From a strategic communication perspective, for any communication to be effective, it must be audience-centered, with content and delivery channels that are relevant to its intended target. When trying to reach culturally specific communities or other groups that are not otherwise connected with science research, it is crucial to partner with community members to co-create content through media that is appealing and culturally competent. This commentary considers some examples including storytelling through ‘fotonovelas’ and radio stories, community drama and serious games.
In this commentary we are concerned with what mainstream science communication has neglected through cultural narrowness and ambient racism: other practitioners, missing audiences, unvalued knowledge, unrecognised practices. We explore examples from First Nations Peoples in the lands now known as Australia, from Griots in West Africa and from People's Science Movements in India to help us reimagine science communication. To develop meaningfully inclusive approaches to science communication, we argue there is an urgent need for the ‘mainstream’ to recognise, value and learn from science
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Summer May FinlaySujatha RamanElizabeth RasekoalaVanessa Mignanemily dawsonLiz Neeley YongLindy Orthea
resourceresearchProfessional Development, Conferences, and Networks
Advances in 21st century genetic technologies offer new directions for addressing public health and environmental challenges, yet raise important social and ethical questions. Though the need for inclusive deliberation is widely recognized, institutionalized risk definitions, regulation standards, and imaginations of publics pose obstacles to democratic participation and engagement. This paper traces how the problematic precedents set by the 1975 Asilomar Conference emerge in contemporary discussions on CRISPR, and draws from a recent controversy surrounding field trial releases of genetically
Currently in Spain, there is a political and social debate over the use and sale of homeopathic products, which is promoted mainly by the skeptical movement. For the first time, this issue has become significant in political discourse. This study analyzes the role that homeopathy-related stories are playing in that political debate. We analyzed the viewpoints of headlines between 2015 and 2017 in eight digital dailies (n = 1,683), which published over 30 stories on homeopathy during the three-year study period. The results indicated that the stance on therapy's lack of scientific evidence
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Lorena Cano-OrónIsabel Mendoza-PoudereuxCarolina Moreno-Castro
Meaningful science engagement beyond one-way outreach is needed to encourage science-based decision making. This pilot study aimed to instigate dialogue and deliberation concerning climate change and public health. Feedback from science café participants was used to design a panel-based museum exhibit that asked visitors to make action plans concerning such issues. Using intercept interviews and visitor comment card data, we found that visitors developed general or highly individualistic action plans to address these issues. Results suggest that employing participatory design methods when
This RAPID was submitted in response to the NSF Dear Colleague letter related to the COVID-19 pandemic. This award is made by the AISL program in the Division of Research on Learning, using funds from the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act. The major public policy of social distancing relies, in part, on the cooperation of younger and healthier people who may not experience symptoms and can spread the virus unknowingly to more vulnerable populations. Science journalists, who are on the front lines of covering the pandemic, can play an important role in educating millennial audiences about the science behind the virus, how it is transmitted and effective ways to prevent the virus from spreading. This award will help the STEM field better understand how to engage millennial audiences with effective COVID-19 media content and to urgently capture professional knowledge on crisis reporting. KQED and Texas Tech University are suited to rapidly implement a science media informal science learning project targeting millennials and younger audiences in light of their current NSF-funded "Cracking the Code: Influencing Millennial Science Engagement" collaborative research and evaluation project (DRL 1810990 and 1811091). The project team has built a functional research protocol for its media practitioner and academic researcher collaboration, and will apply these new RAPID funds to complement on-going efforts, mobilize the existing team, research protocol, and research tools to respond to the communication challenge of reaching younger adults posed by COVID-19. Content to be created includes: 1) Radio broadcasts - daily news coverage, live talks; 2) A real-time blog - live Coronavirus updates and 3) Social media content on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.
The project team will explore the following research questions:
How could COVID-19 coverage be designed to best inform, engage and educate millennials and younger audiences about the science of virus transmission and prevention?
What are some best practices for crisis reporting, as journalists respond to both constantly updated information and changing audience needs, that can be used by media outlets (such as advisors PBS Digital Studios, PBS NewsHour, NOVA, NPR Science, and more)?
