Science In Public

Science In Public PDF Author: Jane Gregory
Publisher: Basic Books
ISBN: 0465024505
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 318

Book Description
Does the general public need to understand science? And if so, is it scientists' responsibility to communicate? Critics have argued that, despite the huge strides made in technology, we live in a "scientifically illiterate" society--one that thinks about the world and makes important decisions without taking scientific knowledge into account. But is the solution to this "illiteracy" to deluge the layman with scientific information? Or does science news need to be focused around specific issues and organized into stories that are meaningful and relevant to people's lives? In this unprecedented, comprehensive look at a new field, Jane Gregory and Steve Miller point the way to a more effective public understanding of science in the years ahead.

Speaking in Public About Science

Speaking in Public About Science PDF Author: Ulysses Paulino Albuquerque
Publisher: Springer
ISBN: 3319065173
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 68

Book Description
This book introduces the basic techniques and methods traditionally used in speaking about science to the public. The public often has a very different perception and understanding of science, and this must be taken into account when communicating with the public. This volume covers methods of scientific discourse, oral communication, preparation of the presentation, techniques and use of visual resources, and exercises for perfecting the technique of speaking in public about science. Speaking in Public About Science: A Quick Guide for the Preparation of Good Lectures, Seminars, and Scientific Presentations is a concise yet comprehensive resource that will be of value to beginners and senior scholars and researchers.

Open Access and the Public Domain in Digital Data and Information for Science

Open Access and the Public Domain in Digital Data and Information for Science PDF Author: National Research Council
Publisher: National Academies Press
ISBN: 030918214X
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 195

Book Description
This symposium, which was held on March 10-11, 2003, at UNESCO headquarters in Paris, brought together policy experts and managers from the government and academic sectors in both developed and developing countries to (1) describe the role, value, and limits that the public domain and open access to digital data and information have in the context of international research; (2) identify and analyze the various legal, economic, and technological pressures on the public domain in digital data and information, and their potential effects on international research; and (3) review the existing and proposed approaches for preserving and promoting the public domain and open access to scientific and technical data and information on a global basis, with particular attention to the needs of developing countries.

The Cult and Science of Public Health

The Cult and Science of Public Health PDF Author: Kevin Dew
Publisher: Berghahn Books
ISBN: 0857453394
Category : Medical
Languages : en
Pages : 189

Book Description
In contemporary manifestations of public health rituals and events, people are being increasingly united around what they hold in common--their material being and humanity. As a cult of humanity, public health provides a moral force in society that replaces 'traditional' religions in times of great diversity or heterogeneity of peoples, activities and desires. This is in contrast to public health's foundation in science, particularly the science of epidemiology. The rigid rules of 'scientific evidence' used to determine the cause of illness and disease can work against the most vulnerable in society by putting sectors of the population, such as underrepresented workers, at a disadvantage. This study focuses on this tension between traditional science and the changing vision articulated within public health (and across many disciplines) that calls for a collective response to uncontrolled capitalism and unremitting globalization, and to the way in which health inequalities and their association with social inequalities provides a political rhetoric that calls for a new redistributive social programme. Drawing on decades of research, the author argues that public health is both a cult and a science of contemporary society.

Communicating Science Effectively

Communicating Science Effectively PDF Author: National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine
Publisher: National Academies Press
ISBN: 0309451051
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 153

Book Description
Science and technology are embedded in virtually every aspect of modern life. As a result, people face an increasing need to integrate information from science with their personal values and other considerations as they make important life decisions about medical care, the safety of foods, what to do about climate change, and many other issues. Communicating science effectively, however, is a complex task and an acquired skill. Moreover, the approaches to communicating science that will be most effective for specific audiences and circumstances are not obvious. Fortunately, there is an expanding science base from diverse disciplines that can support science communicators in making these determinations. Communicating Science Effectively offers a research agenda for science communicators and researchers seeking to apply this research and fill gaps in knowledge about how to communicate effectively about science, focusing in particular on issues that are contentious in the public sphere. To inform this research agenda, this publication identifies important influences â€" psychological, economic, political, social, cultural, and media-related â€" on how science related to such issues is understood, perceived, and used.

