Genome Editing or Genome Cutting? Communicating CRISPR in the British and German Press

2020 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 45-66
Author(s):  
Yoo Yung Lee
Keyword(s):  
Science Communication ◽  
Public Discourse ◽  
Word Processor ◽  
Public Science ◽  
German Press ◽  
Legal Questions ◽  
British Press ◽  
Legal Frameworks

AbstractIn this paper, I analyze the role of metaphors in public science communication. Specifically, it is a case study of the metaphors for CRISPR/Cas9, a controversial biotechnology that enables scientists to alter the DNA of any organism with unprecedented ease and has raised a number of societal, ethical and legal questions concerning its applications – most notably, on its usage on the human germline. Using a corpus of 600 newspaper articles from the British and German press, I show that there are striking differences in how these two European countries construe CRISPR in public discourse: the British press promotes the image of CRISPR as a word processor that allows scientists to edit the DNA, replacing spelling mistakes with healthy genes, whereas the German press depicts CRISPR as genetic scissors and thereby underlines the risk of mutations after cutting the DNA. I suggest that this contrast reflects differences in the legal frameworks of the respective countries and may influence the attitudes towards emerging biotechnologies among the British and German public.

Digital forensics and evolving cyber law: case of BIMSTEC countries

2019 ◽  
Vol 22 (4) ◽  
pp. 744-752
Author(s):  
Sisira Dharmasri Jayasekara ◽  
Iroshini Abeysekara
Keyword(s):  
Information Technology ◽  
Design Methodology ◽  
Digital Forensics ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Global Context ◽  
Study Approach ◽  
Legal Frameworks ◽  
Work Done

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to discuss the role of digital forensics in an evolving environment of cyber laws giving attention to Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC) countries, comprising Bangladesh, India, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Nepal and Bhutan, in a dynamic global context. Design/methodology/approach This study uses a case study approach to discuss the digital forensics and cyber laws of BIMSTEC countries. The objective of the study was expected to be achieved by referring to decided cases in different jurisdictions. Cyber laws of BIMSTEC countries were studied for the purpose of this study. Findings The analysis revealed that BIMSTEC countries are required to amend legislation to support the growth of information technology. Most of the legislation are 10-15 years old and have not been amended to resolve issues on cyber jurisdictions. Research limitations/implications This study was limited to the members of the BIMSTEC. Originality/value This paper is an original work done by the authors who have discussed the issues of conducting investigations with respect to digital crimes in a rapidly changing environment of information technology and deficient legal frameworks.

scholarly journals The public-engaged scientists: Motivations, enablers and barriers

2018 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 313-322 ◽  
Author(s):  
Simona Cerrato ◽  
Valentina Daelli ◽  
Helena Pertot ◽  
Olga Puccioni
Keyword(s):  
Science Communication ◽  
Public Perception ◽  
Professional Training ◽  
Institutional Commitment ◽  
First Year ◽  
The Public ◽  
Training Courses ◽  
Training Programmes

Why do scientists volunteer to be involved in public engagement in science? What are the barriers that can prevent them participating in dialogue with society? What can be done to facilitate their participation? In this paper we present a case study of the Children's University programme of the International School for Advanced Studies (SISSA) (Trieste, Italy), discussing the three-year experience, and reporting the outcomes of a series of focus groups conducted with the young scientists who volunteered in the programme. Two kinds of motivations emerged. The first is personal, for example volunteers' desire to improve their own communication abilities, or their curiosity for a new activity. The second is related to the perceived role of scientists in society: many volunteers feel a sense of duty and the need to promote science and its importance in society, to have an impact on the public perception of science and to seed the love for science in young people. After the first year of their involvement, volunteers expressed the need to keep improving their communication skills and participating in professional training courses, and agreed that science communication should become part of all standard training programmes of PhDs. In order for the outreach not to remain a sporadic experience, it is essential that a strong institutional commitment exists to promote, recruit, encourage, professionally train and support those involved.

