Open Science

Author(s):  
Julian Cribb ◽  
Tjempaka Sari

Open Science is about how we address the profound challenges which now confront humanity: climate, the food crisis, environmental degradation, resource scarcity and disease; through science communication. These call for the sharing of scientific knowledge among billions of humans, on a scale never before attempted. Open Science offers practical ways to communicate science in a highly networked world where billions of people still have little or no access to advanced knowledge or technologies. The authors describe low-cost, effective means to transfer knowledge to target audiences in industry, government, the community and to the public at large. The book features sections on good science writing, practical advice on how to develop communication and media strategies, ways to measure communication performance, how to handle institutional 'crises', how to deal with politicians and much more.

Society ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 56 (3) ◽  
pp. 246-255 ◽  
Author(s):  
Martin Lakomý ◽  
Renata Hlavová ◽  
Hana Machackova

Abstract Nowadays, the prevailing trend in the science-society relationship is to engage with the broader public, which is beneficial for the public, scientific institutes, scientific findings, and the legitimacy of science as a whole. This article provides a broad review of the rapidly growing research on Open Science and identifies the gaps in the current knowledge for future research. The review focuses on the science-society relationship, such that knowledge from this field is summarised and systematised. Insight into the most salient topics, including science communication, public engagement with science, public cognition of science, and challenges and potential unintended consequences connected to interactions with the public are examined. The first section of the paper focuses on science communication which involves efforts and approaches to inform the public about science by the most effective means. The section on public engagement reviews how scientists and scientific institutions are increasingly involved in direct interactions with the public and different groups of stakeholders to make science more open. The section focusing on public cognition of science provides information about public knowledge, perception, and trust regarding science, which both determines and is formed by public engagement. Last, risks, ethical issues, and data issues connected to the implementation of Open Science principles are reviewed, as there are many unintended consequences of Open Science which are examined by this current research. In conclusion, research covering the science-society relationship is rapidly growing. However, it brings multiple challenges as well as opportunities which are captured and discussed in a variety of existing studies. This article provides a coherent overview of this field in order to bring more comprehensible knowledge to scientists, scientific institutions, and outreach professionals.


2015 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 165-186 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lynne Bowker ◽  
Jairo Buitrago Ciro

This study investigates the potential of machine translation as an efficient and cost-effective means to translate sections of the Ottawa Public Library website into Spanish to better meet the linguistic needs of the Spanish-speaking newcomer community. One-hundred and fourteen community members participated in a recipient evaluation survey, in which they evaluated four different versions of a translated portion of the library’s website — a professional human translation, a maximally post-edited machine translation, a rapidly post-edited machine translation, and a raw machine translation. Participants also considered metadata such as the time and cost required to produce each version. Findings show that while machine translation cannot address every need, there are some instances for which the faster and cheaper post-edited versions are considered useful and acceptable to the community.


Author(s):  
Daniel B. Hess ◽  
Brian D. Taylor ◽  
Allison C. Yoh

Bus rapid transit (BRT) is growing rapidly in popularity because it is viewed widely as an efficient and effective means to improve both transit service and patronage. This paper argues that two distinct views of BRT are emerging: ( a) BRT as a new form of high-speed, rubber-tired, rail-like rapid transit and ( b) BRT as a cost-effective way to upgrade both the quality and image of traditional fixed-route bus service. These two views carry different price tags because the cost of planning, constructing, and operating BRT depends on the complexity of new service features and on rises for BRT that offer service characteristics approaching those of light rail. This study fills a gap in the literature on the costs of BRT by examining in detail component costs–-actual costs for recently implemented services and projected costs for planned new services–-for a sample of BRT systems in North American cities. The study examined BRT costs of 14 planned and recently opened BRT systems to determine how the wide range of BRT service and technology configurations affect costs. The study found that although some of the most successful and popular new BRT systems are high-quality services operating in mixed traffic and implemented at relatively low cost, most BRT projects on the drawing boards are more elaborate, more expensive systems than many currently in service. Most new BRT projects emphasize elaborate LRT-type improvements to lines and stations in one or a few corridors rather than less splashy improvements (such as next-bus monitors, signal preemption, queue-jump lanes, and so forth) affecting more lines and modes in local transit networks. Among the 14 systems examined here, most could be characterized as light rail lite.


