Annual Meeting Notes on Communication and Volcanic Risk. This paper critically analyzes issues of communication and politics in the context of volcanic hazard and risk. It argues that communication is more than transmission of messages.
Communication constitutes a transformational power that allows the creation and fixation of meaning.
The meanings of hazard and risk are constructed throughout the communication process. In the course of analysis, I became aware of my role as an active agent in the creation of meaning and my potential for allocating and mobilizing resources. I saw for the first time the political character of communication in the understanding and experience of risk.