Issue 123: Communicating as Well as We Think

Participating in a focus group a year ago, a reader of Resources commented that "RFF doesn't communicate as well as it thinks." When asked to clarify, he explained that, to him, the quality of our research and policy analysis had always seemed better than our communications efforts.

I agree. That's one reason why this issue of Resources looks different—and, I hope, more interesting. Responding to many requests, we have redesigned and reorganized Resources to make its content more topical and relevant to the work and world of its readers. You should find that content more accessible, partly through layout and partly as a result of the organization and writing style of the articles. Many familiar items remain—namely, articles featuring research by RFF scholars and affiliates, and news on the people here and what they're about. But we're striving to better emphasize, in nontechnical language, the context, findings, and implications of our work. We hope you will find the results to be clear, useful, and engaging—and that you'll tell us how well we're succeeding.

Our commitment to better addressing the needs of RFF's audiences is reflected, too, in the forthcoming monograph, A Shock to the System, a chapter of which is the source of the article beginning on page 6. The coming restructuring of the U.S. electricity system is a fabulously confusing subject, and our new "primer" will serve as a useful tool for policymakers, administrators, and analysts to introduce key concepts, elements, and terminology along with discussion of the major issues and likely consequences to their own avidly interested but nonspecialist audiences.

Through Resources, we mean to speak with all of RFF'S diverse audiences four times each year. To complement this effort, we are developing new communications items to speak more directly with specific segments of those interested in what we're doing. A series of one-page "briefs" about RFF's research and congressional testimony is now being produced to make it easier for policymakers and the media to track our activities. More new items will follow. We are meanwhile putting the full texts of discussion papers and testimony on our web page for those who want to get into the fine detail of our work.

All our efforts at improved communication are important to me, and I intend to give them very careful attention. Because we are all aware of organizations that are long on style and short on substance, however, these improvements will not come at the expense of our research program. The rigor and objectivity of RFF's work will always be its bedrock. Though we are working very hard to improve our communications, we'll never communicate better than we think!

— Paul R. Portney