A new dialogue
This is the first of a series of messages that I, or a member of my management team, will be writing for every printed issue of the Bulletin throughout my mandate. Over the coming months and years, I’m hoping to cover many subjects related to the life of CERN, from the science of the LHC to equal opportunities. However, if I’m to cover these things effectively and open up a dialogue with you, then efficient, open and direct communication with the broad CERN community is going to be essential. Therefore, I’ve chosen communication as my first topic.
We need to develop the culture of communication at CERN. The Bulletin should be the place that you turn to for authoritative, timely and accurate information about the Organization. In addition, important news to be conveyed quickly should arrive in your e-mail box, on the CERN web pages, and be displayed on screens around the site. And if you have something to say, there should be a forum where your voice can be heard.
Effective internal communication will also have echoes beyond the Laboratory. In the days since the LHC start-up, CERN and the LHC have become part of mainstream culture. This is good for particle physics globally, but it has created a thirst for information from the outside world that needs to be satisfied. At the same time, we’re all now part of the global village known as Web 2.0, which allows people to interact and share information more completely and widely than ever before. In such an environment, it’s important for the official communication channels of an Organization such as CERN to be of the highest quality and to become a trusted source of news in that global village.
Some of these things will take longer to implement than others, but I hope you’ll soon start to see their impact.
