HPSC1008 Intro to Science Communication

1
HPSC1008 Intro to Science Communication

• Lecture Three
• What is Science Communication?
• Monday 13th October

2
Science Communication

• Who does it?
• Who is it for?
• Popularisation as opposed to science written
  for scientists
• Vulgarisation?
• Education, journalism, enlightenment
• Type of communication and motives change over
  time
• Tells us about relationships between science and
  public

3
Science as part of culture
4
(No Transcript)
5
Selbourne Letters, 1771

• In the extent of their wings they measured
  fourteeen inches and an half and four inches and
  an half from the nose to the tip of the tail
  their heads were large, their nostrils bilobated,
  their shoulders broad and muscular and their
  whole bodies fleshy and plump.
• Nothing could be more sleek and oft than their
  fur, which was of a bright chestnut colour.
• Gilbert White to Thomas Pennant

6
Professionalisation of science

• 19th C, new breed of professional scientists
• Lots of lectures, books
• Emergence of scientist as populariser
• Scientists in charge of what is being said about
  science

7
Natural Theology

• William Paley (Natural Theology, 1802)
• Science was the joy of discovering Gods creation
• E.g. Intelligent design
• Science was a moral and religious pursuit
• Part of general culture
• Provided a medium for discussion of science in
  same space as religion, arts
• So science remained very prominent in cultural
  discussions in Victorian age

8
Natural Theology II

• No productions of nature display contrivance so
  manifestly as the parts of animals Now when the
  multitude of animals is considered, the number of
  parts in each, their figure and fitness, the
  faculties depending on them, the variety of
  species, the complexity of structure, the
  success, in so many cases, the felicity of the
  result, we can never reflect, without the
  profoundest adoration, upon the character of that
  Being from whom all these things have proceeded
  we cannot help acknowledging what an exertion of
  benevolence creation was, of a benevolence how
  minute in its care, how vast in its
  comprehension!
• William Paley, 1802

9
Fragmentation of common context

• Developments in biology, geology brought science
  more and more into conflict with Christianity
• E.g Darwins The Origin of Species (1859)
• Strain on natural theology to contain these
  debates
• For science to be assigned authority, have
  control over educational needs, training of
  scientists, religion had to go.
• Scientists actively communicated to public why
  science was better at providing questions about
  the world
• Forged own separate identity and knowledge
• Relied on ideas of experiment, rationality,
  method
• Scientists are now professionals, not amateurs
• Distinct and separate cultural space, with own
  rules, and own type of communication

10
Early 20th Century popularisation

• First world war lots of coverage of science
• E.g Poision gas, industry
• Science good and bad
• Political reporting
• Part of general journalism

11
Science for the Citizen

• the is a force which is as formidable to an
  insect as gravity is to a mammal. This is
  surface tension. A man coming out of a bath
  carries with him a film of water of about
  one-fiftieth of an inch in thickness. This
  weighs roughly a pound. A wet mouse has to carry
  about its own weight of water. A wet fly has to
  lift many times its own weight
• Of course tall land animals have other
  difficulties. They have to pump their blood to
  great heights than a man, and therefore, require
  a larger blood pressure and tougher blood
  vessels.
• Haldane, 1927

12
Science after the war

• The rise of the science journalist, post WWII
• Atomic bomb features heavily in motivations
• Lots of political writing, lots of science on
  radio
• Celebration of science
• Man has heretofore been entirely dependent upon
  the sun for all the energy which made life itself
  and civilization possible. Atomic energy has
  released man from dependence on the sun - he has
  graduated from being a citizen of the solar
  system and is now a citizen of the cosmos,
  because uranium and the heavyweight elements are
  not created in the sun but are an inheritance
  from the original creative process of the great
  cosmos, or multiverse.
• John J ONeill, 1945

13
Mediation of science in public

• 1960s onwards, science mediated by press, radio,
  TV, books, journalists, writers
• Own professional code of practice, and
  professional standards.
• Communication of science out of hands of
  scientists.
• 1962, Silent Spring, Rachel Carson
• Start of environmentalism
• Increasing critical tone of science reporting and
  writing
• Scientists developed rules to try and protect
  science from journalism
• Inglefinger rule, 1967
• Unwritten rules of popularisation
• Result very mixed feelings about popularisation

14
Unwritten rules of science popularisation

• Scientist must first have reputation as credible
  researcher
• Popularisation should only follow professional
  publications
• Scientist should popularise only after productive
  research life is over
• Stick to area of expertise
• Act only to improve the image of science
• Avoid extremes of opinion

15
The public understanding of science

• 1970s difficult time for science
• Lack of funding
• Blamed lack of interest and understanding by by
  public
• Popularisation becomes key to improving the
  public understanding of science
• Calls for more by scientists
• Lots of popular books

16
Science communication theory

• Science communication thought about in simple
  linear models
• Sender Transmitter Receiver
• Lasswell transmission model, 1948
• Often referred to as the dominant model
• Why?
• Suits scientists motives and goals

17
The dominant model

• Science is seen as an avenue of access to
  assured findings, and scientists - in the
  dissemination of these findings - as the initial
  sources.
• The members of the laity are understood purely
  as recipients of this information.
• Journalists and public relations personnel are
  viewed as intermediaries through which the
  scientific findings filter.
• The task of science communication is to transmit
  as much information as possible with maximum
  fidelity.

18
The dominant model II

• Science
• Media
• Public

19
Week Three - Task

• Find 2 pieces of science communication that tell
  the same story, but are for different audiences
• Ask yourself questions on handout