scholarly journals Identifying diffusion patterns of research articles on Twitter: A case study of online engagement with open access articles

2018 ◽  
Vol 28 (1) ◽  
pp. 2-18 ◽  
Author(s):  
Juan Pablo Alperin ◽  
Charles J Gomez ◽  
Stefanie Haustein
Keyword(s):  
Open Access ◽  
Science Communication ◽  
Research Evaluation ◽  
Academic Community ◽  
Public Understanding ◽  
The Public ◽  
Online Engagement ◽  
Understanding Of Science ◽  
Limited Diffusion

The growing presence of research shared on social media, coupled with the increase in freely available research, invites us to ask whether scientific articles shared on platforms like Twitter diffuse beyond the academic community. We explore a new method for answering this question by identifying 11 articles from two open access biology journals that were shared on Twitter at least 50 times and by analyzing the follower network of users who tweeted each article. We find that diffusion patterns of scientific articles can take very different forms, even when the number of times they are tweeted is similar. Our small case study suggests that most articles are shared within single-connected communities with limited diffusion to the public. The proposed approach and indicators can serve those interested in the public understanding of science, science communication, or research evaluation to identify when research diffuses beyond insular communities.

Understanding understanding: a model for the public learning of radioactivity

1999 ◽  
Vol 8 (4) ◽  
pp. 267-284 ◽  
Author(s):  
Steve Alsop
Keyword(s):  
Informal Learning ◽  
Background Radiation ◽  
Public Understanding Of Science ◽  
Public Understanding ◽  
Change Model ◽  
Potential Health ◽  
The Public ◽  
Understanding Of Science ◽  
Conceptual Change Model

While much of the work in the public understanding of science has focused on the public's appreciation of science and their familiarity with key scientific concepts, understanding the processes involved in learning science has largely been ignored. This article documents a study of how particular members of the public learn about radiation and radioactivity, and proposes a model to describe their learning—the Informal Conceptual Change Model [ICCM]. ICCM is a multidimensional framework that incorporates three theoretical dimensions—the cognitive, conative, and affective. The paper documents each of these dimensions, and then illustrates the model by drawing upon data collected in a case study. The emphasis of the analysis is on understanding how the members of the public living in an area with high levels of background radiation learn about the science of this potential health threat. The summarizing comments examine the need for a greater awareness of the complexities of informal learning.

scholarly journals Does the apple fall far from the tree?: reviewing the communication of scientific information about GMOs

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lauren Kirby
Keyword(s):  
Social Epistemology ◽  
Scientific Information ◽  
Public Understanding ◽  
Online Media ◽  
Online Content ◽  
The Public ◽  
Understanding Of Science ◽  
Textual Content ◽  
The Way

Online content is changing the way the public accesses and understands science. The staggering number of often conflicting online sources about science makes it difficult for the lay public to know where to turn in search of accurate scientific information. This project will examine how the nature of online content might be affecting how the public learns about science. Through textual content analyses, it will examine the chain of communication (scientists→online media→public) and document how scientific information evolves. Okanagan Specialty Fruits’ Arctic apple, a genetically modified organism (GMO) that has had the polyphenol oxidase (PPO) gene silenced, will be used as a case study. Three primary themes guide my research: the public understanding of science (PUS), the communication of risk and uncertainty, and social epistemology. The primacy of the PUS movement in public venues for science makes it an important theory for my project, while theories of risk/uncertainty and social epistemology will inform my analysis. My results suggest that: 1) stories about science often include over and understatements of uncertainties and risks; 2) online media stories apply rhetorical frames when reporting scientific information, but the way in which framing is used appears to be reflective of whether the author wishes to persuade their audience; and 3) the rhetorical frames used by online stories about science are not typically integrated into the public’s commentary in a meaningful way, supporting the notion that audiences are active rather than passive and that the public seeks out content that complements their pre-existing beliefs.

