scholarly journals “On Social Media Science Seems to Be More Human”: Exploring Researchers as Digital Science Communicators

2020 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 425-439 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kaisu Koivumäki ◽  
Timo Koivumäki ◽  
Erkki Karvonen

In contemporary media discourses, researchers may be perceived to communicate something they do not intend to, such as coldness or irrelevance. However, researchers are facing new responsibilities concerning how popular formats used to present science will impact science’s cultural authority (Bucchi, 2017). Currently, there is limited research on the microlevel practices of digital science communication involving researchers as actors. Therefore, this qualitative study explores how digital academic discourse practices develop, using the tweeting and blogging of researchers involved in a multidisciplinary renewable energy research project as a case. The results of a thematic analysis of interviews with researchers (n = 17) suggests that the researchers’ perceptions form a scale ranging from traditional to progressively adjusted practices, which are labelled ‘informing,’ ‘anchoring,’ ‘luring,’ and ‘maneuvering.’ These imply an attempt to diminish the gap between science and the public. The interviewees acknowledge that scientific facts may not be interesting and that they need captivating means that are common in the use of new media, such as buzzwords and clickbait. It appears that trials and experimentation with hybrid genres helped the researchers to distinguish the contours of digital academic discourses. The implications support suggestions to broaden the trajectories of expertise and communication, including issues of culture and identity, trust, and the relevance of science. It is argued that scientists’ embrace of new media channels will refine some articulations of the mediatization processes, and these findings support recent suggestions that mediatization could also be conceptualized as a strategic resource.

2021 ◽  
Vol 20 (03) ◽  
pp. E
Author(s):  
Frank Kupper ◽  
Carolina Moreno-Castro ◽  
Alessandra Fornetti

Science communication continues to grow, develop and change, as a practice and field of research. The boundaries between science and the rest of society are blurring. Digitalization transforms the public sphere. This JCOM special issue aims to rethink science communication in light of the changing science communication landscape. How to characterize the emerging science communication ecosystem in relation to the introduction of new media and actors involved? What new practices are emerging? How is the quality of science communication maintained or improved? We present a selection of papers that provide different perspectives on these questions and challenges.


2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Iago Bojczuk

This thesis examines the relationship between youth and new media practices in fostering political participation in online spaces during the impeachment proceedings against Dilma Rousseff, Brazil’s first woman president. In the midst of the political turmoil revolving around the 2016 impeachment case in Brazil, young people actively adopted Social Network Sites (SNS) as vehicles to circulate political user-generated memes. Despite the fact that Brazil is one of the largest democracies in the world, the country still has a long way to go in diversifying its media channels to allow impactful youth participation in the public opinion. However, the number of youth in online spaces continue to increase, as Brazil becomes one of the most active countries on SNS, despite the economic recession. Aside from their reoccurring reactionary, ahistorical, tautological, and superficial elements, Internet memes about the impeachment represent an emerging type of digital labor that is not driven by a particular media text as most memes. Instead, these Internet memes largely gain symbolic meaning and popular appeal through the merging of seemingly unrelated juxtaposition of visual texts, hero and anti-hero characters, and dramatic plotlines. In conjunction, these memes demonstrate to be deeply rooted in the local tradition of cultural cannibalism and popular imagination drawn from Brazilian telenovela conventions. Considering memes both as participatory culture artifacts and as a paratexts for civic engagement, this new gateway for participation suggests that Brazilian youth are not passive consumers of traditional media, but rather active, creative, and influential in online spaces and, potentially, in the public sphere.


2013 ◽  
Vol 12 (03) ◽  
pp. A04 ◽  
Author(s):  
Patricia Rios ◽  
Aquiles Negrete

Science is part of our everyday live; so is art. Some art installations that link the two require the active presence of the spectator. Thereby they help to raise the awareness, promote understanding, and generate an emotional response from the public. This project rests on the public participation model that seeks to explore the connection between art installations and science communication through experiential learning. In order to test the effectiveness of an art installation communicating science two groups were contrasted. The first was exposed to a list of scientific facts; the second participated in the creation of an art installation. The results of this research suggest that art installations do promote long-term fact retention. Therefore, the use of art installations can be considered an interesting method of conveying science in an attractive, reliable, and memorable way.


