Publications

Jun 14, 2019 Article

Foundations as organisational science policy interfaces? An analysis of the references to foundations made during parliamentary debates in the German federal parliament

Complex political decisions increasingly require scientific knowledge and expertise. But the exchange between actors from the political and the scientific systems is confronted by challenges. Science policy interfaces are needed in order to overcome the barriers to communication. This article analyses and discusses the importance of foundations as science policy interfaces. To this end, we will first present the salient features and functions of foundations as organisations in the framework of theoretical considerations and discuss their fundamental suitability as mediators of scientific knowledge in the political process. We will then identify the significance of foundations as science policy interfaces using a quantitative content analysis of references to foundations in the debates of the 18th German Bundestag.

Volume 18Issue 032019Special Issue: Communication at the Intersection of Science and Politics, 2019 (Intersection of Science and Politics)

Jun 14, 2019 Essay

Barriers to inclusive deliberation and democratic governance of genetic technologies at the science-policy interface

by Cynthia Taylor , Bryan Dewsbury

Advances in 21st century genetic technologies offer new directions for addressing public health and environmental challenges, yet raise important social and ethical questions. Though the need for inclusive deliberation is widely recognized, institutionalized risk definitions, regulation standards, and imaginations of publics pose obstacles to democratic participation and engagement. This paper traces how the problematic precedents set by the 1975 Asilomar Conference emerge in contemporary discussions on CRISPR, and draws from a recent controversy surrounding field trial releases of genetically modified mosquitoes to explicate the ways in which these precedents undermine efforts to engage publics in decisions at the science-policy interface.

Volume 18Issue 032019Special Issue: Communication at the Intersection of Science and Politics, 2019 (Intersection of Science and Politics)

Jun 14, 2019 Article

How science, technology and innovation can be placed in broader visions — Public opinions from inclusive public engagement activities

by Kei Kano , Mitsuru Kudo , Go Yoshizawa , Eri Mizumachi , Makiko Suga , Naonori Akiya , Kuniyoshi Ebina , Takayuki Goto , Masayuki Itoh , Ayami Joh , Haruhiko Maenami , Toshifumi Minamoto , Mikihiko Mori , Yoshitaka Morimura , TAMAKI Motoki , Akie Nakayama , Katsuya Takanashi

This study investigates how different segments of the public, with varying degrees of interest in S&T, could formulate opinions on a broader vision and the role they think STI should play in Japanese society through 2020 (Tokyo's Olympic and Paralympic year) and toward 2030. We conducted nine inclusive public engagement activities. Results indicated that the broad public opinions did not completely overlap with officials' opinions, a value of “open and appropriate” was mainly found from the unengaged public, and the visions and values based on their opinions could well be incorporated into the official document. Engaging the disinterested in S&T remains an issue.

Volume 18Issue 032019Special Issue: Communication at the Intersection of Science and Politics, 2019 (Intersection of Science and Politics)

Jun 14, 2019 Essay

The conflation of motives of science communication — causes, consequences, remedies

by Peter Weingart , Marina Joubert

We explore and discuss the diverse motives that drive science communication, pointing out that political motives are the major driving force behind most science communication programmes including so-called public engagement with science with the result that educational and promotional objectives are blurred and science communication activities are rarely evaluated meaningfully. Since this conflation of motives of science communication and the gap between political rhetoric and science communication practice could threaten the credibility of science, we argue for the restoration of a crucial distinction between two types of science communication: educational/dialogic vs promotional/persuasive.

