Cross-National Comparative Communication and Deliberation About the Risks of Nanotechnologies

This chapter presents some of the methodological and philosophical challenges faced when conducting public engagement with emerging technologies. The intellectual origins and challenges of conducting upstream public engagement for science communication are discussed, illustrated through the case of nanotechnologies. A series of cross-national workshops held simultaneously in the United States and the UK are described. Findings included that benefits continued to be weighted more heavily than risks in participants’ perceptions of nanotechnologies, as well as did the type of application; that there were more US–UK cross-cultural similarities than differences in the data; the differences that did emerge were both subtle and contextual; and that discourses about social concerns rather than physical risk issues were more salient for participants in both countries. Four methodological challenges for upstream engagement are outlined. We argue that we must also place diverse publics and other concerned stakeholders at the heart of processes of responsible innovation

Engaging nanotechnologies: a case study of 'upstream' public engagement

This paper develops an analysis of the factors likely to shape future public responses to the social and ethical dimensions of emerging nanotechnologies. The research was designed to offer insight into the following: what sorts of issues are likely under current circumstances to shape public attitudes towards nanotechnologies; what narrative resources do people draw upon to develop their thinking; how do public attitudes evolve through social interaction and knowledge generation; and to what extent can expressed concerns be understood as emblematic of wider societal dilemmas.