Protecting the Science Communication Environment: The Case of Childhood Vaccines

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dan M. Kahan
Keyword(s):  
Science Communication ◽  
Communication Environment ◽  
Childhood Vaccines

Protecting or Polluting the Science Communication Environment?

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dan M. Kahan
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Science Communication ◽  
The Other ◽  
Communication Environment ◽  
Childhood Vaccines

This chapter examines childhood vaccines. It is animated by two reciprocal goals. One is to illustrate how the quality of the science communicating environment—the sum total of practices and cues that orient individuals in relation to what is known by science—affects the public’s recognition of one vital form of decision-relevant science. The other is to underscore the critical need for self-conscious management of the quality of the science communication environment to protect public health.

A Tale of Two Vaccines—and Their Science Communication Environments

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dan M. Kahan ◽  
Ashley R. Landrum
Keyword(s):  
Hpv Vaccine ◽  
Science Communication ◽  
Hbv Vaccine ◽  
The Public ◽  
Communication Environment ◽  
The Us ◽  
Political Controversy ◽  
Communication Environments ◽  
Childhood Vaccine ◽  
The Difference

This chapter examines the difference in the US public’s reactions to proposals for universal administration of two adolescent immunizations: the human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine, which provoked a firestorm of political controversy, and the Hepatitis B (HBV) vaccine, which aroused no such opposition. This chapter argues that the reason for this was that the public became familiar with the latter (but not the former) in a polluted science communication environment. It identifies decisions made by the vaccine’s manufacturer that drove the HPV vaccine off the nonpoliticized administrative-approval path followed by the HBV vaccine and every other mandated childhood vaccine and onto a highly politicized, highly partisan legislative one that predictably provoked identity-protective cognition. The chapter argues that such controversy will likely recur unless protection of the science communication environment is itself made a self-conscious object of the institutions, governmental and nongovernmental, that play a role in the dissemination of decision-relevant science.

scholarly journals Geoengineering and the Science Communication Environment: A Cross-Cultural Experiment

2012 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dan M. Kahan ◽  
Hank C. Jenkins-Smith ◽  
Tor Tarantola ◽  
Carol L Silva ◽  
Donald Braman
Keyword(s):  
Science Communication ◽  
Cross Cultural ◽  
Communication Environment

scholarly journals Information-Analysis Services based on Scientific News in the Academy Research Libraries

2019 ◽  
Vol 68 (5) ◽  
pp. 475-483
Author(s):  
Inna G. Yudina ◽  
Elena A. Bazyleva
Keyword(s):  
Science Communication ◽  
Scientific Research ◽  
Online News ◽  
Information Support ◽  
Research Institutions ◽  
Information Analysis ◽  
Scientific Center ◽  
Research Activities ◽  
Communication Environment ◽  
Science News

In the context of the development of modern information and communication environment, the top challenge of library institutions is to renew their activities and fill it with new functionalities. As science communications advance in accordance with the general evolution of the web sphere, the organization systems of information support for scientific research therefore undergo changes too. Scientific and academic libraries with their unique position in science communications are faced with the need to rethink their role and functions, with the problem of finding new ways of information and library support to research activities, and new services that meet the needs of modern scientists. Since one of the indicators for scientific institutions reporting is the number of institution references in the media, scientific libraries have begun to provide science news services. The authors consider the news information resources and services for scientific research institutions. The paper presents a brief description of news aggregator “Siberian Science News”, an information platform for distribution, storage and browsing of factual, bibliographic and full-text data. Based on this platform, staff members of the Branch of the State Public Scientific-Technological Library of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences (SB RAS) have set up a service to provide specialists with information to maintain and update the online news feeds of the research institutions of the Novosibirsk Scientific Center of SB RAS. The authors note that currently, according to the preferences of subscribers, there are used two types of information-analysis reports based on media publications. The results of the conducted research allow the authors to conclude that there is a need for more active promotion of the resource “Siberian Science News” and the service for the maintenance of news information. In the case of the research institutions, the service maintains the development of their news pages and news feeds on the websites of organizations, which in turn makes the organizations more visible in science communication environment and promotes research areas and scientific results.

