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• Date of publication Mar 20, 2009 Category: Commentary

  MSc Science Communication, Science Communication Unit, UWE, Bristol

  by Clare Wilkinson , Karen Bultitude , Emma Weitkamp

  The MSc in Science Communication offered by the University of the West of England is taught in short three day blocks, designed specifically to cater for both full and part time students wishing to combine work and study effectively. Started in 2004, the programme emphasises the development of practical skills as well as developing a wider understanding of the key issues facing science communicators today. With this in mind, workshops explore theory and practice, considering the potential of a range of creative, targeted and innovative opportunities to enable greater community participation in scientific issues.

  Volume 8 • Issue 01 • 2009

• Date of publication Mar 20, 2009 Category: Commentary

  A graduate course for science communicators: a Mexican approach

  by Elaine Reynoso-Haynes

  Within the UNAM (The National Autonomous University of Mexico) there is an institution, the Dirección General de Divulgación de la Ciencia (DGDC) devoted to the popularization of science through different media such as museums, exhibitions, journals, books, radio and TV programs, internet, workshops for children, demos, shows, plays, summer courses and outreach programs. Most of these products and materials are planned, designed and manufactured by a multidisciplinary team of professionals in the DGDC. Some of our most outstanding projects are: the creation and operation of two science museums, UNIVERSUM (on the university campus), and the Museo de la Luz (Museum of Light) in the center of the city, many temporary and traveling exhibitions, museums in other parts of the country and abroad and a monthly publication for young readers called ¿Cómo ves?

  Volume 8 • Issue 01 • 2009

• Date of publication Mar 20, 2009 Category: Commentary

  Masters (MSc) in Science Communication. Dublin City University

  by Brian Trench

  The Masters (MSc) in Science Communication at Dublin City University (Ireland)
draws on expertise from several disciplines in human and physical sciences.
The programme takes a broad view of communication that includes the various
kinds of interaction between institutions of science and of society, as well
as the diverse means of exchanging information and ideas. Nearly 200 students
from a wide variety of backgrounds have completed the programme since its
start in 1996, and they work in many different types of employment, from
information and outreach services, to science centres, to publishing and
journalism. Through the programme, and in the dissertation in particular,
students are encouraged to reflect critically on the place and performance
of science in society, and on relations between the cultures of natural sciences
and of humanities and social sciences.

  Volume 8 • Issue 01 • 2009

• Date of publication Mar 20, 2009 Category: Editorial

  Techno-scientific hybrids. Science communication in pursuit of an academic identity

  by Nico Pitrelli , Yuri Castelfranchi

  A recent article published in Science Communication addresses the training issue in issue in our discipline. Henk Mulder and his colleagues discuss the shared features that university curricula should or could have to favour the full admission of science communication into the academic circle. Having analysed analogies and differences in the curricula that a number of schools provide all over the world, the authors reached the conclusion that much remains to be done. Science communication seems far from having found shared fundamental references, lessons that cannot be missed in the practical-theoretical education of future professionals or researchers in this discipline. What should one study to become a good science communicator? And to make innovative research?

  Volume 8 • Issue 01 • 2009

• Date of publication Mar 20, 2009 Category: Book Review

  Scientists' virtues matter. More than ever

  by Alessandro Delfanti

  In his latest book “The scientific life. A moral history of a late modern vocation”, the social historian of science Steven Shapin addresses the public image of contemporary scientists, their virtues and vocations. Who are, and how they represent themselves, those scientists who work on the edge between industry and academy, and who are responsible for the radical uncertainty embedded in the contemporary production of scientific knowledge? If “people matter”, as Shapin states, the genealogy he provides should encourage us to dig more deeply in the main stage of the virtues and ethos of scientists: the mass media.

  Volume 8 • Issue 01 • 2009

• Date of publication Mar 20, 2009 Category: Letter

  New languages for the spreading of scientific knowledge: broadening the dialog between science and society

  by Danielle Pereira Cavalcanti , Cecília C. B. Cavalcanti

  The Internet is by far the most intensely used communication tool of today and the main channel of interaction in the globalized world. This technology has opened up a whole new area for the interaction of knowledge: cyberspace, where information is always present and continuously changing. The interactivity that characterizes the virtual media together with the interactive modules developed by science centers and museums make the Internet a whole new space for the popularization of science. In order to stimulate dialog between science and society, Espaço Ciência Viva has decided to employ the Internet to divulge and to popularize scientific knowledge by bringing debates about the advances of science to the daily lives of people. To this end, its website was remodeled, which led to an increase of up to 600% in the number of visitors.

