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• Date of publication Jun 20, 2008 Category: Commentary

  To blog or not to blog, not a real choice there...

  by Elisabetta Tola

  Science blogging is a very useful system for scientists to improve their work, to keep in touch with other colleagues, to access unfamiliar science developed in other fields, to open new collaborations, to gain visibility, to discuss with the public. To favour the building of blog communities, some media have set up networks hosting scientists' blogs, like ScienceBlogs.com or Nature Network. With some interesting features and many potential uses.

  Volume 7 • Issue 02 • 2008

• Date of publication Jun 20, 2008 Category: Commentary

  Grid computing and e-science: a view from inside

  by Stefano Cozzini

  My intention is to analyze how, where and if grid computing technology is truly enabling a new way of doing science (so-called ‘e-science’). I will base my views on the experiences accumulated thus far in a number of scientific communities, which we have provided with the opportunity of using grid computing. I shall first define some basic terms and concepts and then discuss a number of specific cases in which the use of grid computing has actually made possible a new method for doing science. I will then present a case in which this did not result in a change in research methods. I will try to identify the reasons for these failures and analyze the future evolution of grid computing. I will conclude by introducing and commenting the concept of ‘cloud computing’, the approach offered and provided by major industrial actors (Google/IBM and Amazon being among the most important) and what impact this technology might have on the world of research.

  Volume 7 • Issue 02 • 2008

• Date of publication Jun 20, 2008 Category: Commentary

  Collaborative Web between open and closed science

  by Alessandro Delfanti

  “Web 2.0” is the mantra enthusiastically repeated in the past few years on anything concerning the production of culture, dialogue and online communication. Even science is changing, along with the processes involving the communication, collaboration and cooperation created through the web, yet rooted in some of its historical features of openness. For this issue, JCOM has asked some experts on the most recent changes in science to analyse the potential and the contradictions lying in online collaborative science. The new open science feeds on the opportunity to freely contribute to knowledge production, sharing not only data, but also software and hardware. But it is open also to the outside, where citizens use Web 2.0 instruments to discuss about science in a horizontal way.

  The future of the scientific paper

  by Bora Zivkovic

  Grid computing and e-science: a view from inside

  by Stefano Cozzini

  Public domain, copyright licenses and the freedom to integrate science

  by John Wilbanks

  Science via podcast

  by Ilenia Picardi and Simona Regina

  To blog or not to blog, not a real choice there...

  by Elisabetta Tola

  Volume 7 • Issue 02 • 2008

• Date of publication Jun 20, 2008 Category: Commentary

  Science via podcast

  by Ilenia Picardi , Simona Regina

  Internet and the new media have been dramatically affecting the communication scenario. They are changing the role played by traditional media in the information processes, are creating new public spaces for dialogue and participation, and are triggering a short circuit among those producing and those receiving information. Even science communication is not stranger to the changes brought about by the new way of using and populating the web. An epitome of this process of change is the scientific podcast. This article will provide a brief review on the spreading and the purposes of podcasts in science communication, coming from a survey implemented as an activity of the course Science via podcast addressed to the second-year students of the Master in Science Communication of SISSA of Trieste.

  Volume 7 • Issue 02 • 2008

• Date of publication Jun 20, 2008 Category: Article

  Analysis of Japanese newspaper articles on genetic modification

  by Ryuma Shineha , Aiko Hibino , Kazuto Kato

  The rapid spread of technologies involving the application of “Genetic Modification (GM)” raised the need for science communication on this new technology in society. To consider the communication on GM in the society, an understanding of the current mass media is required. This paper shows the whole picture of newspaper discourses on GM in Japan. For the Japanese public, newspapers represent one of the major sources of information on GM. We subjected the two Japanese newspapers with the largest circulation, the Asahi Shimbun and Yomiuri Shimbun, to an analysis of the full text of approximately 4000 articles on GM published over the past to perform an assessment of the change of reportage on GM. As for the most important results, our analysis shows that there are two significant shifts with respect to the major topics addressed in articles on GM by Japanese newspapers.