The research protocol centers around "media testing cycles," which are time-bounded studies (5 months long) exploring a subset of research questions about the effectiveness of KQED's science content (articles, videos, social media posts and radio reporting) at reaching younger audiences. Steps include identifying problems that are suited for empirical examination; formulating plausible competing hypotheses on the nature of those problems and their potential solutions; and crafting study designs calculated to support valid, realistic inferences on the relative strength of those hypotheses. Data will be gathered from COVID-19 audience "chatter" from Twitter and Facebook through Crimson Hexagon, a social media listening platform. In addition to the social media listening, researchers will conduct a thematic analysis of the questions currently being collected through the audience engagement platform Hearken, where KQED has gathered nearly 2,000 questions to date about the virus and lifestyle changes. This data will also help the project team understand knowledge gaps about prevention and transmission of the virus. These two qualitative studies will be conducted concurrently and reported to KQED journalists quickly to inform reporting.
Texas Tech researchers will create a virus transmission and prevention knowledge assessment. This assessment will be validated using a national online survey. The project will examine knowledge differences based on, for example, generation and gender. TTU will examine relationships between performance on this assessment and two relevant measures: science curiosity and ordinary science intelligence. The national survey will help identify what knowledge gaps are present in which audiences. Using this information, KQED journalists will develop "explainers" and other news content, to meet audience needs and to fill knowledge gaps.
This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
The primary objective of this study is to document how people learn the science of the COVID-19 pandemic in real time, how they activate this scientific knowledge towards informed decision making, and how these processes change over time. This study is intended to produce additional insights on how such learning is shaped by equity concerns and contextual factors. For example, researchers will document how the ways in which people learn the science of COVID-19 are mediated by the sources of information they have access to and leverage, as well as what supports them in doing so. The research will further document how people leverage their understandings of COVID-19, alongside other forms of knowledge and concerns in their decision-making. This study may serve a crucial role in aiding the public understanding of where structural points of informational failure might occur. It may also reveal where and how the public engages or resists community action strategies to mitigate spread and suffering through when, how and why they gather, share, and make sense of scientific data. This RAPID was submitted in response to the NSF Dear Colleague letter related to the COVID-19 pandemic. This award is made by the AISL and ECR programs in the Division of Research on Learning, using funds from the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act.
This research will draw upon a conceptual framework of consequential learning and a methodological framework of narrative inquiry. Sixty participants in Lansing, Michigan and Seattle, Washington will participate over the course of one year in cyclical interviews, focus group conversations and experience sampling approaches. Documents and resources named and used by the participants in their learning will be collected and analyzed. Attention will be paid to science learning in the following areas as the primary focus: a) the science of SARS-CoV-2 and the relationship between virus and disease, b) viral transmission, and c) origination, replication and spread. A key focus will also be how people use scientific data and evidence-based explanations when developing understandings and making decisions with respect to the pandemic. This research is urgent and timely because the COVID-19 pandemic is projected to occur in multiple waves over approximately 18 months. Insights may produce basic understanding about rapid science learning, policy strategies, school-based practices and resources for use within current and future waves. Socioscientific crises differentially impact people, with effects felt more significantly by vulnerable people. Thus, this study will address the urgent call for investigation into factors and experiences of low-income individuals and families who are trying to educate themselves on continually changing data during an international health crisis.
This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
This RAPID was submitted in response to the NSF Dear Colleague letter related to the COVID-19 pandemic. This award is made by the AISL program in the Division of Research on Learning, using funds from the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act. COVID-19 presents a national threat to the health of children and families, presenting serious implications for the mental and physical health of children. Child development scientists have already warned of increasing stress levels among the U.S. child population, especially those in low-income families of color. In addition, Latino children are disproportionately impoverished, and benefit from culturally relevant information. Parents and caregivers need to be armed with effective science-based strategies to improve child prospects during this global crisis. Harnessing well-established partnership (including with local TV news partners and parent-serving organizations) strengthens the potential for broad impacts on the health and well-being of children and families during the COVID-19 pandemic. As the pandemic persists, widely disseminating accurate research-based strategies to support parents and families, with a focus on low-income Latino parents, is crucial to meeting the needs of the nation's most vulnerable during this global crisis. The award addresses this urgent need by producing research-based news videos on child development for distribution on broadcast television stations that reach low income Latino parents. The videos will communicate research-based recommendations regarding COVID-19 in ways that are relatable to Latino parents and lead to positive parenting during this pandemic. A "how to" video will also be produced showing parents how to implement some of the practices. Project partners include Abriendo Puertas, the largest U.S. parenting program serving low-income Latinos, and Ivanhoe Broadcasting.
