Old Media, New Media, and Public Engagement with Science and Technology

2017 ◽  
pp. 57-72
Author(s):  
Yulia A. Strekalova ◽  
Janice L. Krieger ◽  
Rachel E. Damiani ◽  
Sriram Kalyanaraman ◽  
Daisy Zhe Wang
Keyword(s):  
New Media ◽  
Public Engagement ◽  
Science And Technology ◽  
Public Understanding ◽  
Media Audiences ◽  
Technology Innovations ◽  
Public Engagement With Science ◽  
Understanding Of Science ◽  
The Individual

Mass media are, collectively, an effective mechanism for the engagement of the general public in a debate and exchange of information related to science and technology innovations. Whether the aim is to affect change at the individual, population, or policy-making level, public understanding of science and interaction between experts and lay audiences are paramount. This chapter describes a case study of a cybersecurity forum that provided an opportunity for information technology experts to share their knowledge with studio and social media audiences. Reviewing conceptual and practical implications of the case study, the chapter discusses how public engagement efforts could capitalize on the strength of both traditional and online media and introduce interactive programs that cross these two media spaces.

Old Media, New Media, and Public Engagement With Science and Technology

2018 ◽  
pp. 453-469
Author(s):  
Yulia A. Strekalova ◽  
Janice L. Krieger ◽  
Rachel E. Damiani ◽  
Sriram Kalyanaraman ◽  
Daisy Zhe Wang
Keyword(s):  
New Media ◽  
Public Engagement ◽  
Science And Technology ◽  
Public Understanding ◽  
Media Audiences ◽  
Technology Innovations ◽  
Public Engagement With Science ◽  
Understanding Of Science ◽  
The Individual

Mass media are, collectively, an effective mechanism for the engagement of the general public in a debate and exchange of information related to science and technology innovations. Whether the aim is to affect change at the individual, population, or policy-making level, public understanding of science and interaction between experts and lay audiences are paramount. This chapter describes a case study of a cybersecurity forum that provided an opportunity for information technology experts to share their knowledge with studio and social media audiences. Reviewing conceptual and practical implications of the case study, the chapter discusses how public engagement efforts could capitalize on the strength of both traditional and online media and introduce interactive programs that cross these two media spaces.

Destroying iPhones: Feral science and the antithetical citizen

2017 ◽  
Vol 27 (6) ◽  
pp. 731-744 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mike Michael
Keyword(s):  
Citizen Science ◽  
Public Engagement ◽  
Science And Technology ◽  
Public Understanding Of Science ◽  
Public Understanding ◽  
Destructive Testing ◽  
Public Engagement With Science ◽  
Youtube Videos ◽  
Understanding Of Science

This exploratory article considers the implications of a particular genre – YouTube videos of iPhone destruction – for the Citizen Science and Public Understanding of Science/Public Engagement with Science and Technology. Situating this genre within a broader TV tradition of ‘destructive testing’ programmes, there is a description of the forms of destruction visited upon the iPhone, and an analysis of the features shared by the videos (e.g. mode of address, enactments of the experiment). Drawing on the notion of the ‘idiotic’, there is a discussion of the genre that aims to treat its evident lack of scientific and citizenly ‘seriousness’ productively. In the process of this discussion, the notions of ‘feral science’ and ‘antithetical citizenship’ are proposed, and some of their ramifications for Citizen Science and Public Understanding of Science/Public Engagement with Science and Technology presented.

scholarly journals Using Latent Class Models to Explore Cross-national Typologies of Public Engagement with Science and Technology in Europe

2009 ◽  
Vol 14 (2) ◽  
pp. 289-329 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sally Stares
Keyword(s):  
Public Engagement ◽  
Latent Class ◽  
Science And Technology ◽  
Latent Class Models ◽  
Public Understanding ◽  
Public Consultation ◽  
Public Engagement With Science ◽  
Understanding Of Science ◽  
Class Models ◽  
Cross National

Public engagement with science and technology is a central theme in the field of Public Understanding of Science (PUS), particularly in Europe. Alongside public consultation exercises and similar activities aimed at generating engagement, there is a need for good survey indicators of the general climate for engagement with science and technology among the public. With internationally focused PUS studies increasing in prominence, such survey indicators should ideally characterise engagement in approximately the same way across a range of countries, to facilitate sensible cross-national analyses involving this construct. This article presents cross-national analyses of two sets of questions posed in the Eurobarometer survey on public perceptions of biotechnology, conducted in 2002 in fifteen European countries. The items analysed capture a range of elements of the concept of engagement, both with science and technology, in general, and with biotechnology, in particular. Latent class models are used to explore typologies of types of engagement: substantively, to understand their content, and methodologically, to identify items which do not work well in these classifications. The analyses are also used to assess the statistical cross-national comparability of such typologies, and consequently to describe variations in levels of engagement across countries.