Science on display: the representation of scientific controversy in museum exhibitions

1992 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 69-87 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sharon Macdonald ◽  
Roger Silverstone
Keyword(s):  
Scientific Community ◽  
Food Industry ◽  
Food Poisoning ◽  
Public Understanding ◽  
Scientific Controversy ◽  
The Public ◽  
Museum Exhibitions ◽  
Understanding Of Science ◽  
Structural Aspects

This article raises issues concerning popular representations of science, and in particular of scientific controversy, through a case-study of the treatment of food poisoning controversy in a museum exhibition. It is argued that the science that is created for the public is shaped not only by the overt intentions of the exhibition makers but also by constraints inherent in structural aspects of the exhibition-making process and exhibition philosophies. More specifically, we argue that some of the strategies intended to foster public understanding of science create problems for the representation of scientific controversy, and, more generally, for certain types of science. The article also gives attention to scientific sources and the politics of the museum's relationship with the scientific community and the food industry. The contrast with other media is made throughout the article as a means of highlighting the different strategies employed, and constraints experienced, by the various institutions involved in putting science on display for the public.

scholarly journals A Place for Space: The Shift to Online Space Education During a Global Pandemic

2021 ◽  
Vol 9 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joseph Roche ◽  
Laura Bell ◽  
Mairéad Hurley ◽  
Grace D’Arcy ◽  
Brendan Owens ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Public Engagement ◽  
Science Communication ◽  
Natural World ◽  
Public Understanding ◽  
Health Crisis ◽  
Disciplinary Boundaries ◽  
Online Engagement ◽  
Global Pandemic ◽  
Understanding Of Science ◽  
Dramatic Shift

The COVID-19 global pandemic has transformed the relationship between science and society. The ensuing public health crisis has placed aspects of this relationship in harsh relief; perceptions of scientific credibility, risk, uncertainty, and democracy are all publicly debated in ways unforeseen before the pandemic. This unprecedented situation presents opportunities to reassess how certain disciplines contribute to the public understanding of science. Space education has long provided a lens through which people can consider the intersection of the natural world with society. Space science is critical to understanding how human activity and pollution affect global warming, which in turn, inextricably links it to perceptions of the natural world, environmental change, science communication, and public engagement. The pandemic has caused a dramatic shift in how space education projects connect with public audiences, with participation pivoting to online engagement. This transition, coupled with the renewed societal examination of trust in science, means that it is an ideal time for the field of space education to reflect on its development. Whether it evolves into its own distinct field, or remains an area that straddles disciplinary boundaries, such as science education, communication, and public engagement, are crucial considerations when scientific trust, accountability, and responsibility are in question. This paper describes the current state of space education, recent advances in the field, and relevant COVID-19 challenges. The experience of an international space education project in adapting to online engagement is recounted, and provides a perspective on potential future directions for the field.

scholarly journals How messages about behavioral genetics research can impact on genetic attribution beliefs

F1000Research ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 5 ◽  
pp. 2744 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alexandre Morin-Chassé
Keyword(s):  
Science Communication ◽  
Human Genetics ◽  
Behavioral Genetics ◽  
Public Understanding ◽  
The Public ◽  
Genetics Research ◽  
Social Traits ◽  
Research Findings ◽  
The Media ◽  
Understanding Of Science

Science communication has the potential to reshape public understanding of science. Yet, some research findings are more difficult to explain and more likely to be misunderstood. The contribution of this paper is threefold. It opens with a review of fascinating interdisciplinary literature on how scientific research about human genetics is disseminated in the media, and how this type of information could influence public beliefs and world views. It then presents the theoretical framework for my research program, providing a logical basis for how messages about human genetics may influence people's beliefs about the role of genes in causing human traits. Based on this reasoning, I formulate the genetic interpolation hypothesis, which predicts that messages about specific research findings in behavioral genetics can lead members of the public to infer greater genetic causation for other social traits not mentioned in the content of the message. While this framework offers clear, testable predictions, some questions remain unaddressed. For instance, what kind of message formats are persuasive enough to alter people's views? The third contribution of this paper is to begin to address this question empirically. I present the results of a survey experiment that was designed to test whether a simple, short paragraph about behavioral genetics is a powerful enough stimulus to cause the genetic interpolation effect.

scholarly journals Science museums as political places. Representing nanotechnology in European science museums

2012 ◽  
Vol 11 (04) ◽  
pp. C02 ◽  
Author(s):  
Brice Laurent
Keyword(s):  
Science Communication ◽  
Public Understanding Of Science ◽  
Public Understanding ◽  
The Political ◽  
Science Museums ◽  
The Public ◽  
Public Role ◽  
European Science ◽  
Understanding Of Science ◽  
Global Public Policy

Science museums perform representations of science and that of its publics. They have been called to intervene in nanotechnology within global public policy programs expected to develop the field. This paper discusses the case of European science museums. It starts by examining the case of a European project that involved science museums working on nanotechnology. This example illustrates a "democratic imperative" that European science museums face, and which implies a transformation of their public role. It offers a path for the analysis of the current evolution of European science communication perspective – from "public understanding of science" to "scientific understanding of the public" – and of the political construction this evolution enacts.

