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• Date of publication Apr 23, 2018 Category: Book Review

  Discourse media analysis of risk and responsibility for environmental pollution

  by Jennifer Metcalfe

  This book examines the media discourses about environmental pollution in Australia, China and Japan. The book's authors focus on the actors involved in discussions of risk versus those involved in responsibility for environmental pollution. The authors use novel and traditional means of analysis that combine techniques from a variety of disciplines to examine case studies of media discourse. The book provides an interesting, if at times simplistic, overview of the pollution issues facing each country. The conclusions made from the media analysis are relevant to those researching and practicing science communication in the context of such important environmental issues.

  Volume 17 • Issue 02 • 2018

• Date of publication Jul 20, 2017 Category: Article

  The emergence of modern science communication in Australia

  by Toss Gascoigne , Jenni Metcalfe

  Modern science communication has emerged over the last 60 years as a field of study, a body of practice and a profession. This period has seen the birth of interactive science centres, the first university courses to teach the theory and practice of science communication, the first university departments conducting research into science communication, and a sharp growth in employment of science communicators by research institutions, universities, museums, science centres and industry. This chapter charts the emergence of modern science communication in Australia, against an international background.

  Volume 16 • Issue 03 • 2017 • Special Issue: History of Science Communication, 2017 (History of Scicomm)

• Date of publication Sep 21, 2010 Category: Commentary

  Is science communication its own field?

  by Toss Gascoigne , Donghong Cheng , Michel Claessens , Jenni Metcalfe , Bernard Schiele , Shunke Shi

  The present comment examines to what extent science communication has attained the status of an academic discipline and a distinct research field, as opposed to the common view that science communication is merely a sub-discipline of media studies, sociology of science or history of science. Against this background, the authors of this comment chart the progress science communication has made as an emerging subject over the last 50 years in terms of a number of measures. Although discussions are still ongoing about the elements that must be present to constitute a legitimate disciplinary field, we show here that science communication meets four key elements that constitute an analytical framework to classify academic disciplines: the presence of a community; a history of inquiry; a mode of inquiry that defines how data is collected; and the existence of a communications network.

  Volume 9 • Issue 03 • 2010