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1348 publications found

Feb 24, 2025 Article

"It's mostly a one-way street, to be honest": the subjective relevance of public engagement in the science communication of professional university communicators

by Kaija Biermann, Lennart Banse and Monika Taddicken

This study explores the subjective relevance and challenges of public engagement (PES) in science communication among professional university communicators based on 29 qualitative interviews in one German federal state. Despite recognizing its value, interviewees reveal significant uncertainties in understanding, objectives, and implementation of PES. They cite barriers such as reliance on scientists and control concerns. Surprisingly, social media is rarely considered for PES, with online engagement seen as difficult. This research highlights the complexities and challenges of PES in practice, emphasizing opportunities for optimized digital science communication strategies and clearer role structures between professionals and researchers to enhance PES.

Volume 24 • Issue 01 • 2025

Feb 17, 2025 Article

Exploring the dynamics of interaction about generative artificial intelligence between experts and the public on social media

by Noriko Hara, Eugene Kim, Shohana Akter and Kunihiro Miyazaki

Generative Artificial Intelligence (GenAI) greatly attracts the public's interest; thus, this research investigates discussions between experts and members of the public about this new technology on social media. Using computational and manual analysis of X (formerly Twitter) data, we investigated discussion topics, the roles discussants — including both experts and public — play, and the differences between experts' posts and the public's replies. Moreover, we examined the dynamics between the discussants' roles and social media engagement measures. We found that the public is not only actively contributing to the discussion of GenAI on X, but also becoming knowledge co-producers alongside experts in the sphere.

Volume 24 • Issue 01 • 2025

Feb 12, 2025 Book Review

Book Review: Palgrave Handbook of Science and Health Journalism

by George Claassen

This comprehensive compilation of a wide variety of science communication scholars investigating science and health journalism, brought together by editors Kim Walsh-Childers and Merryn McKinnon, leaves one with mixed impressions.

Publisher's note: a Letter by Merryn McKinnon and Kim Walsh-Childers has been published on September 5th 2025 and is available here

Volume 24 • Issue 01 • 2025

Feb 10, 2025 Book Review

Bridging the gap between scientists and the public: “Science v. Story”

by Douglas A. Levy

Emma Frances Bloomfield's “Science v. Story: Narrative Strategies for Science Communicators”, presents ways to improve science communication in the face of declining public trust. Bloomfield's work highlights the power of narrative, demonstrating how anti-science movements have effectively leveraged storytelling to popularize their messages. If scientists adopt narrative strategies, they can bridge the gap between the scholarly community and the public and make complex information more accessible and relatable. Bloomfield's approach provides a roadmap for navigating the complexities of science communication in an era where many people are swayed more by personal connection than credibility or facts.

Volume 24 • Issue 01 • 2025

Feb 04, 2025 Article

Can science comics aid lay audiences' comprehension of forensic science?

by Isabelle Baxter, Andy Ridgway, Heather Doran, Niamh Nic Daeid, Rachel Briscoe, Joe McAlister and Daniel Barnard

Forensic science has become a standard feature in criminal investigations and trials. However, it can often be a challenge for experts in courtrooms to communicate scientific evidence clearly to lay audiences through verbal expert witness testimony alone. The Evidence Chamber is an interactive experience engaging public audiences with forensic science through a mock trial. This study explores the effectiveness of using comics to support the understanding of forensic science by non-experts. The results suggest comics were effective at aiding the audiences' comprehension of forensic science evidence and in the future comic-based aids could support juries' comprehension of scientific evidence.

Volume 24 • Issue 01 • 2025

Jan 27, 2025 Practice Insight

Scientists' views about relationship-based science communication strategies

by Nancy L. Staus, Julie Risien and Holly Cho

Scientists are increasingly expected to share their research with the public using learner-centered strategies that build trust, such as engaging in relationship-building activities. A growing number of science communication training programs have been developed to address this need but little is known about whether and how scientists value such programs. In this paper we examine scientists' experiences with the STEM Ambassadors Program (STEMAP), a science communication training program that aims to build relationships for open-minded exchange between scientists and the public. We discuss benefits and challenges for scientists when using the STEMAP model for public outreach.

Volume 24 • Issue 01 • 2025

Jan 20, 2025 Practice Insight

Co-creation in citizen science: sharing learnings and good practice from an indoor, airborne microplastics project

by Ana Margarida Sardo, Laura De Vito, Kirsty J. Pringle, Mark Hansen, Kathryn Lamb-Riddell, Sophie Laggan, Timothy Cox and Ben Williams

HOMEs was a citizen science exploratory project, aimed at investigating the presence of airborne microplastics in people's homes. Participants placed passive samplers in their homes, using low-cost microscopes to see and take pictures of their samples. The methods developed are promising, however there are a number of pitfalls to avoid and key considerations. This practice insight explores successful approaches and identifies barriers and limitations when embedding co-creation and participatory citizen science approaches to a research project. This piece focuses on the methods and engagement with participants, rather than on microplastics findings.

Volume 24 • Issue 01 • 2025

Jan 13, 2025 Practice Insight

Climate change is (NOT) funny: insights from a climate change comedy event

by James Riley and Alexander Hall

In recent years there has been an increasing call for new modes of climate change communication. These calls have gone beyond classic consensus-building and fact-sharing to addressing affective dimensions and meaning-making in relation to the climate crisis. In this article we reflect on a proof-of-concept climate change comedy project — “Climate Change is NOT Funny!”. Building on audience and performer insights, we reflect on the effectiveness and affective dimensions of comedy as a climate change communication method, as well as institutional and funding constraints on delivery. Finally, we introduce how we designed our project to go on making an impact beyond the grant's lifespan. By empowering professional comedians to embed new research-informed climate change material into their regular sets, we argue that our approach can amplify the reach of climate communication activities, and in turn provide new forums for individuals to engage with the most pressing aspects of the climate crisis.

Volume 24 • Issue 01 • 2025

Dec 16, 2024 Editorial

Public (dis)trust in science in digital media environments

by Anne Reif, Lars Guenther and Hiromi M. Yokoyama

This special issue examines public (dis)trust in science amidst evolving digital media environments, marked by the increasing prevalence of online information sources about scientific topics such as climate change and COVID-19. This editorial summarizes the nine publications that are part of the special issue and shows how they address different aspects of public (dis)trust in science in the context of digital media environments. Furthermore, we reflect on the selection and production process and give an outlook as to where future research could be heading. The papers highlight various perspectives on (dis)trust in science in digital media environments to foster a deeper understanding of the role of digital communication.

Volume 23 • Issue 09 • 2024 • Special Issue: Public (dis)trust in science in digital media environments (Trust in science)

Dec 16, 2024 Article

How different science communicators use identity strategies to gain public trust: a study on astronomy and climate change issues on a Chinese knowledge sharing platform

by Zheng Yang, Yuanting Huang, Tao Yang and Taoran Yu

Science communication has seen a trend of diverse communicators in recent decades, who adopt different identity strategies to gain audience trust. This study focuses on the strategies used by three different groups of science communicators, including scientists, citizens and institutions, as well as the potential effects that may arise from these different strategies in terms of audience trust through quantitative content analysis. The findings show that communicators have biases towards using different strategies. There are also significant differences in the trust effects generated by different strategies used by different science communicators in different science topics. This indicates that the effect of science communication varies for different groups of science communicators and different science topics, and it is difficult to generate a universally applicable model, which further corresponds to the current trend of ‘diversification’ and ‘contextualization’ in science communication research.

Volume 23 • Issue 09 • 2024 • Special Issue: Public (dis)trust in science in digital media environments (Trust in science)