#Blockade: Social Media and the Gulf Diplomatic Crisis

2019 ◽  
Vol 53 (2) ◽  
pp. 200-220
Author(s):  
Jocelyn Sage Mitchell
Keyword(s):  
Public Sphere ◽  
Digital Media ◽  
Media Studies ◽  
Science Communication ◽  
World Cup ◽  
Digital Discourse ◽  
Digital Media Studies ◽  
The Persian Gulf

AbstractThe online public sphere, and the ways in which its digital media platforms influence discourse, is a crucial but understudied area of research in the six Arab monarchies of the Persian Gulf. Through a case study of the ongoing Gulf diplomatic crisis, which began in June 2017, this essay draws on the disciplines of political science, communication, and digital media studies to analyze qualitative examples of digital discourse: the role of women, territorial boundaries, and the FIFA World Cup 2022. Linking these flash points to historical struggles between the countries, this essay suggests that the politicization of the online public sphere in the region does not represent a fundamental change in the diplomacy of the region but rather a new battleground for old regional rivalries.

Assessment by Audiences Shows Little Effect of Science Communication Training

2020 ◽  
pp. 107554702097163
Author(s):  
Margaret A. Rubega ◽  
Kevin R. Burgio ◽  
A. Andrew M. MacDonald ◽  
Anne Oeldorf-Hirsch ◽  
Robert S. Capers ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Science Communication ◽  
Vital Role ◽  
Communication Training ◽  
Communication Course ◽  
Good Communication ◽  
Public Science ◽  
The Public ◽  
Before And After ◽  
Science Community

As the science community has recognized the vital role of communicating to the public, science communication training has proliferated. The development of rigorous, comparable approaches to assessment of training has not kept pace. We conducted a fully controlled experiment using a semester-long science communication course, and audience assessment of communicator performance. Evaluators scored the communication competence of trainees and their matched, untrained controls, before and after training. Bayesian analysis of the data showed very small gains in communication skills of trainees, and no difference from untrained controls. High variance in scores suggests little agreement on what constitutes “good” communication.

Social Winners and Losers: A Case Study of Press Construction

2014 ◽  
Vol 153 (1) ◽  
pp. 21-30
Author(s):  
Andrea Shoebridge
Keyword(s):  
Public Discourse ◽  
Prime Minister ◽  
Attitudes And Beliefs ◽  
Framing Analysis ◽  
Case Study Methodology ◽  
Study Methodology ◽  
Communication Practices ◽  
Fundamental Mechanism

The role of mass media in framing public discourse about gendered life courses is a fundamental mechanism for reinforcing patriarchal culture. Women who do not comply with the marriage and maternity mandate are subject to the type of personalised reaction experienced by Australia's first female prime minister that triggered renewed public debate about misogyny in social organisation. Using case study methodology and framing analysis, I examined a feature published in the national broadsheet about marriage trends that made patriarchy's preferred model explicit. The communication practices used in the feature are discussed in terms of ‘truth’, and how they might reflect and confirm the attitudes and beliefs of the newspaper's readership.

scholarly journals The takeover of science communication: how science lost its leading role in the public discourse on carbon capture and storage research in daily newspapers in Germany

2019 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 69-82 ◽  
Author(s):  
Simon Schneider
Keyword(s):  
Media Coverage ◽  
Carbon Capture ◽  
Science Communication ◽  
Public Discourse ◽  
Carbon Capture And Storage ◽  
Steel Production ◽  
Media Representations ◽  
Daily Newspapers ◽  
And Storage

Abstract. CCS (carbon capture and storage) is an important issue within the context of climate-change mitigation options and has played a major role in the agendas of scientists, researchers, and engineers. While media representations of CCS in Germany from 2004 to 2014 demonstrated the significant mediatization of the topic, this cannot be ascribed to science. Instead, CCS media coverage in Germany has been dominated by other stakeholder groups. While CCS is linked to various industry sectors, such as cement and steel production, the German debate has dominantly focussed on the coal and energy branches. This study looks at the role of science and science public relations (PR) within the German public debate by analysing the media coverage of CCS in daily newspapers from 2004 to 2014. If science wishes to remain proactive within science communication, new approaches for future science PR have to be deduced to strengthen, once again, the role of science communication. Among these approaches, it is important to pursue a more differentiated understanding of target audiences and regional concerns. Science PR has to accept that science itself is no longer the only stakeholder and actor within science communication.