  Volume 8 • Issue 01 • 2009

• Date of publication Feb 24, 2009 Category: Article

  Using communication research to gather stakeholder preferences to improve groundwater management models: a South Texas case study

  by Ric Jensen , Venkatesh Uddameri

  There is a compelling need to ensure that the points of view and preferences of stakeholders are fully considered and incorporated into natural resources management strategies. Stakeholders include a diverse group of individuals in several sectors that have an interest in how natural resources are managed. Typically, stakeholders with an interest in groundwater resources include groups who could be affected by the manner in which the resource is managed (e.g., farmers who need water for irrigation; municipalities and individuals who need drinking water, agencies and organizations that want to maintain in-stream flows to support ecosystems, etc.) Refugio County in South Texas provides an interesting case study since several groups of water users in the region are working with researchers at Texas A&M University-Kingsville (TAMUK) to develop decision-support models that incorporate stakeholder concerns. The focus of this paper is to provide a series of arguments and approaches about the ways in which stakeholder issues have recently been incorporated into environmental models, to briefly describe some of the TAMUK efforts to develop groundwater models that incorporate stakeholder inputs, and to present and discuss a method in which communication research can be used to obtain stakeholder preferences input into modeling efforts.

  Volume 8 • Issue 01 • 2009

• Date of publication Jan 26, 2009 Category: Article

  Mouse model: what do Japanese life sciences researchers mean by this term?

  by Jin Higashijima , Kae Takahashi , Kazuto Kato

  Mouse-related research in the life sciences has expanded remarkably over the last two decades, resulting in growing use of the term “mouse model”. Our interviews with 64 leading Japanese life sciences researchers showed heterogeneities in the definition of “mouse model” in the Japanese life sciences community. Here, we discuss the implications for the relationship between the life sciences community and society in Japan that may result from this ambiguity in the terminology. It is suggested that, in Japanese life sciences, efforts by individual researchers to make their scientific information unambiguous and explanative are necessary.

  Volume 8 • Issue 01 • 2009

• Date of publication Dec 19, 2008 Category: Commentary

  The human body on Exhibit: promoting socio-cultural mediations in a science museum

  by Silvania Sousa do Nascimento

  This paper discusses three mediation concept approaches and, consequently, three facets of mediator action.  The approaches presented start with a bibliographical review of the concept of mediation present in education and scientific communication studies.  These approaches serve as a basis for interpreting a semi-directive interview with the director of the Museum of Morphological Sciences of the Federal University of Minas Gerais (UFMG).  They also help us reflect on the complexity of organizing the objectives of a museum action that takes into account the transformational role of the meaning of objects in interaction with different socio-cultural subjects.  In conclusion, the museum's purpose in organizing a museum action using socio-cultural mediation approach and with the mediator as a passeur libre among exhibit objects and visitors is highlighted.

  Volume 7 • Issue 04 • 2008

• Date of publication Dec 19, 2008 Category: Commentary

  Trained to interact: echoes from the Workshop Sul-Americano de Mediação em Museus e Centros de Ciência

  by Luisa Massarani , Paola Rodari , Matteo Merzagora

  The initiatives focusing the professional development of explainers are multiplying around the world, building an informal network of researchers, museums managers and directors, explainers, and regional/continental networks, as THE group, the Thematic Human Interface and Explainers group of Ecsite.The Workshop Sul-Americano de Mediação em Museus e Centros de Ciência e Escola de Mediação em Museus e Centros de Ciência, which took place in Rio de Janeiro in September 2008, was a further important step along this path. We believe it is worthwhile to offer to Jcom readers some of the workshop contributions concerning the training of explainers, to which we added an overview of the general problem presented by Lynn Uyen Tran (Lawrence Hall of Science at the University of California, Berkeley).

  The professionalization of educators in science museums and centers

  by Lynn Uyen Tran

  Experimenting mediation: a constant challenge

  by Fatima Brito

  Mediation within science centres and museums. The guides of Universum, México

  by Concepción Ruiz Ruiz-Funes

  The human body on Exhibit: promoting socio-cultural mediations in a science museum

  by Silvania Sousa do Nascimento

  Peer learning: a strategy for practical explainer training

  by Andrea Motto

  The “Learning in order to Teach” project and mediation in museums using Brazilian sign language (Libras)

  by Daina Leyton, Cibele Lucena and Joana Zatz Mussi

  Explainers – New energy for the museum

  by Sebastian Martin and Modesto Tamez

  Volume 7 • Issue 04 • 2008