Psychology and its publics

2017 ◽  
Vol 30 (4) ◽  
pp. 3-10 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael Pettit ◽  
Jacy L. Young
Keyword(s):  
Public Engagement ◽  
Public Understanding Of Science ◽  
Public Understanding ◽  
Special Issue ◽  
The Public ◽  
Public Engagement With Science ◽  
Understanding Of Science ◽  
The Relationship

This paper introduces the special issue dedicated to ‘Psychology and its Publics’. The question of the relationship between psychologists and the wider public has been a central matter of concern to the historiography of psychology. Where critical historians tend to assume a pliant audience, eager to adopt psychological categories, psychologists themselves often complain about the public misunderstanding of them. Ironically, both accounts share a flattened understanding of the public. We turn to research on the public understanding of science (PUS), the public engagement with science (PES) and communications studies to develop a rich account of the circuitry that ties together psychological experts and their subjects.

scholarly journals Cardiff sciSCREEN: A model for using film screenings to engage publics in university research

2017 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 106-120 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jamie Lewis ◽  
Susan Bisson ◽  
Katie Swaden Lewis ◽  
Luis Reyes-Galindo ◽  
Amy J. Baldwin
Keyword(s):  
Public Engagement ◽  
Science And Technology Studies ◽  
Science And Technology ◽  
Academic Research ◽  
Theory And Practice ◽  
University Research ◽  
Public Understanding ◽  
Research Survey ◽  
Understanding Of Science

Cardiff sciSCREEN is a public engagement programme that brings together local experts and publics to discuss issues raised by contemporary cinema. Since 2010, Cardiff sciSCREEN (short for science on screen) has exhibited more than 50 films alongside short talks and discussions that draw on a range of disciplinary perspectives to explore the broad repertoire of themes found within different film genres. The aim of Cardiff sciSCREEN is to increase the local community's access to university research, while enabling university staff and students to engage a variety of publics with their work. In this paper, we first describe our method of public engagement, and then draw on data from a research survey we administered to sciSCREENers to discuss the relationship between the theory and practice of public engagement. Using research from public understanding of science (PUS), public engagement with science and technology (PEST), science and technology studies (STS) and film literacy, we discuss the ways in which our flexible characterization of science has made the programme inclusive, attracting a wide and varied audience. We consider the benefits of cross-disciplinary perspectives when communicating and engaging contemporary developments in science, where the term 'science' is taken to stand for the breadth of academic research and not merely the natural sciences, as well as discussing the importance of space in public engagement events.

Mundane science use in a practice theoretical perspective: Different understandings of the relations between citizen-consumers and public communication initiatives build on scientific claims

2016 ◽  
Vol 26 (1) ◽  
pp. 40-54 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bente Halkier
Keyword(s):  
Public Engagement ◽  
Theoretical Perspective ◽  
Public Understanding Of Science ◽  
Public Understanding ◽  
Public Communication ◽  
Science Literature ◽  
The Public ◽  
Public Engagement With Science ◽  
Scientific Claims ◽  
Understanding Of Science

Public communication initiatives play a part in placing complicated scientific claims in citizen-consumers’ everyday contexts. Lay reactions to scientific claims framed in public communication, and attempts to engage citizens, have been important subjects of discussion in the literatures of public understanding and public engagement with science. Many of the public communication initiatives, however, address lay people as consumers rather than citizens. This creates specific challenges for understanding public engagement with science and scientific citizenship. The article compares five different understandings of the relations between citizen-consumers and public issue communication involving science, where the first four types are widely represented in the Public Understanding of Science discussions. The fifth understanding is a practice theoretical perspective. The article suggests how the public understanding of and engagement in science literature can benefit from including a practice theoretical approach to research about mundane science use and public engagement.

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 Genetic Food Futures

2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-23
Author(s):  
Catherine Price
Keyword(s):  
Public Engagement ◽  
Genetically Modified Organisms ◽  
Genetically Modified ◽  
Public Understanding Of Science ◽  
Public Understanding ◽  
Controversial Issues ◽  
Select Committee ◽  
House Of Lords ◽  
Public Engagement With Science ◽  
Understanding Of Science

The aim of this article is to offer an answer to the question: How can we improve public engagement in the genetically modified organisms debate? It will describe the models of Public Understanding of Science and Public Engagement with Science. Public Understanding of Science dates back to the 1970s and is intended to create a relationship between science and people through education. The UK’s House of Lords Select Committee on Science and Technology introduced the Public Engagement with Science model in 2000. Public Engagement with Science calls for a dialogue between scientists and society, enabling science to be questioned. These models have been used in the past with controversial issues such as GM organisms, although not always successfully. The article concludes by proposing the Genetically Modified Organism Consortium. This proposal is based on the idea of engaging more voices in the debate, and offers a global, national and local response.

scholarly journals The crisis of the "Public Understanding of Science" in Great Britain

2003 ◽  
Vol 02 (01) ◽  
pp. F01 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nico Pitrelli
Keyword(s):  
Public Engagement ◽  
Social Effects ◽  
Public Understanding Of Science ◽  
Public Understanding ◽  
New Approach ◽  
The Public ◽  
Science Technology ◽  
Public Engagement With Science ◽  
Understanding Of Science ◽  
The Relationship

In a brief article published by Science1 last October, British scientists stated that the expression "Public Understanding of Science" (PUS), which was traditionally employed in Anglosaxon societies to refer to the issue of the relationship between science, technology and society, is out-of-date. It should be replaced by "Public Engagement with Science and Technology" (PEST), a new acronym that clearly invites to reconceptualise the relationship between science and the public. The new approach involves the engagement of the public or rather the publics of science, through dialogue, in particular through an open and equal-to-equal discussion between scientists and non-experts that would enable non-experts to become the actual protagonists in the scientific decisions producing social effects.

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.

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