Research questions include: 1) What information do parents need (and potentially what misinformation they are being exposed to)? 2) What are they sharing? 3) How does this vary geographically? 4) Can researchers detect differences in public engagement in geographic areas where TV stations air news videos as compared to areas that don't? This project will use data and communication science research strategies (e.g. natural language processing from online sites where parents are asking questions and sharing information) to inform the content of the videos and lead to the adoption of featured behaviors. Data from web searches, public Facebook pages, and Twitter posts will be used to gain a window into parents' main questions and concerns including information regarding hygiene, how to talk about the pandemic without frightening their children, or determining veracity of what they hear and see related to the pandemic.
This organic approach can detect concerns that parents may be unlikely to ask doctors or discuss in focus groups. Methodologically, the researchers will accomplish this by natural language analysis of the topics that parents raise; the words and phrases they use to talk about specific content; and any references to external sources of information. Where possible, the researchers will segment this analysis by geography to see if there are geographical differences in information needs and discourse. A research brief will share new knowledge gained with the field on how to respond to national emergencies, such as the COVID-19 pandemic, using local TV news and reinforcement of messages across contexts. The findings from this award will provide a knowledge base that can be utilized to better inform responses to national emergencies in the future. By broadly disseminating these findings through a research brief, the project?s innovative research will advance the field of communication science.
This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
This RAPID was submitted in response to the NSF Dear Colleague letter related to the COVID-19 pandemic. This award is made by the AISL program in the Division of Research on Learning, using funds from the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act. The public must be made aware in a clear, responsible way about the role of science to help bring this pandemic under control and prevent future outbreaks. This project will allow the NewsHour to go beyond their daily reporting of the medical information about the pandemic, to inform the public about the difference scientific research/ research conducted by scientists and medical professionals can make in attacking such a dire threat. The PBS NewsHour has the capability to quickly mobilize its science journalists and national distribution infrastructure to produce at least six broadcast segments and additional digital materials reporting on this on-going scientific work. They will interview scientists, researchers and experts in genomic analysis, computer tracking, vaccine production, and social epidemiology showing what they are doing to test, treat, track and stop the spread of COVID-19, to create vaccines that may prevent further transmission, and to measure the social impact of the disease. These segments will be broadcast nationwide on local PBS stations and distributed on their website, YouTube, and social media channels. Viewership of the NewsHour is extensive reaching 2.5 million people nightly via broadcast and almost 33 million YouTube views per quarter. During a recent quarter, they reached 72.6 million on Facebook and garnered 86.8 million Twitter impressions.
The research team, Knology, will conduct a study to assess 1) where US adults are primarily getting information about COVID-19; 2) their perception of personal and public responsibility; 3) behaviors they have taken and/or plan to take, and when; 4) their social values. Knology will develop a survey instrument with adopted items and modules used in prior collaborations to develop a baseline understanding of the relationship between news consumption and attitudes about COVID-19 risk. The survey will be hosted using Qualtrics. Survey data will be gathered from a representative sample of US adults (N = 1000) recruited using the online software system, Prolific. A recent PBS NewsHour/NPR/Marist poll will be used as a baseline. Once potentially identifying information like demographics are aggregated, these formative data and topline results will be shared openly through the Knology website to support other researchers and journalists.
This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
COVID-19 has put science in a tricky spot. The good news, as National Academy of Sciences President Marcia McNutt explains, is that scientific expertise is back in high demand: “When the chips are down and everything is on the line and you can be the next person in the hospital bed, it’s the experts that you want to listen to.” But there’s a serious potential downside for science in having the public’s ear: today’s high-profile expert assertions can be disproven by tomorrow’s events. For example, if public health interventions such as social distancing are effective, COVID-19-related deaths in
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Dietram ScheufeleNicole KrauseIsabelle FreilingDominique Brossard
A study in South Africa shed light on a set of factors, specific to this country, that compel South African scientists towards public engagement. It highlights the importance of history, politics, culture and socio-economic conditions in influencing scientists' willingness to engage with lay audiences. These factors have largely been overlooked in studies of scientists' public communication behaviours.
In 2017, PBS NewsHour produced one of their most complex transmedia series to date. #AmericaAddicted, which focused on the opioid crisis facing communities around the U.S., included 14 broadcast reports, 10 articles on the NewsHour site, four livestreams, three Twitter chats, and more than 200 associated videos and posts on over half a dozen platforms. The different reports take a wide range of perspectives and focus on different aspects of this crisis. Each report is embedded in dense networks of content, with a variety of entry points for audience members, that tell a single overarching