Filter by section: Practice Insight

Mar 28, 2022 Practice Insight

Participatory science communication needs to consider power, place, pain and ‘poisson’: a practitioner insight

The language of science communication has moved from deficit to dialogue and talk of a ‘new social contract’ with the public ‘invited to participate’. This paper outlines a practitioner path that begins with storytelling and moves to a more participatory mode of practice of science communication for adaptation to climate change at the community scale. I outline personal practitioner reflections, specifically the need to consider issues of power, place, pain and the need to challenge assumptions. I propose the need to consider context, many forms of local knowledge and expertise, social learning, plus the pain of historical, contemporary or projected loss.

Volume 21Issue 022022Special Issue Participatory science communication for transformation (PCST2020+1) (PCST2020+1)

Mar 28, 2022 Practice Insight

Participatory citizen science in solar energy research: going beyond data collection to promote the energy transition

by Luisa Barbosa , Carlos del Cañizo , Gema Revuelta

Despite the societal relevance of energy research, there is a distinct lack of citizen science initiatives in the field. This paper reports the experience of a participatory and innovative strategy to develop a citizen science initiative for solar energy research. A number of stakeholders participated in the definition and implementation of the initiative, and tools such as surveys and a hackathon were employed. The process described aims to provide a blueprint for transforming the relationship between citizens and research into societal challenges. Here we describe the collaborative process and analyse the main opportunities, limitations and future perspectives.

Volume 21Issue 022022Special Issue Participatory science communication for transformation (PCST2020+1) (PCST2020+1)

Feb 28, 2022 Practice Insight

‘Born or Built?’ Exploring visitor understandings of robotics

by Gizem Bilgin , Erika Kerruish , Rod Kennett , Rob DeSalle , Anita Beck , Alex Jordan , Doug Newton-Walters , Matt Cracknell

The ‘Born or Built? — Our Robotic Future’ (‘BOB?’) exhibition examines relationships between humans, robots and artificial intelligence. It encourages visitors to explore ethical and social issues surrounding these new technologies and invites visitors to post their own questions. We examine visitor responses to the exhibit “A of the Day”, which encourages visitors to engage by writing down their own question prompted by their experience in ‘BOB?’. As responses were submitted, it became apparent that the questions posed by visitors were potentially a valuable contribution to future science communication policy about robotics, and to those designing and implementing these technologies. We performed a content analysis that distilled themes in visitors' open-ended questioning that conveyed visitor knowledge and insight into what science communication about robotic technologies needs to address. Taken this way, visitors' questions form a moment of dialogue between the public and science communicators, engineers and researchers in which visitors contribute their knowledge and ideas about robotics. Such moments of dialogue are potentially valuable if the public is to be included in the development of robotics technology to build trust in robotics technology.

Volume 21Issue 012022

Feb 14, 2022 Practice Insight

Nuestros Suelos: exploring new forms of public engagement with polluted soils

by Sebastian Ureta , Miriam Llona , Delia Rodríguez-Oroz , Daniel Valenzuela , Carolina Trujillo-Espinoza , Consuelo Guiñez , Alejandro Rebolledo , María José Maiza , Camilo Rodríguez Beltrán

Despite being a critical environmental problem, soil pollution is not usually considered as a relevant issue by the general public. This disinterest derives from traditional procedures to assess soil pollution that are quite complex and costly, not considering any form of citizen involvement. Seeking to challenge this situation, the project “Nuestros Suelos” (Our Soil) aimed at designing and testing a low-cost participative soil pollution assessment toolkit. The final prototype included several participative modules, going from an assessment of the history of local soils to measuring heavy metals such as Arsenic and Copper. Tested with low-income communities in northern Chile, the toolkit was able not only to produce multiple kinds of data but also a public that started to understand and care about the issue.

Volume 21Issue 012022

Nov 08, 2021 Practice Insight

Boundary spanners and thinking partners: adapting and expanding the research-practice partnership literature for public engagement with science (PES)

by Karen Peterman , Sarah Garlick , John Besley , Sue Allen , Kathy Fallon Lambert , Nalini M. Nadkarni , Mark S. Rosin , Caitlin Weber , Marissa Weiss , Jen Wong

This paper is the culmination of several meaning-making activities between an external researcher, PES practitioners, and social scientist researchers who considered the unique contributions that can be made through RPPs on PES (that is, research-practice partnerships on public engagement with science). Based on the experiences from three RPP projects, the group noted that the PES context may be particularly suited to RPPs, and identified the importance of working as thinking-partners who support reciprocal decision-making. Recommendations are made in support of using these approaches to advance practical knowledge-building and reduce shared frustrations about the disconnect between research and practice in PES.