2019 ◽  
Vol 20 (3) ◽  
pp. 344-353 ◽  
Author(s):  
Caroline D. Bergeron ◽  
Andrea H. Tanner ◽  
Daniela B. Friedman ◽  
Yue Zheng ◽  
Courtney S. Schrock ◽  
...  

Engaging in regular physical activity can help prevent chronic disease and enhance quality of life. Unfortunately, less than 20% of American adults meet the recommended physical activity guidelines, perhaps indicating ineffective communication efforts around physical activity. In preparation for the release of the second edition of the Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans, and using the physical activity guidelines as a cornerstone of our approach, we conducted a scoping review of physical activity communication research to understand the scholarly efforts related to communicating about physical activity. Using a social-ecological perspective, we identified studies using the keywords physical activity* OR exercise* AND health communication* in three public health and communication databases and retained studies conducted in the United States and published in English from 1995 through 2015. Sixty-seven articles included a mention of physical activity guidelines, a health communication focus, and media channels used in promoting physical activity. Half of the studies were published in health/science communication journals. One third of the studies mentioned physical activity guidelines. Only 19% of the studies featured mental health benefits of physical activity while more than 64% emphasized physical health benefits. Nearly all the studies (96%) mentioned the use of persuasion to encourage engagement in physical activity. More effort is needed to study the influence of communicating physical activity guidelines to the public. Best practices for future physical activity communication are discussed for both researchers and practitioners.


2021 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 193-197
Author(s):  
Kwangil Oh

What is the objective for science journals to publish research papers? Would it be enough to collect research manuscripts and simply publish them in print or on the web? Science journal publishers have always strived to find ways of disseminating journal content to as many readers as possible. It is now time for science journal publishers to think about why a journal should be published; whether it is acceptable for valuable scientific findings to lie dormant in a journal’s archive; and whether traditional science communication is still effective. The present article suggests that science journals should transform themselves into science storytellers to improve the visibility and discoverability of their research findings. First, a new communication network between journals, authors, peers, the public, and policymakers is required. Second, conversion of media from academic language to plain language is critical to broadening the audience. Third, audio-visual content should be introduced into journal publishing to facilitate easy comprehension of the content. Fourth, research-focused channels, including EurekAlert, Medium, and social networking service channels are recommended as new media to propagate journals’ content to researchers. Improving visibility and discoverability is an urgent mission, especially for small society journals. To achieve this mission, science journals should be adapted to become storytellers and science communicators, as suggested above. A small society journal’s editor is not merely an editor, but an editor-publisher; therefore, editors should understand and take on this role.


2016 ◽  
Vol 26 (8) ◽  
pp. 953-968 ◽  
Author(s):  
Moritz Büchi

Mass media have long provided general publics with science news. New media such as Twitter have entered this system and provide an additional platform for the dissemination of science information. Based on automated collection and analysis of >900 news articles and 70,000 tweets, this study explores the online communication of current science news. Topic modeling (latent Dirichlet allocation) was used to extract five broad themes of science reporting: space missions, the US government shutdown, cancer research, Nobel Prizes, and climate change. Using content and network analysis, Twitter was found to extend public science communication by providing additional voices and contextualizations of science issues. It serves a recommender role by linking to web resources, connecting users, and directing users’ attention. This article suggests that microblogging adds a new and relevant layer to the public communication of science.


2019 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 268-288
Author(s):  
Dlan Ismail Mawlud ◽  
Hoshyar Mozafar Ali

The development of technology, information technology and various means of communication have a significant impact on public relations activity; especially in government institutions. Many government institutions have invested these means in their management system, in order to facilitate the goals of the institution, and ultimately the interaction between the internal and external public. In this theoretical research, I tried to explain the impact of the new media on public relations in the public administration, based on the views of specialists. The aim of the research is to know the use of the new media of public relations and how in the system of public administration, as well as, Explaining the role it plays in public relations activities of government institutions. Add to this, analyzing the way of how new media and public relations participate in the birth of e-government. In the results, it is clear that the new media has facilitated public relations between the public and other institutions, as it strengthened relations between them


