Wow, thanks Louise, dedication! I do think that good evaluation which then gets shared/published is a really important factor in improving the quality of everyone's public engagement activities. I would be be interested in people's thoughts on why that sharing doesn't more often. Is it about the tools or spaces available for doing this? Are there reasons why people don't want to share their evaluations? Is it about creating a culture of sharing? How can shared evaluations have more impact on future activities?

Is it more that these evaluations aren't even being done in the first place?

Martha

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From: Louise Crane <[log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]>>
Reply-To: "psci-com: on public engagement with science" <[log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]>>
Date: Thu, 19 Jul 2012 06:15:08 +0100
To: "[log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]>" <[log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]>>
Subject: [PSCI-COM] Public Engagement - a waste of money?

Dear all,

Many of you will have seen some of yesterday's discussion on Twitter that arose from criticisms of science communication and public engagement projects by Ben Goldacre and Simon Singh.

Most of you will have not spent three hours tracking and tracing the resulting tweets on Storify.

I did!

http://storify.com/lulucrumble/public-engagement-a-waste-of-money


A few threads came out of Goldacre's initial attack on the Science Museum for "endorsing" the so-called Dr Love and his claims about oxytocin (http://bit.ly/Ma3pUT). Singh's criticism of the IoP's "Lab In A Lorry" and collaboration with Ballet Rambert sparked a lot of comments, though Singh did not participate in much public discussion.

Conversations focused on the funding of sci-comm and public engagement and the need for evaluation - credit to Amy Sanders for first raising the issue. Heather Doran and Petra Boynton took a small tangent into the difficulty of finding time and institutional recognition for PE activities. Tom Whyntie blew the @IronyKlaxon and Goldacre was challenged on his proclamation that he could "make shit happen" given a thousandth of the money that is spent on science engagement.

Steve Cross offered sage words as ever, and a discussion with Victoria Herridge about the need for plurality of approaches followed. How to evaluate was briefly covered between Steve, Andrew Holding and Eva Amsen. Martha Henson shared some preliminary evaluations about Wellcome Trust's Axon game.

However, the most profound comment was this:

@OXYTOCINHULK: @bengoldacre OCYTOCIN HULK SMASH BAD SCIENCE COMMUNICATION USING GIANT HUG MOLECULES

Happy reading: http://storify.com/lulucrumble/public-engagement-a-waste-of-money
Louise
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