Seeing as Alison has mentioned Canada, I thought I'd drop in my 2
pennyworth - I've spent this summer travelling around North America
going to science centres, museums and planetaria and seeing how I, as
a visitor, react to their way of doing things. I love such places, and
I thought it would be good research to see how science communication
is done over there in order to bring some of the lessons back over
here.
Some were good, a couple were bad, but lots were truly excellent
because they had innovation, they didn't have much funding, but they
used their resources (especially their staff) really well. That's not
something I've seen as much over here - maybe I'm wrong. But if you
want my perspective of science communication in North America, my
write-ups are all on my blog: http://astrotour2010.blogspot.com.
/me relurks.
--
David Ault
www.davidault.co.uk
Twitter: @astrotour2010
On 13 October 2010 09:33, Alison Whalen <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> In light of the fact that this is not Twitter, I am afraid I my response
> will likely exceed 140 characters. How do I perceive the state of science
> communication in the UK? I would say, unfortunately in some circles,
> elitist.
>
> I often find that in order to be a science communicator (at least as it is
> advertised in many job posts) you must have a degree in science
> communication, or public engagement, or insert other specialist degree
> here. It is not uncommon that if one has a science degree and is good at
> communication, you would not fill a job specifications in this 'field'.
>
> I have only been in the UK for a few years, but previously in Canada I
> worked for museums and independantly for organisations that were similar to
> STEM. I have no specialised training in science communication, but I do
> have undergraduate and postgraduate degrees in science and a natural
> inclination to help others learn and to be excited about learning. And it
> is disappointing, that it seems that is not enough sometimes here...
>
> What is more disappointing though, is that often enough (at least in my
> experience) this attitude does not just apply to paid positions. I
> contacted STEM once I was settled here, as I thought it would be a great way
> to become involved in the community. However, it took them no less than six
> months to respond to my enquiry and the response was not entirely helpful.
> I will admit that left a sour taste in my mouth regarding the state of
> science communication in the UK, which might be unfair but it is so far all
> I have to go on.
>
> Alison
>
>
> On 13 October 2010 08:42, Bruce Etherington <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>>
>> In terms of a tweetable answer:
>>
>> "Storming #stateofUKscicom"
>>
>> In terms of lack of responses, I do not think that it is because people do
>> not have ready answers, but that they realise that any answers that they
>> have are extremely complex and partial. As Dom and others have pointed out,
>> there is vast range of activities that come under science communication,
>> some of which are well established and 'professionalised' e.g. journalism
>> and some that are less so e.g. sci comms for behaviour change
>>
>> My Tweet view comes from Tuckman's group theory which is problematic in
>> its own right, but certainly acts for me as a starting point in considering
>> developmental stages of communities. [And the very fact that I have added
>> such a caveat shows how partial my view is]
>>
>> I also like Dom's craft model (but it maybe due to me currently reading
>> John Pickstone's Ways of Knowing which doesn't privelidge one form of
>> knowing from another) but I would prefer an allusion to the arts where there
>> are different forms, (visual, performing, opera) each of which is tailored
>> to a specific audience. The longer that I have been doing my current role
>> (looking at unviersity public engagement across all disciplines) the more
>> similarities I see between science communicators and artists - both groups
>> tend to create very little new knowledge, but take existing knowledge and
>> reshape it in a format that helps others to see a different worldview.
>>
>> I think that it is great that an academic charged with writing a review of
>> a particular field has asked for the views of practitioners. If he gets
>> plenty of repsonses and debate then his 'outsider' reflections can help us
>> to see what we are all doing and how similar/different these may be, so
>> please give him responses. I am sure that he would welcome them directly as
>> well if people do not want to "put their heads above the parapet".
>>
>> Bruce
>>
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--
David Ault
www.davidault.co.uk
Twitter: @astrotour2010
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