scholarly journals Introduction: From “The Popularization of Science through Film” to “The Public Understanding of Science”

2018 ◽  
Vol 31 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-14 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fernando Vidal
Keyword(s):  
Science Communication ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Public Understanding Of Science ◽  
Public Understanding ◽  
Deficit Model ◽  
The Public ◽  
Popularization Of Science ◽  
History Of ◽  
Understanding Of Science ◽  
The Relationship

Science in film, and usual equivalents such asscience on filmorscience on screen, refer to the cinematographic representation, staging, and enactment of actors, information, and processes involved in any aspect or dimension of science and its history. Of course, boundaries are blurry, and films shot as research tools or documentation also display science on screen. Nonetheless, they generally count asscientific film, andscience inandon filmorscreentend to designate productions whose purpose is entertainment and education. Moreover, these two purposes are often combined, and inherently concern empirical, methodological, and conceptual challenges associated withpopularization,science communication, and thepublic understanding of science. It is in these areas that the notion of thedeficit modelemerged to designate a point of view and a mode of understanding, as well as a set of practical and theoretical problems about the relationship between science and the public.

scholarly journals Tension between visibility and invisibility: Science communication in new information environments

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Julia Metag
Keyword(s):  
Public Engagement ◽  
Scientific Knowledge ◽  
Science Communication ◽  
Public Understanding Of Science ◽  
Public Understanding ◽  
Digital Information ◽  
The Public ◽  
New Information ◽  
Public Engagement With Science ◽  
Understanding Of Science

The visibility and invisibility of scientific knowledge, its creation, and of scientists are at the core of science communication research. Thus, prominent paradigms, such as the public understanding of science or public engagement with science and technology, have implications for the visibility of scientific knowledge in the scientific community and among the public. This article posits that visibility in science communication is achieved with the availability of scientific knowledge, the approval of its dissemination, and its accessibility to third parties. The public understanding of science and public engagement with science paradigms emphasize different aspects of visibility with the latter focusing on the visibility of the creation of scientific knowledge more than public understanding of science which focuses on the knowledge itself. The digital information environment has engendered new formats and possibilities for visibility but also new risks, thereby creating tensions in science communication.

scholarly journals Building the economic-public relationship: learning from science communication and science studies.

2017 ◽  
Vol 16 (02) ◽  
pp. A01 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fabien Medvecky ◽  
Vicki Macknight
Keyword(s):  
Science Communication ◽  
Public Economics ◽  
Science Studies ◽  
Public Understanding ◽  
The Public ◽  
Participatory Science ◽  
Fertile Ground ◽  
Understanding Of Science ◽  
Economic Engagement ◽  
Critical Democracy

There is a gap between the discipline of economics and the public it is supposedly about and for. This gap is reminiscent of the divide that led to movements for the public understanding of and public engagement with the natural sciences. It is a gap in knowledge, trust, and opinions, but most of all it is a gap in engagement. In this paper we ask: What do we need to think about ― and what do we need to do ― in order to bring economics and its public into closer dialogue? At stake is engaged, critical democracy. We turn to the fields of public understanding of science and science studies for our approach, finding three themes of particular relevance: understanding, expertise, and audience. We then discuss participatory budgeting (PB) as an example of fertile ground for engagement. We argue that with an economic-engagement focus, activities such as PB could be extended into the public-economics gap and provide avenues for an economic equivalent of participatory science: a form of participatory economics.

Virtual Science Centers

2011 ◽  
pp. 308-329 ◽  
Author(s):  
Leo Tan Wee Hin ◽  
R. Subramaniam
Keyword(s):  
Public Understanding Of Science ◽  
Public Understanding ◽  
Science Center ◽  
Science Centers ◽  
Web Based ◽  
The Public ◽  
New Learning ◽  
Understanding Of Science ◽  
Web Based Education

The opening of a virtual annex by science centers has given rise to a new genre of learning in Web-based education. Seeking to enhance the outreach effectiveness of nonformal science education initiatives among students and the public, these virtual science centers fulfill a useful role in promoting the public understanding of science. The example of the Singapore Science Center is used as a case study to explore the topic in significant depth. A commentary is also presented on some of the issues, controversies, and problems encountered in this new learning environment. Some possible solutions and recommendations are suggested in light of our experiences.

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