By Adriano Costa and Mafalda Travassos
Generally speaking, science communication is the communication of science-related topics to the public and it can include science exhibitions, events, journalism, policy or even media production.
Normally it’s very useful to generate support for scientific research or studies, or to inform political and ethical decision-making targets.
As we can observe, the time of simple journal articles as science communication is long gone and today, science communicators can use entertainment and persuasion tools such as humour, storytelling and figures of speech to communicate science. Some programs even allow scientists to be trained in preforming techniques used by professional actors to improve their communication.
Now, scientifically speaking, the most recent approach of John O'Connor, member of a science communication expert team, defines science communication as the use of any kind of skills, media, activities or dialogue capable of producing one of the AEIOU personal responses to science:
Awareness, including familiarity with new aspects of science
Enjoyment or other affective responses, e.g. appreciating science as entertainment or art
Interest, as evidenced by voluntary involvement with science or its communication
Opinions, the forming, reforming, or confirming of science-related attitudes
Understanding of science, its content, processes, and social factors
In fact, the liberalization of scientific contents allowed Science Communication, not only to involve scientist but also different actors, extending its public. Despite the fact that “the public” involves every person in society, when it concerns to science communication it can actually be divided in 6 very different groups:
Scientists: in the academic community, industry and governmental organizations.
Mediators: members of the media such as communicators, educators, and opinion-makers.
Decision-makers: policy makers in governmental organizations.
General public: all the three groups above, plus other interest groups.
Attentive public: part of the general public already interested and reasonably informed about science.
Interested public: part of the general public interested in but not necessarily informed about science.
These different actors enable Science Communication to take place between:
· Groups within the scientific community (academia and industry)
· Scientific community and the media
· Scientific community and the public
· Scientific community and the government (or any authority)
· Media and the public
· Government and the public.
Although many times used interchangeably, Science Communication can, in fact, empower very different situations, such as:
Public awareness of science: as the name suggests, it aims to stimulate a positive awareness towards science.
Public understanding of science: focuses on understanding scientific content, processes, and social factors.
Scientific literacy: (the ideal situation) people are interested and involved in, can form their own opinions about, and voluntarily seek to understand science.
Scientific culture: a very positive society environment that supports science and scientific literacy.
Science communication is now truly widespread, which turns out to be a fantastic opportunity to increase scientific literacy in the community. However, evidence-based science is always on check because in the same way that it is easy to share scientific information, it is also becoming easier to address scientific misinformation, since it is not subject to the constraints of scientific method.
Fonte: W., T., J., D., & M., S. (2003). Science Communication: A Contemporary Definition. Public Understanding of Science, 12(2), 183–202.
Adriano Costa
Mafalda Travassos
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