Professor
University of Gothenburg
Sweden
Orla Vigsø, professor in media and communication studies, University of Gothenburg Sweden. OV was born in Idom, in the Western part of Jutland, Denmark, and studied political science and Scandinavian languages and literature at the University of Aarhus, writing a thesis on the notion of interpretation in semiotics and hermeneutics. He then moved to Sweden to become an associate professor at the University of Uppsala, where he wrote a Ph.D. on the rhetoric of the election posters of the 2002 general election. In 2011, Orla Vigsø became professor of rhetoric at Södertörn University, before moving to Gothenburg and becoming professor in media and communication studies.
Professor Vigsø has published works on the theories of interpretation, visual political communication, public relations, rhetoric, and crisis communication, and has recently commenced a project on Swedish political cartoons. A persistent interest in his work is the relations between context and communication, in particular the factors influencing the public’s interpretation of the sender’s strategic communication. His most recent publications in English include Rhetoric, in Heath et al. (red.): International Encyclopedia of Strategic Communication. (In press); Internal Crisis Communication: An Employee Perspective on Narrative, Culture, Sensemaking. Corporate Communication: an International Journal, Vol. 21; The Dynamics of Sensemaking and Information Seeking in a Crisis Situation. Nordicom Review, 37, 1; Ironic crisis communication? Reflections on three videos by the Swedish rail company SJ. Nordicom Review; Naming is Framing. Swine Flu, New Flu, and A(H1N1). Observatorio (OBS*), vol.4, no.3; Character as Defence: A study of Vattenfall’s communication following an incident at the nuclear plant at Forsmark, Sweden. Corporate Communication: An International Journal,Vol. 15, Iss.4; and Celebrating Expulsions? Crisis Communication in the Swedish Migration Board. In: W.T. Coombs & S. Holladay (eds.): Handbook of Crisis Communication. His publications in Swedish and Danish even include an introduction to Crisis Communication, published in Danish 2015 and in Swedish 2016.
Professor Vigsø is a member of the editorial board for the journals The Poster and Rhetorica Scandinavica, and is a reviewer for a number of journals, including Corporate Communication: an International Journal, Journal of Communication Management, and Public Relations Inquiry.