Communicating science in social settings.
This essay examines the societal dynamics surrounding modern science. It first discusses a number of challenges facing any effort to communicate science in social environments: lay publics with varying levels of preparedness for fully understanding new scientific breakthroughs; the deterioration of traditional media infrastructures; and an increasingly complex set of emerging technologies that are surrounded by a host of ethical, legal, and social considerations. Based on this overview, I discuss four areas in which empirical social science helps clarify intuitive but sometimes faulty assumptions about the social-level mechanisms of science communication and outline an agenda for bench and social scientists--driven by current social-scientific research in the field of science communication--to guide more effective communication efforts at the societal level in the future.
Department of Life Sciences Communication, College of Agricultural and Life Sciences, University of Wisconsin, Madison, WI 53706, USA. scheufele@gmail.com
Dietram A
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Scheufele
D003142:Communication; D006801:Humans; D033181:Information Dissemination / Q000379:methods*; D011639:Public Opinion; D012586:Science / Q000379:methods*; D012931:Social Environment
communication theory; journalism; mass media; public opinion