Tag: publics
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Lists
Alasdair Taylor first wrote this blog post on 11 December for his own blog attheinterface. He has allowed us to repost it on our Making Science Public blog, as it addresses issues we are grappling with! Here is what he wrote: It’s the end of the year, or nearly, and time to start reflecting. It…
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The Subterranean War on Science? A comment.
Last week saw the publication of an article entitled “The Subterranean War on Science” in the Association of Psychological Science’s Observer magazine. The authors – scientists from a range of disciplines – reflect on their experiences of their work becoming noticed in public. In particular, they argue that the harassment, bullying and abuse of scientists constitute a ‘war…
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Do online user comments provide a space for deliberative democracy?
This is a guest post by Luke Collins who is working with Brigitte Nerlich on an ESRC funded project dealing with climate change as a complex social issue. Yesterday, he gave talk about his research to an interdisciplinary audience attending the Institute for Science and Society/STS PG seminar series. The internet has enabled traditional newspaper…
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Public engagement: What to learn and not to learn from the Prussians
This blog post was inspired by three events: a talk given by Helen Pallett at the Institute for Science and Society last week; an article published in Public Understanding of Science; and a brief twitter exchange with Pat Thomson about ‘Bildung’ (ah, and the proposed closure of the Snibston Discovery Museum). Prussian forestry Last week…
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More Thoughts on Citizens and Publics….
Last month Sciencewise-ERC published a report we’ve been working on this year, with input from Sciencewise and some other members of the policy and academic communities. “Which Publics? When?” (pdf) teases out and explores the policy potential of involving different kinds of publics in processes of public dialogue around science and technology. This post doesn’t…
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Public, publics and citizen: What do these words mean?
Sciencewise has published a paper ‘Which Publics? When?’ by my Making Science Public colleagues Alison Mohr, Sujatha Raman and Beverley Gibbs, which has already provoked some blog responses. One blog by Sciencewise Executive Chair Roland Jackson has given it a very positive reception but mentions “a nagging feeling that this word ‘public’ is part of…
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Making science in public: Kickstarters – promises and perils
A few weeks ago my son showed me a ‘new thing’ he had discovered online. It was a ‘kickstarter’ for a publishing project called ‘to be or not to be that is the adventure’. I thought it looked like good fun, especially since the creator is Ryan North whose Dinosaur Comics I sometimes read. A…
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Debating empty chairs: creationism, climate and public engagement
This week, Making Science Public has been very proud to welcome US film director Jeff Tamblyn during his UK visit. On Wednesday we screened his amazing film, Kansas vs Darwin, a documentary charting the attempts by members of the Kansas School Board to introduce creationism and intelligent design into high school science teaching. The film…
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Families of climate scepticism I: faulty science?
At last week’s British Sociological Association conference, I presented some initial observations from my research on climate change scepticism. My starting point was that climate change scepticism – or as it is often inaccurately described, denial – is not monolithic. Those people typically labelled as sceptics vary in their arguments. Sometimes may employ many different arguments, some may focus on…
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Which Publics? When?
by Alison Mohr, Lecturer in Science and Technology Studies, University of Nottingham with Beverley Gibbs and Sujatha Raman This post was originally written for the Sciencewise-ERC blog: http://www.sciencewise-erc.org.uk/blog/?p=926 Part 1: Which publics should be invited to a public dialogue?In the discussions around public dialogue the term ‘public’ is often taken for granted. However the decision about…
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