MEDIA REPRESENTATIONS OF NANOTECHNOLOGY DIGITAL MEDIA

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MEDIA REPRESENTATIONS OF NANOTECHNOLOGY DIGITAL
MEDIA

• Societal Dimensions of Nanotechnology
• PI Meeting
• July 28-29,2008

David M. Berube Co-ord, PCOST Public
Communication of Science and Technology North
Carolina State University USA
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HISTORY

• August 2001- first meeting with program officers
  on defining field
• December 15, 2001 first exploratory grant on
  societal issue
• NIRT 2002 first NIRT on societal issues.

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DIGITAL MEDIA

• CRDM 27 doctoral students.
• Digital media -
• computer-mediated communication
• visual rhetoric
• digital culture
• electronic communication across the curriculum
• media and technology policy
• textual mediation
• digital literacy and
• online information design

http//www.chass.ncsu.edu/crdm/
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http//communication.chass.ncsu.edu/pcost/index.ht
ml
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PCOST

• The PCOST Center's mission is to provide
  opportunities for scholars to understand and
  improve the public communication of emerging
  science and technology. PCOST will work with and
  support faculty and students working in wide
  arena of scholarship including communication,
  media studies, human sciences, and associated
  subject fields. Audiences for our work include
  stakeholders in science and technology such as
  policy makers, scientists, business leaders, and
  non-governmental organizations involved in
  debates about science and technology.

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PLANS -

• PCOST is not waiting for government funding, we
  are establishing a sponsorship system.
• PCOST anticipates an annual web conference
  summit to discuss state of public communication
  of science.
• PCOST has begun efforts to coordinate our work
  with Duke team (CEIN) w/o funding.

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RESOURCES

• 14 FACULTY from 5 universities including UNC,
  UNC-G, and Duke and over a dozen concentrations.
• RTP presence.
• Environmental Sciences (8 companies/1,430
  employees)
• Information Technology (35 companies/20,849
  employees)
• Life Sciences (48 companies/9,715 employees)
• Materials Sciences and Engineering (21
  companies/1,187 employees) and
• Scientific Associations, Foundations, and
  Institutes (18 companies/4,030 employees).

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DM CHALLENGES

• How does Digital Media give demographics, that
  are usually silent within traditional media, a
  voice? Does this present the possibility for a
  new group/type of amplifiers and attenuators?
• Since people trust blogs more than traditional
  media, how should scientists use this to their
  advantage?
• How has digital media strengthened the voice of
  grass roots activism/NGOs?
• How can government communication/websites allow
  the public to become more active by also
  producing and sharing information?
• How does digital literacy and the digital divide
  contribute to Intergenerational Conflict (IGC)?

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DM CHALLENGES (2)

• Can Massive Multiplayer Online Gaming (MMOG) be
  used to simulate crisis situations for emergency
  professionals? How could MMOGs be used to help
  communicate scientific risk information to the
  public? Is it possible for the public to view
  traditionally fictive formats (i.e. MMOGs) as
  purveyors of non-fictive information that should
  be respected/taken seriously?
• How are user/contributor-managed sites like
  Wikipedia raising the bar for production
  efficiency by throwing traditional corporate
  hierarchy out the window? How can science develop
  similar sites with the same production
  efficiency? (NCouncil of Science and Environment
  standards report, issues landscape Societal
  Dimensions PI.

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• White Paper on Risk Communication 07/31/08
• Workshop 08/28-29/08.
• Citizens Guides to Nanotechnology.
• Delphi Rounds on expert/inexpert risk rankings
  lead to Engagement activities and focus groups
  AND a closing program/workshop.

http//communication.chass.ncsu.edu/nirt/Home.html
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Citizens GuidestoNanotechnology

• Introduction to Nanotechnology.
• Agri-, silva- aqua-culture.
• Cancer Diagnosis and Treatment.
• Cosmetics.
• Computers.
• Consumer products.
• Energy.
• Food products.
• Risks.
• Tissue Engineering Transplants.
• Toxicology.
• Water..

• 4 pp. PDF files downloadable on applied
  nanoscience written for inexpert audiences.

http//communication.chass.ncsu.edu/citizenguideto
nano/index.html
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CURRENT

• D. Berube, PI NIRT Intuitive Nanotoxicology
  and Public Engagement, NSF-NIRT (Nanotechnology
  Interdisciplinary Research Team) 09/01/07
  08/30/12

PENDING

• D. Berube, PI DRU Risky Business Risky
  decisions under uncertain conditions, NSF-DRU
  (Decision-Making, Risk and Uncertainty)
  09/01/08-08/31/11.
• D. Berube, I IGERT Genetic Engineering and
  Society The Case of Transgenic Pests,
  NSF-IGERT, 09/01/09-08/31/11.

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NEW RESEARCH

• Fear appeals and their effect on public
  perceptions.
• Belief based arguments and nanobiotechnology.
• Fuzzy systems as an alternative to traditional
  probability in risk analysis under conditions of
  high uncertainty.
• Especially tasty fruit as an anchoring
  principle.

http//nanohype.blogspot.com/
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THANKSdmberube_at_ncsu.edu

• This work was supported in part by grants from
  the National Science Foundation,
• NSF 06-595, Nanotechnology Interdisciplinary
  Research Team (NIRT) Intuitive Toxicology and
  Public Engagement.