Imprecise definition of key terms in the "public participation" domain have hindered the conduct of good research and militated against the development and implementation of effective participation practices. In this article, we define key concepts in the domain: public communication, public consultation, and public participation. These concepts are differentiated according to the nature and flow of information between exercise sponsors and participants. According to such an information flow perspective, an exercise's effectiveness may be ascertained by the efficiency with which full, relevant
Science museums have embraced the technology of the Web to present their resources online. The nature of the technology naturally fits with the ethos of science. This chapter surveys the history, development and features of a number of contrasting pioneering museum Web sites in the field of science that have been early adopters of the technology. This includes case studies of Web sites associated with the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles, the Museum of the History of Science in Oxford, the Science Museum in London and the completely virtual Alan Turing Home Page. The purpose is to
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Jonathan BowenJim AngusJim BennettAnn BordaAndrew HodgesSilvia Filippini-FantoniAlpay Beler
The purpose of this study was to examine the nature of docent expertise. To achieve this purpose, the following questions guided the research: 1) What are the characteristics that define an expert docent? 2) What types of learning experiences lead to the development of expertise? 3) How does the museum context shape docent learning? and 4) What is the process for becoming an expert docent?
A qualitative research approach was employed. In-depth interviews were conducted with twelve participants to obtain data on how museum docents learned their craft and developed expertise. A purposeful
This report details the results of a five-year longitudinal study on the Explainer program at the Exploratorium. Explainers from the summer 1999, fall 1999 and spring 2000 cohorts were interviewed before and after their first semester of work as an Explainer, then followed up with additional interviews three more times at intervals of from one to three years. Additional supplemental data were gathered from a larger set of Explainers via surveys that were administered to these same cohorts before and after their first semester of work, and to a set of Explainer alumni who had been out of the
In this chapter from the book, "Fostering Active Prolonged Engagement: The Art of Creating APE Exhibits," we describe the methods and results from an array of studies designed to assess active, prolonged engagement in science museum visitors.
Many lives could have been saved on 26 December 2004, when the tsunami unleashed by an earthquake of magnitude 9.0 off the coast of the Indonesian island Sumatra struck a dozen coastal villages along the Indian Ocean. Those lives could have been saved if, on that day, science communication had not resulted in a complete failure to communicate scientific information adequately in many cases, in different places and at different levels. A long time passed between the violent shock and the devastation caused by the tsunami waves, in most cases, many hours.
The death of Pope John Paul II, the "Polish pope", in Rome and the subsequent election of Benedict XVI, the "German pope", have been two great events gaining world-wide media coverage and affecting the whole world. This was due to Karol Wojtyla's ability to reach everyone's heart thus once dubbed the "Great Communicator" and to the Vatican's spiritual, cultural, and political influence all over the world. The death of Pope John Paul II and the election of Benedict XVI also concern science and science communication issues.
The historian Marshall Berman wrote that living in modern times means "to find ourselves in an environment that promises us adventure, power, joy, growth, transformation [...] and, at the same time, that threatens to destroy everything we have, everything we know".
The tsunami that took place on 26th December 2004 in the Indian Ocean and hurricane Katrina, that last August struck the Mexican Gulf, are two recent natural events that turned into catastrophes for mankind, causing several thousands victims. One of the reasons behind this can be traced back to the fact that useful information in the hands of scientists and experts did not reach the right people within the right time. A crushing defeat for risk communication was witnessed in these two recent events. All the more paradoxical since we live in what we like to name “the era of communication and
Exploring public attitudes towards science helps investigate the images of science and what the social representations of science are. In this regard, science communication plays a crucial role in its different ways of addressing different publics.
A review of two books recently published by Vieira & Lent, by the Casa da Ciência (House of Science) and by the Oswaldo Cruz Museu da Vida (Life Museum, Cruz/Fiocruz), "O Pequeno Cientista Amador – a divulgação científica e o público infantil", and "Terra Incógnita – a interface entre ciência e público" ("The Young Amateur Scientist - scientific divulgation and the youthful public", and "Unknown Land – the interface between science and the public") is presented.
While the model for transmitting scientific information a model that attributes the effects of a message on the public to the intent of the communicator mediated by text is increasingly becoming an exclusive tool for communication novices, other alternative models are emerging and most importantly field research is being tested and examined.