual framework and a set of six key questions all starting with “I” (hence the name “Eyes 4 Impact”) to discuss, rate, and visualize the overall potential impact of a specific media product. Participants can be ministry team members but also representatives of the target audience. The reason for this visual and conversational approach is that project managers and decision-makers often lack the requisite experience and insight to assess their media programs or plan new ones. This tool allows them to get good insight and buy-in when assessing or developing a media strategy, including from nonliterate participants.
The six impact factors are:
1. Identify with content: how well do audiences appreciate the content of a media product?
2. Interact with others: how well does the media product facilitate interaction with others?
3. Influenced by useful role models: how well does the media product provide tangible role models that make the Scriptures come alive in the realities of our audience?
4. Integrated into media habits: how well does the media product fit in with the media habits of your target audience?
5. Involved: how involved are audiences in choosing, creating, and promoting the media product?
6. Independent: how sustainable is the media product?
The first video in the Eyes 4 Impact series
The Eyes 4 Impact strategy tool helps you to intentionally take time to understand audiences and how they can be reached more effectively. Jacqueline experienced this when she held an Eyes 4 Impact strategy planning session with her team. She leads a ministry for young women and teenage girls in Cameroon and included a few young girls as representatives of their target audiences in the planning session. To her surprise, Jacqueline realized that she had not understood the communication needs and preferences of these girls. As they talked through different audiovisual products, the girls decided on their favorite way of talking about issues and understanding God’s wisdom for the realities they face: they wanted to regularly record debates on various topics, such as pregnancy, abuse, and education. They would then share these debates on social media.
Jacqueline shares: “My teammates told me that they wished they had known this tool for understanding our target audience before; then we wouldn’t have wasted our money on printing expensive booklets with advice that no one will ever read and that are now collecting dust in our office. From now on we will never create a product or start a new initiative without using the Eyes 4 Impact strategy tool!”
If you are interested in the Eyes 4 Impact strategy tool, we suggest that you watch the following video or the additional video lessons listed in its description: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLlUsTvQBPYXC0dyV0UEuMyzPnEXY5U-3H.
You can also find an Eyes 4 Impact user manual here:
https://www.audiovideoimpact.org/en/resources/eyes-4-impact-user-manual
So next time you consider creating or adapting media, start with the people for whom and with whom you’d like to make them. Consider using a tool like the Eyes 4 Impact strategy tool. This will help you find relevant media that people are likely to use, enjoy, discuss, and pass on. Such relevant media will have an impact.
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Johannes Merz is a senior anthropology consultant with SIL International. He holds a PhD in anthropology and lectures at Moorlands College in the U.K. He and his wife, Sharon, have been based in Benin, West Africa, since 2002. You can contact him at johannes_merz@sil.org.
Andreas Ernst is an SIL media and SE consultant. After growing up and completing high school in Cameroon, he taught primary school in Switzerland. Andreas studied contextualized theology at Redcliffe College in the U.K. and has an MA in literacy program development from Gloucestershire University. He is based in Cameroon and serves as the IMS Training Director. You can contact him at ims_training@sil.org.
This article first appeared in the International Media Services newsletter IMN Issue 145, June 2024, © SIL International, all rights reserved, and is used with permission. For future inquiries, please write to ims_imn@sil.org