Suchergebnisse

Currently, Science Communication (SC) professionals who are working in the context of science and technology development, have various jobs at universities, government agencies, NGOs and industry. Their positions have changed in recent years, due to developments in science and technology and to social trends. Increasingly, SC practitioners play a role as mediator in participatory processes, or facilitator of stakeholder meetings. These roles require decisions in difficult to manage processes and in situations that are hard to overlook. A decision support system would be able to help them. In this paper we describe the changing role of SC practitioners and the context in which they make decisions. Then we argue which requirements decision support systems must meet in order to support SC practitioners in their decision making processes. Our paper is based on a literature review on professionalization and in-depth interviews with science communication professionals. Our main conclusion is that a decision support system should not only support the SC practitioner"s instrumental decisions, but should

Communication and the way this communication process is perceived by different publics is part of the public-science relationship. This article presents qualitative data with respect to biotechnology and genomics communication and identifies similarities and differences among publics in various roles. Focus group discussions were conducted with members of the general public, active consumers, patients, and genomics experts in the Netherlands. The analysis demonstrated that these publics prefer varied communication approaches that depend on their particular roles, with varying possibilities of participation. In all cases, transparency and openness as basic communication elements have to be fulfilled to gain trust from these publics.

A concise, coherent and easily readable textbook about the field of science communication, connecting the practice of science communicators with theory. In the book, recent trends and shifts in the field resonate, such as the transition from telling about science to interacting with the public and the importance of science communication in health and environmental communication. The chapters have been written by experts in their disciplines, coming from philosophy of science and communication studies to health communication and science journalism. Cases from around the world illustrate science communication in practice. The book provides a broad, up-to-date and coherent introduction to science communication for both, students of science communication and related fields, as well as professionals.