2009 ◽  
Vol 37 (5) ◽  
pp. 585-593 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marta Prytys ◽  
Kate Harman ◽  
Rachel Lee ◽  
June S. L. Brown

Background:This study examined characteristics of members of the public who self-referred and the effectiveness of psycho-educational CBT self-confidence workshops when run in routine practice.Method:Repeated measures were employed at pre- and post-workshop stages.Results:Of the 56 members of the general public who self-referred to the workshops, 70% were above the clinical cut-offs for Global Distress (CORE OM) and 86% were above the clinical cut offs for depression symptomatology (CES-D). Follow up data (n= 31) showed significant reduction in self-reported distress and depression at 4-week follow-up. A further analysis showed that those whose scores were above the clinical threshold at initial presentation benefited most but those with scores below the threshold did not seem to benefit.Conclusions:This study demonstrates that psycho-educational CBT workshops attract those with high levels of distress and depression, and have potential as a cost effective means of disseminating psychological interventions.


1975 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 53-62
Author(s):  
Robert S. Garmise ◽  
John R. Powers

The primary objective of any objective-based resource retrieval system is to provide users with a rapid, cost/effective means of retrieving resources suited to the needs of the learners. This is accomplished by Battelle's BETSY system through the use of a computerized retrieval system designed specifically for educators to facilitate learning. BETSY began as an idea during the summer of 1973. Its roots can be vaguely traced to the Computer Based Resource Units (CBRU) of Buffalo, New York. The original premise was to make CBRU available on-line to educators. Through an ESEA Title III grant to the Mentor, Ohio Board of Education, this original concept was stretched and expanded to the present system that not only provides on-line access to over 15,000,000 characters of data, but also provides a very low cost planning instrument. What was originally student oriented is now learner oriented. That learner can still be a student, but he can also be a teacher or curriculum designer.


2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michela Vignoli ◽  
Oliver Zendel ◽  
Matthias Schörghuber

The review-disseminate-assess cycle is a multifaceted process involving different stakeholders: researchers, publishers, research institutions and funders, private companies, industry, and citizens. The H2020 project OpenUP aspires to bring all these stakeholders into an open dialogue to consensually identify and spread the review-disseminate-assess mechanisms advancing evolving practices of RRI in an Open Science context. OpenUP will actively engage research communities and implement a series of hands-on pilots to validate OpenUP’s proposed (open) peer review, innovative dissemination, and impact indicator frameworks. The pilots will be carried out in close cooperation with selected, devoted research communities from four scientific areas: arts and humanities, social sciences, life sciences, and energy. This poster visualises UpenUP’s pilot design exemplified by two of the seven Open Science Pilots to be conducted by the project: 1) Open Peer Review for Conferences, and 2) Addressing and Reaching Businesses and the Public with Research Output.The first pilot will evaluate the feasibility and acceptance of open peer reviewing in a conference setting. The specific implementation of the applied schema will be determined by the results from the state of the art study as well as the user questionnaire answers from other work packages of OpenUP. In comparison to the traditional way (double-blind evaluation of submitted papers by assigned reviewers chosen by the conference organisers) the new schema should allow for a more open and fair process as well as give additional incentives to reviewers. The actual pilot study will be conducted at a medium sized conference in consultation with the conference organisers. Follow-up questionnaires and interviews will show if the stakeholders preferred the new process and can provide constructive feedback for improvements and policy decisions.The second pilot will test existing and potential alternative forms, formats, and channels of open science communication, and explore how the targeted audiences, in particular businesses and the public, can be best reached via these channels. In a preparatory phase the team will map open science communication formats/channels and their targeted audiences. The team will conduct a workshop to elicit the targeted stakeholders’ requirements and expectations towards a useful and appealing communication of scientific contents. This will be the basis of the second pilot presented here. It will actively involve one or more energy research community projects beyond the OpenUP consortium. The goals are to test the previously established communication standards and channels for the energy area, and evaluate the impact and resonance at the targeted audiences.By actively involving research communities and other relevant stakeholders into the pilots, OpenUP will not only evaluate the practicability of the identified open peer review, innovative dissemination, and impact measurement methods in particular settings. It also intends to create and disseminate success stories, best/good practices, and policy recommendations, which will help further communities to implement working Open Science approaches in their research evaluation and communication strategies.


1993 ◽  
Vol 1993 (1) ◽  
pp. 721-725 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marisa J. Mazzotta ◽  
James J. Opaluch ◽  
Thomas A. Grigalunas

ABSTRACT To date, the focus of damage assessment has tended to be either on economic valuation of lost services in monetary terms or on scientific studies of resource restoration. This paper suggests an alternative approach that integrates legal concepts based on the public trust doctrine, economic methods of determining compensation, and scientific approaches to restoration. The approach is based on a definition of restoration as a remedy for oil spill damages which identifies alternative restoration actions that provide resource services that are “equally desirable” to society as those lost due to the spill. The least costly of these alternatives is then selected as the cost-effective means of making the public whole.