  Volume 7 • Issue 02 • 2008

• Date of publication Mar 21, 2008 Category: Article

  Metaphors of DNA: a review of the popularisation processes

  by Sergi Cortiñas Rovira

  This article offers a 1953-present day review of the models that have popularised DNA, one of the fundamental molecules of biochemistry. DNA has become an iconic concept over the 20th century, overcoming the boundaries of science and spreading into literature, painting, sculpture or religion. This work analyses the reasons why DNA has penetrated society so effectively and examines some of the main metaphors used by the scientists and scientific popularisers. Furthermore, this article, taken from the author's PhD thesis, describes some recent popularisation models for this molecule.

  Volume 7 • Issue 01 • 2008

• Date of publication Mar 21, 2008 Category: Commentary

  A dialogue on hard sciences is possible. Is it useful too?

  by Stefano Sandrelli

  Dialogical models in science communication produce effective and satisfactory experiences, also when hard sciences (like astrophysics or cosmology) are concerned. But those efforts to reach the public can be of modest impact since the public is no longer (or not sufficiently) interested in science. The reason of this lack of interest is not that science is an alien topic, but that contemporary science and technology have ceased to offer a convincing model for the human progress.

  Volume 7 • Issue 01 • 2008

• Date of publication Mar 21, 2008 Category: Commentary

  Science and society: a dialogue without communicators?

  by Nico Pitrelli

  To give a good public speech is art; but definitely more difficult is to organize a productive exchange of points of views between scientists, experts, non-experts and policy-makers on controversial issues such as a scenario workshop or a consensus conference. Many skills and a deep knowledge both of the topic and of the methodology are required. But this is the future of science communication, a field where the dialogical model will impose new and complex formats of communication and a new sensibility, using also the most traditional media. But are science communicators prepared for that? What is the state of the art of science communicator training?

  Volume 7 • Issue 01 • 2008

• Date of publication Mar 21, 2008 Category: Article

  Science journalism in Latin America: how the scientific information from a scientific source is accommodated when it is transformed into a journalistic story

  by Fernanda Veneu , Luis Henrique Amorim , Luisa Massarani

  Scientific information ­ from the moment it is produced by the scientific community until it reaches the non- expert audience through the newspapers ­ is submitted to a complex process of adaptation. In this paper, we investigate the process of accommodating the scientific information provided by a primary scientific source (a peer-review journal) into journalistic discourse (a newspaper). As case studies we analyzed four scientific papers published by the peer-reviewed scientific journals Nature and Science, which were simultaneously used as primary scientific sources by Latin American newspapers. We observed that the process of accommodation into a new space, journalistic space, represents a significant shift in the content of the texts, including information that appears, disappears and is transformed in the process; transformations in the lexica, the style and the argumentation; a change in the hierarchy of the information; a shift in the information emphasized and in the social impact it might have.

  Volume 7 • Issue 01 • 2008

• Date of publication Mar 21, 2008 Category: Commentary

  The fronties of dialogue

  by Paola Rodari

  “Dialogue” is the trendy word of the moment. The word “dialogue” can be found in the call to access European funding, in the works of Science Communication scholars, in presentations of science education projects, in the mission of new science centres. “Dialogue” is also a word reported by mass media regarding politicians' and scientists' speeches on general issues as well as on local or specific problems such as environment, health, energy, etc... This new magic word is frequently repeated and opens many doors (or perhaps it simply helps to make a good impression). However, there is the risk of ignoring the real meaning and functioning of the word. JCOM is therefore asking a number of experts involved in “dialogue” the following questions: what does it really mean? What are the theoretical principles, the practical opportunities, but also the risks and limits of “dialogue”?

  Not in front of the children! The controversies of science and science communication for children and youth

  by Luisa Massarani

  Are museums places where science and society can really engage in a dialogue? A positive example related to the rubbish emergency in the Campania region

  by Luigi Amodio

  Dialogue in education

  by Lynn Uyen Tran

  Dialogue is bliss

  by Giancarlo Sturloni

  A dialogue on hard sciences is possible. Is it useful too?

  by Stefano Sandrelli

  Science and society: a dialogue without communicators?

  by Nico Pitrelli

  Volume 7 • Issue 01 • 2008