Volume 18Issue 032019Special Issue: Communication at the Intersection of Science and Politics, 2019 (Intersection of Science and Politics)

Jun 14, 2019 Article

Science and technology for the people? On the framing of innovation in policy discourses in India and in EU

by Anwesha Chakraborty , Rita Giuffredi

In 2010 both India and Europe launched new strategies focused on innovation, for economic growth and for addressing societal challenges: the Decade of Innovation from the Indian Government and the Innovation Union from the European Union. This piqued our interest in investigating how these two political entities have envisioned the concept of innovation, particularly in studying and comparing how they have focused on people, both as final beneficiaries (and thus principal legitimisers) of policy actions, and as actors themselves in the innovation process. Per contra we found, in institutional documents, very different descriptions of how to adequately realise citizens' involvement, spanning from the abiding reference to people's inclusion in the Indian case to the varied discourses on public engagement in EU, down to the passive role accorded to citizens in some Expert Groups reports. The comparison between the understandings of innovation (and innovators) in the two contexts can enlarge and refine the argumentative and metaphoric repertoire of science communicators. Further, it can form the basis of a mature and shared debate on the role that knowledge production and innovation policies can and should play in the public governance of science and technology.

Volume 18Issue 032019Special Issue: Communication at the Intersection of Science and Politics, 2019 (Intersection of Science and Politics)

May 20, 2019 Article

Gender and science in animation: analysis of the Anima Mundi Festival films

by Gabriela Reznik , Luisa Massarani

We used content analysis to analyse the representation of female scientists in animated short films on gender and science, selected from the Anima Mundi Festival, over 21 annual editions. In these films, female scientists are featured as ‘intelligent’, ‘dominant’ and ‘well respected’, adult, white, wearing a lab coat or uniform and working in laboratories and fieldwork. We identified a reconfiguration of the gender stereotype in films in which the female character is about to gain space and visibility. We also analysed films whose sexist foundations in the relationship between scientists and their interlocutors reinforce the reproduction of sexist and heteronormative stereotypes.

Volume 18Issue 022019

Apr 15, 2019 Article

Learning from the news about the consequences of climate change: an amendment of the cognitive mediation model

by Corinna Oschatz , Marcus Maurer , Jörg Haßler

In this study, we suggest to amending the cognitive mediation model of learning from the news to explain the impact of news coverage on climate change on the recipients' acquisition of knowledge about the consequences of climate change. To test our theoretical assumptions, we combine a content analysis of 29 news media channels with a two-wave panel survey before and after the release of the 5th IPCC report. Results show that the amount of information on the consequences of climate change used in print media and prior knowledge are the strongest predictors of the knowledge in the second panel wave.

Volume 18Issue 022019

Apr 08, 2019 Article

Instagram and the science museum: a missed opportunity for public engagement

by Paige Brown Jarreau , Nicole Smith Dahmen , Ember Jones

Science museums are missing an opportunity to promote informal education, scientific literacy, public engagement and public visibility of scientists outside of museum walls via Instagram. With an analysis of 1,073 Instagram posts, we show that museums are using Instagram as a promotional broadcasting tool, with a focus on end results of collections and curation work over communication of museum-led discovery and science as a process. We suggest that science museums create more Instagram posts that offer educational information and visibility of exhibit creation and museum researchers' work behind the scenes.

Volume 18Issue 022019

Apr 01, 2019 Practice Insight

Duct-tape and dreams

by Elin Roberts

The making and tinkering movement has become increasingly mainstream over the past decade, pioneered in part through the popularity of magazines like `Make', events such as Maker Faire and DIY websites including `Instructables'. Science centres and museums have been developing their own ideas, notably the Tinkering Studio at the Exploratorium. In this commentary piece, we reflect on why this movement has a strong appeal for the Life Science Centre in Newcastle upon Tyne and why we are in the process of developing a new making and tinkering space to help us enact our centre's vision to `Enrich lives through science'.

Volume 18Issue 022019

Mar 04, 2019 Article

Witnessing glaciers melt: climate change and transmedia storytelling

by Anita Lam , Matthew Tegelberg

The Extreme Ice Survey (EIS) is an exemplary case for examining how to effectively communicate scientific knowledge about climate change to the general public. Using textual and semiotic analysis, this article analyzes how EIS uses photography to produce demonstrative evidence of glacial retreat which, in turn, anchors a transmedia narrative about climate change. As both scientific and visual evidence, photographs have forensic value because they work within a process and narrative of witnessing. Therefore, we argue that the combination of photographic evidence with transmedia storytelling offers an effective approach for future scientific and environmental communication.

Volume 18Issue 022019

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