On 22 Mar 00, at 18:53, Lynne Harrison wrote:
> Ok, I apologise to all colleagues who see themselves as PR professionals
> for conveying the same prejudiced attitude to PR as evidenced by Lord
> Sainsbury, simply my frustration getting the better of me. Its just that I
> don't see 'science' as any particular 'organisation' rather as a whole
> area of great human interest.
Apologies accepted! But I think a lot of us are just as
concerned about PR for science or a branch of science as
we are about PR for our organisations. I'm more concerned to
engage in debate about animal research than to raise the
profile of RDS.
>
> But are we just arguing about the terminology here or is the Government
> attitude really that 'the public' (or even some of the public(s))do not
> need any/much further input or effort to further the 'understanding'
> 'awareness' or 'appreciation' of science. Does the lack of any
> explanation regarding how to increase public' confidence in science'
> without continuing and extending efforts to communicate all of the above
> signify a general agreement that you can't have one without the other, or
> am I out on a limb here ?
Both terminology and practice I think. I think the idea is that
we go beyond what people have been doing in the name of
PUS, to really engage our publics in two-way communication
rather than just giving them information (which they may or
may not want), however entertainingly that may be done.
People don't like the term PUS because it is ill-defined and
(by any definition) an inaccurate description of the one-way
communication which has largely characterised it to date. As
the meeting on Monday suggested, we need to understand
our publics more. I think we also have to measure outcomes
properly - rather than 'how many people came to this event?'
we have to ask questions like 'did this event change people's
perceptions, if so, how?'
> If the Government are really intent on specifically addressing 'public
> confidence in the governance of science' then I'm pretty sure that they
> will have to find a new breed of 'communicator', i.e one who has that
> confidence themself!
I agree with Ian on this one - it's up to the government to
address what they want to address, but they can't expect the
rest of us to work to their objectives!
Barbara Davies, STEMPRA Newsletter Editor
Work:
RDS - Understanding Animal Research in Medicine
58 Great Marlborough Street, London W1V 1DD
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http://www.rds-online.org.uk
Home:
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Visit the STEMPRA web site at http://www2.ifr.bbsrc.ac.uk/stempra/
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