scholarly journals Moral and Social Foundations of Beliefs about Scientific Issues: Predicting and Understanding Belief Change

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tamara van der Does ◽  
Daniel L. Stein ◽  
Nina Fedoroff ◽  
Mirta Galesic
Keyword(s):  
Science Communication ◽  
Statistical Physics ◽  
Belief Change ◽  
Educational Interventions ◽  
Quantitative Model ◽  
Social Foundations ◽  
Gm Food ◽  
Social Concerns ◽  
Childhood Vaccines ◽  
Scientific Facts

Most efforts to increase public acceptance of scientific facts have focused on providing transparent factual information. While this is essential for enabling people to make informed decisions, evidence is mixed about the effectiveness of facts alone for modifying beliefs. To enable more effective science communication, we need a better understanding of how moral and social considerations affect belief change beyond facts. In two longitudinal studies with a total of 1,673 participants, we experiment with different educational interventions that present scientific messages about the safety of GM food and childhood vaccines designed to alleviate different moral and social concerns. To aid our understanding of why some interventions are more successful than others, and why only some people change their beliefs, we develop a statistical-physics-inspired quantitative model of belief dynamics. The model incorporates several possible mechanisms of belief change and can provide insights into the cognitive processes underlying successful interventions and individual belief change. Our experimental data support the theory-driven hypothesis that belief change is more likely when facts are presented in a way that lowers their dissonance with people’s moral and social concerns, but only when the particular type of dissonance (moral or social) is considered important. In addition, individuals who pay more attention to how facts relate to their moral and social concerns show more belief change with decreasing dissonance. Taken together, our model and results provide a pathway towards a more rigorous understanding of how to address people’s moral and social concerns when communicating scientific facts.

Science Communication Efforts and Identity at Popular Culture Conventions

2020 ◽  
Vol 42 (3) ◽  
pp. 395-418
Author(s):  
Vaughan James
Keyword(s):  
Popular Culture ◽  
Science Communication ◽  
Science Learning ◽  
Communication Theory ◽  
Comparative Method ◽  
Qualitative Interviews ◽  
Informal Science ◽  
Communication Theory Of Identity ◽  
Communication Environment ◽  
Constant Comparative Method

Informal science communication efforts play a large role in individuals’ science learning. The present study sought to examine a nontraditional science communication environment: popular culture conventions. Utilizing the communication theory of identity, identity was examined to determine how participants expressed their identities when interacting with science in the convention environment. Qualitative interviews were held with audience members ( n = 14) and science communicators ( n = 13). Interviews were thematically analyzed using the constant comparative method. Results suggest that audience members could experience changes in their identity, shifting their views so they thought of themselves as users, learners, and consumers of science.

scholarly journals Open Access and Science Communication. Reflections on the need for a more open communication environment

2012 ◽  
Vol 11 (02) ◽  
pp. E
Author(s):  
Alessandro Delfanti
Keyword(s):  
Open Access ◽  
Science Communication ◽  
Open Access Publishing ◽  
Open Communication ◽  
Scientific Communities ◽  
Academic Practice ◽  
Communication Structures ◽  
Communication Environment ◽  
Scientific Disciplines

While several scientific communities have discussed the emergence of Open Access publishing in depth, in the science communication community this debate has never been central. Scholars in most scientific disciplines have at their disposal Open Access options such as journals, repositories, preprint archives and the like. Ironically enough, a community devoted to the study of science’s communication structures is witnessing this transformation without being directly involved. Both structural and cultural obstacles hamper the growth of an Open Access sector in science communication publishing. With this editorial I hope to start a debate on the need for a more open communication environment in our academic practice.

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