Author(s):  
Kathryn E. Cooper ◽  
Erik C. Nisbet

As climate change becomes an increasingly serious problem, mass media are tasked with educating the public. Documentary films and television shows (also called “edutainment”) have been used for decades to communicate about the natural world so that the public may hopefully become informed about science in a simplified, easy-to-understand way. Although producers ostensibly create environmental documentaries in order to inform and/or advocate, theory development and empirical research is limited and insufficient in explaining how this genre influences audiences and why this genre may or may not be an effective means of science communication. Environmental documentaries have the potential to deeply impact audiences because these films promote learning while viewers are entertained, because engagement with the documentary narrative (story) can overcome biases such as politically driven motivated reasoning (conforming new evidence to existing beliefs) and can leverage biases such as the tendency to rely on affect (emotions) when estimating risks. Documentary storytelling can also enhance learning by connecting the causes and consequences of climate change in a sequential narrative. Climate change is a highly contentious political issue, which is reflected in the diversity of viewpoints found in climate change documentaries despite scientific consensus about the issue. While many of these films serve an educational purpose, others are geared toward advocacy. These advocacy programs aim to mobilize value-congruent audiences to engage in personal and collective action and/or to demand policy change. However, people prefer messages that align with their preexisting values, and so the belief disparity between climate change advocates and deniers grows with increasing media exposure as audiences with different beliefs watch and receive climate change messages in very different ways. Filmmakers and scientists must focus future efforts on creating visually engaging narratives within documentaries to promote both education and advocacy to diverse audiences.


1976 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 89-96 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yuri V. Novozhilov ◽  
Jacques G. Richardson

The fiftieth anniversary of the death of Camille Flammarion, the great French astronomer, is the occasion for the authors of this article to review the beginnings of modern science writing. Flammarion's Popular Astronomy may be considered the first step in the popularization of science. The relation of science communication to other disciplines is discussed as well as the contemporary approach. One of the tasks of the popularizer is to present a correct image of science to the public. The authors conclude with a statement of UNESCO's involvement in the popularization of science.


mBio ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (5) ◽  
Author(s):  
J. M. Myers ◽  
A. E. Bonds ◽  
R. A. Clemons ◽  
N. A. Thapa ◽  
D. R. Simmons ◽  
...  

ABSTRACT Mycoviruses are widespread and purportedly common throughout the fungal kingdom, although most are known from hosts in the two most recently diverged phyla, Ascomycota and Basidiomycota, together called Dikarya. To augment our knowledge of mycovirus prevalence and diversity in underexplored fungi, we conducted a large-scale survey of fungi in the earlier-diverging lineages, using both culture-based and transcriptome-mining approaches to search for RNA viruses. In total, 21.6% of 333 isolates were positive for RNA mycoviruses. This is a greater proportion than expected based on previous taxonomically broad mycovirus surveys and is suggestive of a strong phylogenetic component to mycoviral infection. Our newly found viral sequences are diverse, composed of double-stranded RNA, positive-sense single-stranded RNA (ssRNA), and negative-sense ssRNA genomes and include novel lineages lacking representation in the public databases. These identified viruses could be classified into 2 orders, 5 families, and 5 genera; however, half of the viruses remain taxonomically unassigned. Further, we identified a lineage of virus-like sequences in the genomes of members of Phycomycetaceae and Mortierellales that appear to be novel genes derived from integration of a viral RNA-dependent RNA polymerase gene. The two screening methods largely agreed in their detection of viruses; thus, we suggest that the culture-based assay is a cost-effective means to quickly assess whether a laboratory culture is virally infected. This study used culture collections and publicly available transcriptomes to demonstrate that mycoviruses are abundant in laboratory cultures of early-diverging fungal lineages. The function and diversity of mycoviruses found here will help guide future studies into mycovirus origins and ecological functions. IMPORTANCE Viruses are key drivers of evolution and ecosystem function and are increasingly recognized as symbionts of fungi. Fungi in early-diverging lineages are widespread, ecologically important, and comprise the majority of the phylogenetic diversity of the kingdom. Viruses infecting early-diverging lineages of fungi have been almost entirely unstudied. In this study, we screened fungi for viruses by two alternative approaches: a classic culture-based method and by transcriptome-mining. The results of our large-scale survey demonstrate that early-diverging lineages have higher infection rates than have been previously reported in other fungal taxa and that laboratory strains worldwide are host to infections, the implications of which are unknown. The function and diversity of mycoviruses found in these basal fungal lineages will help guide future studies into mycovirus origins and their evolutionary ramifications and ecological impacts.


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