Overview
How are recent policy changes affecting how scientists engage with the public? How are new technologies influencing how scientists disseminate their work and knowledge? How are new media platforms changing the way the public interact with scientific information? Investigating Science Communication in the Information Age is a collection of newly-commissioned chapters by leading science communication scholars. It addresses current theoretical, practical and policy developments in science communication, including recent calls for greater openness and transparency; and engagement and dialogue on the part of professional scientists with members of the public. It provides a timely and wide-ranging review of contemporary issues in science communication, focusing on two broad themes. The first theme critically reviews the recent dialogic turn and ascendant branding of 'public engagement with science'. It addresses contemporary theoretical and conceptual issues facing science communication researchers, and draws on a range of methodological approaches and examples. The second theme, popular media, examines recent trends in the theory and research of these forms of science communication. It includes contemporary accounts of the study of 'traditional' forms of popular media, including television and newspapers, examining how they are produced, represented and consumed. This theme also documents examples where novel forms of popular media are challenging researchers to re-think how they approach these forms of science communication. A companion volume, Practising science communication in the information age, provides an ideal introduction to anyone wishing to reflect on the practices of contemporary science communication.
Full Product Details
Author: Richard Holliman (Senior Lecturer in Science Communication, The Open University) ,
Elizabeth Whitelegg (Senior Lecturer in Science Education, The Open University) ,
Eileen Scanlon (Professor of Educational Technology and co-Director of the Centre for Research in Education and Educational Technology, The Open University) ,
Sam Smidt (Senior Lecturer, Department of Physics and Astronomy and Programme Director of MSc in Science, The Open University)
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Imprint: Oxford University Press
Volume: 1
Dimensions:
Width: 17.10cm
, Height: 1.80cm
, Length: 24.60cm
Weight: 0.547kg
ISBN: 9780199552665
ISBN 10: 0199552665
Pages: 312
Publication Date: 25 September 2008
Audience:
College/higher education
,
Professional and scholarly
,
Postgraduate, Research & Scholarly
,
Professional & Vocational
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Out of Print
Availability: Awaiting stock
Reviews
`Comprehensive, interesting, and for an academic and teacher in the area, really quite exciting.' Dr. Angela Cassidy, Institute for Food Research, University of East Anglia `The OU team and associated Readers are well respected and tested texts in science communication. ' Professor Mark Brake, Centre for Astronomy and Science Education, University of Glamorgan `A valuable and much-needed resource.' Professor David Gooding Science Studies Centre, Department of Psychology, University of Bath We are convinced that due to the variation of subjects every reader (students, researchers, policy makers, science communicators, teachers in higher education) will find useful information in these volumes, and for teachers of science communication these books are obligatory reading.
Comprehensive, interesting, and for an academic and teacher in the area, really quite exciting. Dr. Angela Cassidy, Institute for Food Research, University of East Anglia The quality of contributions, the strong theoretical background and the emphasis on methodological issues will make it an extremely valuable resource for teaching and researching in this area in the years to come. Massimiano Bucchi, Professor of Science in Society, University of Trento, Italy This book provides an overview of how public engagement and popular media influence the way science is communicated. It is well suited as a college text and presents options for further readings and additional web resources for each article. It is accessible to readers, regardless of expertise, due to the use of clear examples and detailed discussions of research findings. Integrative and Comparative Biology journal The originality of this book is to bring a strongly sociological angle to science communication, a very necessary one to understand the place of science in society and the dynamics of the different actors concerned. Suzanne de Cheveigne, Centre national de la Recherche Scientifique, France
Comprehensive, interesting, and for an academic and teacher in the area, really quite exciting. Dr. Angela Cassidy, Institute for Food Research, University of East Anglia The quality of contributions, the strong theoretical background and the emphasis on methodological issues will make it an extremely valuable resource for teaching and researching in this area in the years to come. Massimiano Bucchi, Professor of Science in Society, University of Trento, Italy The originality of this book is to bring a strongly sociological angle to science communication, a very necessary one to understand the place of science in society and the dynamics of the different actors concerned. Suzanne de Cheveigne, Centre national de la Recherche Scientifique, France
Author Information
Richard Holliman is Senior Lecturer in Science Communication at the Open University (OU), UK and production course team chair of Communicating Science in the Information Age. After completing a PhD investigating the representation of contemporary scientific research in television and newspapers in the Department of Sociology at the OU, in 2000 he moved across the campus to the Faculty of Science. Since that time he has worked on a number of undergraduate and postgraduate course teams, producing mixed media materials that address the interface between science and society. He is a member of the Centre for Research in Education and Educational Technology and is currently leading (with colleagues) the ISOTOPE (Informing Science Outreach and Public Engagement) and (In)visible Witnesses research project teams. Elizabeth Whitelegg is Senior Lecturer in Science Education working in the Science Faculty at the Open University (OU), and Award Director for Science Short Courses. She recently produced (with Professor Patricia Murphy) a review of the research literature on the participation of girls in physics, for the Institute of Physics. Her main research interest is in girls' and women's participation in science and in learning science (particularly physics) at all levels; she is currently leading (with colleagues) the (In)visible Witnesses project. In 2003 she was invited to become a Fellow of the Institute of Physics. Eileen Scanlon is Professor of Educational Technology and co-Director of the Centre for Research in Education and Educational Technology at the Open University. She is also Visiting Professor in the Moray House School of Education at the University of Edinburgh. Sam Smidt is a senior lecturer based in the Department of Physics and Astronomy at the Open University, and Programme Director of the MSc in Science. She has interests in physics education and outreach work in promoting science to the public. Jeff Thomas is a senior lecturer within the Department of Biological Sciences at the Open University. He has worked at the OU all his professional life, contributing to a wide range of teaching initiatives in biology and in health sciences, and more recently to a range of projects concerned with contemporary science issues and on the relationships between science and different publics, at both undergraduate and Masters level. His research interests are concerned with the influence of contemporary science controversies on public attitude, on conceptual problems of learning biological science, and in public involvement in science-based policy-making. He also teaches part-time for Birkbeck College, University of London on its Diploma in Science Communication.
