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• Date of publication Jun 14, 2019 Category: Article

  The rise of skepticism in Spanish political and digital media contexts

  by Lorena Cano-Orón , Isabel Mendoza , Carolina Moreno

  Currently in Spain, there is a political and social debate over the use and sale of homeopathic products, which is promoted mainly by the skeptical movement. For the first time, this issue has become significant in political discourse. This study analyzes the role that homeopathy-related stories are playing in that political debate. We analyzed the viewpoints of headlines between 2015 and 2017 in eight digital dailies (n = 1,683), which published over 30 stories on homeopathy during the three-year study period. The results indicated that the stance on therapy's lack of scientific evidence gained ground during the period studied.

  Volume 18 • Issue 03 • 2019 • Special Issue: Communication at the Intersection of Science and Politics, 2019 (Intersection of Science and Politics)

• Date of publication May 20, 2019 Category: 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 18 • Issue 02 • 2019

• Date of publication Apr 15, 2019 Category: 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 18 • Issue 02 • 2019

• Date of publication Apr 08, 2019 Category: 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 18 • Issue 02 • 2019

• Date of publication Mar 04, 2019 Category: 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 18 • Issue 02 • 2019

• Date of publication Feb 25, 2019 Category: Article

  Societal problem solver or deficient discipline? The debate about social science in the online public sphere

  by Brigitte Huber , Irmgard Wetzstein , Ingrid Aichberger

  This study uses the online discourse surrounding an Austrian publicly-funded study about “Islamic kindergartens” as a case study to approach communication about the social sciences in the online public sphere. Results from a discourse analysis of 937 user comments in online forums of two Austrian daily newspapers show that the social sciences are often referred to as a “special case”. While some use this argument to neglect its societal relevance, others use it to highlight its role as societal problem solver. Moreover, users discuss characteristics of “true” social scientists and scrutinise the independence of institutionalised social science.

  Volume 18 • Issue 02 • 2019

• Date of publication Feb 05, 2019 Category: Article

  Panel-based exhibit using participatory design elements may motivate behavior change

  by Lisa Lundgren , Kathryn Stofer , Betty Dunckel , Janice Krieger , Makenna Lange , Vaughan James

  Meaningful science engagement beyond one-way outreach is needed to encourage science-based decision making. This pilot study aimed to instigate dialogue and deliberation concerning climate change and public health. Feedback from science café participants was used to design a panel-based museum exhibit that asked visitors to make action plans concerning such issues. Using intercept interviews and visitor comment card data, we found that visitors developed general or highly individualistic action plans to address these issues. Results suggest that employing participatory design methods when developing controversial socio-scientific exhibits can aid engagement. We conclude by recommending participatory strategies for implementing two-way science communication.

  Volume 18 • Issue 02 • 2019

• Date of publication Jan 28, 2019 Category: Article

  Does the messenger matter? Studying the impacts of scientists and engineers interacting with public audiences at science festival events

  by Todd Boyette , J. Ross Ramsey

  Over the past decade, science festival expos have emerged as popular opportunities for practicing scientists to engage in education outreach with public audiences. In this paper, a partial proportional odds model was used to analyze 5,498 surveys collected from attendees at 14 science expos around the United States. Respondents who report that they interacted with a scientist rated their experiences more positively than those who reported no such interaction on five categories: overall experience, learning, inspiration, fun, and awareness of STEM careers. The results indicate that scientists can positively affect audience perception of their experience at these large-scale public events.

  Volume 18 • Issue 02 • 2019

• Date of publication Jan 22, 2019 Category: Article

  “Going to these events truly opens your eyes”. Perceptions of science and science careers following a family visit to a science festival

  by Cherry Canovan

  Young people's decisions to study post-compulsory science are strongly influenced by the attitude of their parents, but many families, especially those from deprived backgrounds, see science as ‘narrow’ and ‘not for us’. We asked whether family attendance at a science festival — a growing but under-studied activity — could shift attitudes. Our mixed-methods study found parents from more deprived areas were disproportionately likely to say attendance had improved their perception of science. Parents from the most deprived areas were significantly more likely to feel increased positivity about their children pursuing science careers. Participants also reported learning about the breadth of careers in science. However we found no evidence that attendance boosted informal science activity in low-SES families.

  Volume 18 • Issue 02 • 2019

• Date of publication Jan 17, 2019 Category: Article

  From citizen science to citizen action: analysing the potential for a digital platform to cultivate attachments to nature

  by Nirwan Sharma , Sam Greaves , Advaith Siddharthan , Helen Anderson , Annie Robinson , Laura Colucci-Gray , Agung T. Wibowo , Helen Bostock , Andrew Salisbury , Stuart Roberts , David Slawson , Rene van der Wal

  Identifying private gardens in the U.K. as key sites of environmental engagement, we look at how a longer-term online citizen science programme facilitated the development of new and personal attachments of nature. These were visible through new or renewed interest in wildlife-friendly gardening practices and attitudinal shifts in a large proportion of its participants. Qualitative and quantitative data, collected via interviews, focus groups, surveys and logging of user behaviours, revealed that cultivating a fascination with species identification was key to both ‘helping nature’ and wider learning, with the programme creating a space where scientific and non-scientific knowledge could co-exist and reinforce one another.

  Volume 18 • Issue 01 • 2019 • Special Issue: User Experience of Digital Technologies in Citizen Science, 2019 (User Experience of Digital Technologies)