scholarly journals Debt to Society: The Role of Fines & Fees Reform in Dismantling the Carceral State

2021 ◽  
pp. 857
Author(s):  
Wesley Dozier ◽  
Daniel Kiel
Keyword(s):  
Legal System ◽  
Financial Health ◽  
Political Climate ◽  
Criminal Records ◽  
Local Actors ◽  
History Of ◽  
Criminal Legal System ◽  
Legal Frameworks

Fines and fees that result from contact with the criminal legal system serve as a suffocating debt for those against whom they are assessed. Many states have countless laws that require taxes, fines, and fees to be assessed against individuals involved in the criminal legal system at various stages of the criminal legal process, and they have the effect of permanently trapping individuals within the system. In Tennessee, for example, these debts, which can accumulate to over $10,000 in a single criminal case, stand in the way of individuals getting their criminal records expunged, keeping valid driver’s licenses, and restoring their voting rights, among other things. However, as in many other states, Tennessee’s legislature is decidedly hostile to the poor (particularly when poor people’s issues compete with the perceived financial health of government entities), and the urgency of the problem cannot wait for unwilling lawmakers to realize the change that thousands of people need. Using Tennessee as a case study and drawing on the author’s experiences working within the State’s system, this Article considers ways to effectively advocate for the elimination of court debt as a punishment for poverty. First, it provides an abbreviated history of court debt and explains how that history still impacts individuals today. This Article also draws upon the author’s experiences representing individuals in court, appearing before judges, and collaborating with other stakeholders to show the difficulty of achieving a state-wide movement for reform in Tennessee’s current political climate, a problem not unique to this state. Finally, the Article concludes by discussing how local actors can work within current legal frameworks to protect people from extortionist fine and fee policies and limit the harmful growth of the criminal legal system.

Listening at the local level: the role of radio in building community and trust

2019 ◽  
Vol 172 (1) ◽  
pp. 74-88
Author(s):  
Jocelyn Ellen Nettlefold
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Public Discourse ◽  
Local Level ◽  
Island State ◽  
Social Media Platforms ◽  
Building Community ◽  
A Site ◽  
Local Radio

This article examines the role of local radio in the contemporary media environment, specifically as a site for community engagement. Previous research finds journalistic organisations, at the local level, are critical to the functioning of society and more needs to be understood about their contemporary role amid destabilised and fragmented public discourse. In contrast to unrestrained and untrustworthy social media platforms, the mediation of local radio can assist in encouraging more inclusive, constructive, and respectful views from people from diverse sectors of society. Empirical research from a case study of a locally produced ABC Radio Community Conversation event exploring community tensions about built, heritage and environmental development in the Australian island state of Tasmania provides new insights into how the facilitation of local radio discussion can help build trust, public knowledge and enable greater participation. Listening and transparency from journalists about their practices is important, creating a space where people can connect in a civil and empathetic way not easily afforded by social media.

There's No Deterring the Catholic Bishops

1989 ◽  
Vol 3 ◽  
pp. 277-296
Author(s):  
J. Bryan Hehir
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Policy ◽  
Catholic Church ◽  
Public Discourse ◽  
Foreign Affairs ◽  
Political Strategy ◽  
Moral Debate ◽  
The Church ◽  
Catholic Bishops

This article uses two episcopal texts published by the National Conference of Catholic Bishops during the 1980s as a case study of the role of ethics in the foreign policy process. No longer a topic for theologians, philosophers, and lawyers alone, as in past decades, the morality of foreign affairs is now a matter of public discourse and political strategy. The size and social diversity of the Catholic church, the convergence of its stands on anti-communism and anti-nuclear weaponry, and the cosmic nature of the nuclear threat allowed the bishops to make transnational references reaching into all corners of the globe. The church-state exchange introduced the ethics of consequences and promoted moral debate about strategic foreign policy and deterrence.

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