2018 ◽  
Vol 28 (1) ◽  
pp. 201-207
Author(s):  
Kamen Kirilov

Globalization, commodity parity, consumer sovereignty, super competition and a broad variety of other factors, including the roll-out of the mass media, the emergence and rapid rise of the new media formats and platforms as well as the exchange of information provided by social networks pose new challenges for the advertising industry. Throughout its 150 years of history, since we have known it as a distinct occupation and practice, advertising shows adaptive sustainability quality and greatly enhance its capacity as features, forms, user approaches and distribution channels. Nevertheless, by its very nature, advertising retains the constant of an asymmetric pattern of communication in which, in nowadays environment, the success of effort is expressed in the formula of understanding others and the willingness they to understand us in return. In practice, beyond the abstract of this formula, the effort of advertisers in the process of creating and planning a certain campaign would be greatly facilitated by putting the basic principles of empathy theory. Numerous experiments and studies of this human ability establish working models to achieve effective contact both at the level of personal communication and in the cases of direct and indirect communication with huge quantity and variety of audiences with specific composition. Synthesized and brought to a universal level of application, the basic principle of empathy is the ability, rather cognitive than emotional, to understand and to feel the feelings of others. The achievements in this psychology field currently apply mainly to psychotherapy, clinical psychiatry, pedagogy and political rhetoric theories and ractices. Experience proves that empathic skills help the communicator for faster, easier, more effective and more properly understood and accordingly more efficient as a moderator. This article provokes a new paradigm for advertisers in communicating with the public - about the content, forms and planning of communication activities of the principles of empathy. The goal of the effort is clear - creating more effective communication and achieving a sustainablecompetitive advantage.


Author(s):  
Max Z. Li ◽  
Megan S. Ryerson

Community outreach and engagement efforts are critical to an airport’s role as an ever-evolving transportation infrastructure and regional economic driver. As online social media platforms continue to grow in both popularity and influence, a new engagement channel between airports and the public is emerging. However, the motivations behind and effectiveness of these social media channels remain unclear. In this work, we address this knowledge gap by better understanding the advantages, impact, and best practices of this newly emerging engagement channel available to airports. Focusing specifically on airport YouTube channels, we first document quantitative viewership metrics, and examine common content characteristics within airport YouTube videos. We then conduct interviews and site visits with relevant airport stakeholders to identify the motivations and workflow behind these videos. Finally, we facilitate sample focus groups designed to survey public perceptions of the effectiveness and value of these videos. From our four project phases, to maximize content effectiveness and community engagement potential, we synthesize the following framework of action items, recommendations, and best practices: (C) Consistency and community; (O) Organizational structure; (M) Momentum; (B) Branding and buy-in; (A) Activity; (T) Two-way engagement; (E) Enthusiasm; and (D) Depth, or as a convenient initialism, our COMBATED framework.


2019 ◽  
Vol 15 (1) ◽  
pp. 97-119
Author(s):  
Karol Franczak

Abstract One of the main goals of contemporary media, along with the experts and professionals, who speak in them, has been to explain complex issues and provide the audience with clear descriptions of social reality. This is mostly achieved by the production of ideologically useful interpretative schemes that facilitate understanding of the issues present on the media agenda. An important strategy of shaping the public opinion in the way in which public affairs and the activity of social life participants is framed. Analyses of such practices have been conducted for over thirty years within various research approaches collectively referred to as framing analysis. This research provides several arguments helping one to develop a more critical perspective on the representations of social phenomena dominant in the media and discourses of symbolic elites (e.g. opinion writers, academics, experts, journalists, politicians), along with the analyses of the origin of such phenomena, moral judgements and preferred "corrective policies". One of the phenomena defined by the media in Europe as the most important one for the past several years, is the so-called "New Right". The aim of the paper is to analyse the interpretative schemes used by the journalists of four Polish opinion-forming weeklies and to describe the activity of its German manifestation – the Patriotic Europeans Against the Islamisation of the Occident (Pegida) social movement and the Alternative for Germany party (AfD).


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