Science and Public Reason

Science and Public Reason PDF Author: Sheila Jasanoff
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1136288406
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 306

Book Description
This collection of essays by Sheila Jasanoff explores how democratic governments construct public reason, that is, the forms of evidence and argument used in making state decisions accountable to citizens. The term public reason as used here is not simply a matter of deploying principled arguments that respect the norms of democratic deliberation. Jasanoff investigates what states do in practice when they claim to be reasoning in the public interest. Reason, from this perspective, comprises the institutional practices, discourses, techniques and instruments through which governments claim legitimacy in an era of potentially unbounded risks—physical, political, and moral. Those legitimating efforts, in turn, depend on citizens’ acceptance of the forms of reasoning that governments offer. Included here therefore is an inquiry into the conditions that lead citizens of democratic societies to accept policy justification as being reasonable. These modes of public knowing, or “civic epistemologies,” are integral to the constitution of contemporary political cultures. Methodologically, the book is grounded in the field of Science and Technology Studies (STS). It uses in-depth qualitative studies of legal and political practices to shed light on divergent cross-cultural constructions of public reason and the reasoning political subject. The collection as a whole contributes to democratic theory, legal studies, comparative politics, geography, and ethnographies of modernity, as well as STS.

Handbook of Public Communication of Science and Technology

Handbook of Public Communication of Science and Technology PDF Author: Massimiano Bucchi
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1134170130
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 340

Book Description
Comprehensive yet accessible, this key Handbook provides an up-to-date overview of the fast growing and increasingly important area of ‘public communication of science and technology’, from both research and practical perspectives. As well as introducing the main issues, arenas and professional perspectives involved, it presents the findings of earlier research and the conclusions previously drawn. Unlike most existing books on this topic, this unique volume couples an overview of the practical problems faced by practitioners with a thorough review of relevant literature and research. The practical Handbook format ensures it is a student-friendly resource, but its breadth of scope and impressive contributors means that it is also ideal for practitioners and professionals working in the field. Combining the contributions of different disciplines (media and journalism studies, sociology and history of science), the perspectives of different geographical and cultural contexts, and by selecting key contributions from appropriate and well-respected authors, this original text provides an interdisciplinary as well as a global approach to public communication of science and technology.

Handbook for Science Public Information Officers

Handbook for Science Public Information Officers PDF Author: W. Matthew Shipman
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
ISBN: 022617946X
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 151

Book Description
In today s changing media landscape, institutions such as universities, state and federal agencies, laboratories, nonprofit organizations, and research societies increasingly employ science public information officers to get the word out about the scientific research they are conducting or sponsoring. These PIOs now outnumber traditional science journalists and are increasingly responsible for communicating science to wider audiences. In this book, reporter-turned-PIO W. Matthew Shipman offers guidance to both new and experienced PIOs about how to make good decisions and serve as effective liaisons between their institutions and the public. Throughout, he focuses on applying general principles of effective communication to the specific challenges of explaining complex science to nonexpert audiences, coaching scientists to interact with the media, and navigating the particular types of communications crises that arise out of scientific research."

Science in the Media

Science in the Media PDF Author: Paul R Brewer
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1000461866
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 276

Book Description
This timely and accessible text shows how portrayals of science in popular media—including television, movies, and social media—influence public attitudes around messages from the scientific community, affect the kinds of research that receive support, and inform perceptions of who can become a scientist. The book builds on theories of cultivation, priming, framing, and media models while drawing on years of content analyses, national surveys, and experiments. A wide variety of media genres—from Hollywood blockbusters and prime-time television shows to cable news channels and satirical comedy programs, science documentaries and children’s cartoons to Facebook posts and YouTube videos—are explored with rigorous social science research and an engaging, accessible style. Case studies on climate change, vaccines, genetically modified foods, evolution, space exploration, and forensic DNA testing are presented alongside reflections on media stereotypes and disparities in terms of gender, race, and other social identities. Science in the Media illuminates how scientists and media producers can bridge gaps between the scientific community and the public, foster engagement with science, and promote an inclusive vision of science, while also highlighting how readers themselves can become more active and critical consumers of media messages about science. Science in the Media serves as a supplemental text for courses in science communication and media studies, and will be of interest to anyone concerned with publicly engaged science.

Social Science for What?

Social Science for What? PDF Author: Mark Solovey
Publisher: MIT Press
ISBN: 0262358751
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 409

Book Description
How the NSF became an important yet controversial patron for the social sciences, influencing debates over their scientific status and social relevance. In the early Cold War years, the U.S. government established the National Science Foundation (NSF), a civilian agency that soon became widely known for its dedication to supporting first-rate science. The agency's 1950 enabling legislation made no mention of the social sciences, although it included a vague reference to "other sciences." Nevertheless, as Mark Solovey shows in this book, the NSF also soon became a major--albeit controversial--source of public funding for them.