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Library | Item Barcode | Call Number | Material Type | Item Category 1 | Status |
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Searching... | 30000010230926 | Q223 P73 2009 | Open Access Book | Book | Searching... |
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Summary
Summary
What is the impact of open access on science communication? How can scientists effectively engage and interact with the public? What role can science communication have when scientific controversies arise?Practising science communication in the information age is a collection of newly-commissioned chapters by leading scholars and practitioners of science communication. It considers how scientists communicate with each other as part of their professional practice, critically evaluating how this forms the basis of the documenting of scientific knowledge, and investigating how open access publication and open review are influencing current practices. It also explores how science communication can play a crucial role when science is disputed, investigating the role of expertise in the formation of scientific controversy and consensus.The volume provides a theoretically informed review of contemporary trends and issues that are engaging practitioners of science communication, focusing on issues such as the norms and conventions governing the practices of science communication, and how scientists communicate between disciplines. Other topics that receive critical treatment include: peer review, open access publication, the protection of intellectual property, the formation of scientific controversy and consensus, the popularisation of science, and the practices of public engagement.A companion volume, Investigating science communication in the information age, provides an ideal introduction to anyone wishing to study contemporary science communication.
Author Notes
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.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.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.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. 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.
Reviews 1
Choice Review
"Post-academic science" is influenced, now more than ever, by commercial, political, and social forces. This collection of chapters comprises an excellent overall analysis from the UK perspective for those who communicate and discuss empirical science--practitioners as well as researchers and teaching faculty. Examples from the global community ensure broad applicability. The work focuses on practices, with particularly interesting sections on popularizing science and practicing public engagement, showing how science news now permeates the overall culture and influences it. From the exploration of the fraught history of peer review to balanced presentations of current practices even as they change and develop with new information and communication technologies, the book shows how scientists have worked together over time and space constraints to develop consensus and produce new, authoritative knowledge through communal judgment. Contributors address information resources from print to online multimedia and provide ample references for further study and enlightenment in this dynamic field. This clear, cogent, well-organized work is a companion volume to Investigating Science Communication in the Information Age (2009), also edited by Holliman et al. (all, Open Univ.). Summing Up: Highly recommended. All levels/libraries. S. E. Wiegand Saint Mary's College
Table of Contents
Abbreviations and Acronyms | p. ix |
Biographies of Contributors | p. x |
Introduction to the Volume | p. xv |
Section 1 Communicating post-academic science | p. 1 |
1.1 Scientists communicating | p. 3 |
1.2 Ethical codes and scientific norms: the role of communication in maintaining the social contract for science | p. 19 |
1.3 Patents and the dissemination of scientific knowledge | p. 35 |
Section 2 Developing trends in scientists' communicating | p. 51 |
2.1 Science communication across disciplines | p. 53 |
2.2 Communicating physics in the information age | p. 67 |
Section 3 Accessing contemporary science | p. 81 |
3.1 Science and the online world: realities and issues for discussion | p. 83 |
3.2 From print to online: developments in access to scientific information | p. 98 |
Section 4 Consensus and controversy | p. 113 |
4.1 Peer review in science journals: past, present and future | p. 115 |
4.2 Controversy and consensus | p. 131 |
Section 5 Popularizing science | p. 149 |
5.1 Where do books fit in the information age? | p. 151 |
5.2 Science communication in fiction | p. 166 |
5.3 Speaking to the world: radio and other audio | p. 178 |
Section 6 Practising public engagement | p. 193 |
6.1 The development of Our Dynamic Earth | p. 195 |
6.2 Engaging through dialogue: international experiences of Café Scientifique | p. 209 |
Final Reflections | p. 227 |
Index | p. 231 |