Volume 20Issue 072021

Jun 17, 2021 Practice Insight

Scaling training to support scientists to engage with the public in non-traditional venues

by Caitlin Weber , Sue Allen , Nalini M. Nadkarni

Public engagement with science activities need to be extended beyond traditional learning venues (e.g., museums, schools) to increase public access. Scientists are motivated to carry out this work; however, it is difficult to scale up training to support the implementation of engagement activities in non-traditional venues. Such training would need to be applicable to different engagement contexts, while avoiding a “one size fits all” approach. We describe the guiding principles, challenges, and design choices of a training program in the United States to support scientists in designing and implementing audience-specific engagement activities in a range of non-traditional venues.

Volume 20Issue 042021

Jun 09, 2021 Practice Insight

Collaboration for chemistry communication: Insights from a research-practice partnership

by Elizabeth Kunz Kollmann , Marta Beyer , Emily Howell , Allison Anderson , Owen Weitzman , Marjorie Bequette , Gretchen Haupt , Hever Velazquez , Shiyu Yang , Dietram A. Scheufele

As several recent National Academies of Sciences reports have highlighted, greater science communication research is needed on 1) communicating chemistry, and 2) building research-practice partnerships to advance communication across science issues. Here we report our insights in both areas, gathered from a multi-year collaboration to advance our understanding of how to communicate about chemistry with the public. Researchers and practitioners from science museums across the U.S. partnered with academic social scientists in science communication to develop and conduct multi-strand data collections on chemistry communication and informal education. Our focus was on increasing interest in, the perceived relevance of, and self-efficacy concerning chemistry through hands-on activities and connecting chemistry to broader themes concerning everyday life and societal impacts. We outline challenges and benefits of the project that future collaborations can gain from and illustrate how our strands of work complemented each other to create a more complete picture of public perceptions of chemistry.

Volume 20Issue 042021

Feb 22, 2021 Practice Insight

Searching for the Sources of the Nile through a podcast: what did we find?

by Emanuele Fantini , Emilie Buist

Podcasts are gaining traction in academic practice and debates. This article reflects on the experience of “The Sources of the Nile”, a podcast on media, science, and water diplomacy. By presenting the podcast structure and production process, we sketch a “podcast pathway” that might serve as a guide for others. We share the results of a survey conducted among our listeners and we review the episodes discussing what we learned on distributions of voice, knowledge and water in the Nile basin. We conclude by reflecting on the connection between the technical production of the podcast and the type of knowledge that it generates, and by pointing at the importance of placing the podcast within a broader community of interests and practice.

Volume 20Issue 022021

Dec 14, 2020 Practice Insight

Manga-based risk communication for the COVID-19 pandemic: a case study of storytelling that incorporates a cultural context

by Yasumasa Igarashi , Nozomi Mizushima , Hiromi M. Yokoyama

This article is about manga-based messaging for risk communication on COVID-19, describing the practice of collaboration between a group of experts and a popular manga artist. Collaborative storytelling through popular manga provides an effective discussion platform for diverse experts in various specialties, ages, and genders to discuss a topic in a short time. These “stories” can integrate social meaning, legitimacy, and a local context into scientific messages. They also provide the public with a deeper understanding of the messages through the characters and their “real-life” situations, as long as the messages remain consistent with the worldview of the original work.

Volume 19Issue 072020Special Issue: COVID-19 and science communication, Part II, 2020 (COVID-19 and Scicomm / 2)

Also a part of:

Collection: Volume 19Issue 052020Special Issue: COVID-19 and science communication, Part I, 2020 (COVID-19 and Scicomm / 1)

Dec 14, 2020 Practice Insight

“Space Plague”: an investigation into immersive theatre and narrative transportation effects in informal pandemic science education

by Lindsay Keith , Wyn Griffiths

Stories are fundamental to human history, culture and development. Immersive theatre has created a landscape where participants have agency within stories, and within this landscape the concept of narrative transportation provides a framework where change within stories creates change in real life. “Space Plague” is a co-designed, fully immersive theatrical experience for young people and families about a fictional pandemic. It was developed using community-based participatory action research (CBPAR) employing a novel model for engaging underserved and under-represented audiences, “SCENE”. Results confirmed that indications of narrative transportation effects were achieved, demonstrating enhanced learning and understanding alongside changing attitudes and indicated positive change when negotiating the COVID-19 crisis.

Volume 19Issue 072020Special Issue: COVID-19 and science communication, Part II, 2020 (COVID-19 and Scicomm / 2)

Also a part of:

Collection: Volume 19Issue 052020Special Issue: COVID-19 and science communication, Part I, 2020 (COVID-19 and Scicomm / 1)

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