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Mark, I think it's a little naïve to suggest that PUS gave over to PEST five or more years ago. While there certainly has been a huge increase in engagement-style events, I think it's a push to say that they've entirely overshadowed the more traditional, pedagogic type. Last time I checked, science centres were still running traditional lectures and talks along side these other 'engagement' events. Also, it's worth questioning whether so-called engagement events succeed in their aims. PEST was based around a desire for dialogue, but, in truth, many of the events that may claim to live up to the PEST title are little more than a talk with a Q&A session tagged on to the end. That's not true dialogue. Please don't think I'm suggesting that engagement events don't happen, and don't happen well, because they do. I just think that it's dangerous to assume that PEST has somehow magically replaced PUS; far better to see them as two different methodologies that can happily co-exist together. Better still to try and forget about such acronyms and do something that the the public(s) want... Cheers, Jamie On 19 February 2010 21:49, Michael Kenward <[log in to unmask]> wrote: > Consumers, punters, customers, victims? > > Those "scare quotes" are there for a purpose. > > Of course, there are always people who will, by accident or design, > misunderstand or misinterpret anything. > > Let's hear a simple alternative to describe the recipients of PESTilence, > something that might engage folks without descending into academic jargon. > > PUS gave over to PEST at least five years ago, probably longer. Does anyone > ever use the term now outside of academic journals? Outside the academic > literature, which is always slow to respond, I haven't seen PUS for a long > long time. > > Even in the early days, back in the 1980s, when COPUS was a shiny new > committee in the wake of the Bodmer report, there were always concerns > about > the PUS term, partly because it missed out the T bit. I failed to get much > interest in PUSET. > > I think the first person to use the PEST term privately was Laurence Smaje > of the Wellcome Trust. I then started using it widely in places like this > because the acronym appealed to me and because it had the essential T bit. > > The idea behind the change was that "understanding" carries a very > different > message from "engagement". > > "If only they understood us..." People who write papers on this stuff in > journals like Public Understanding of Science call it, as you say, the > "deficit model". > > You may consider it a cynical rebranding. I see it otherwise. Words matter. > > Engagement smacks more of a two-way process. You have to do more than > explain science to engage people. > > Engagement can also happily encompass understanding. After all, if people > don't understand what you are saying they aren't likely to become engaged. > But understanding on its own does not engage. > > MK > > > > > -----Original Message----- > From: psci-com: on public engagement with science > [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Chris Stokes > Sent: 19 February 2010 15:24 > To: [log in to unmask] > Subject: [PSCI-COM] Does PEST supplant or subsume PUS? > > I've been impressed by the gradual move from PUS to PEST over the last few > years. But a bit wary at the same time. For me, the name change implies a > change in the perspective of SET communication. It nicely fits with what a > recent (not yet published - OnlineFirst) paper for the Public Understanding > of Science journal refers to as the 'dialogic turn'. For the incorrigible > cynic, though, it's just an empty rebranding - an effort to wash off the > stink of the deficit model with which the critics lambasted PUS back in the > 80s without taking any of the criticism on board. > > I don't mean to pick on Mike, but his referring to 'consumers' - even with > the scare quotes - sounds a bit off-message in the brave new world of PEST. > Or have I been misreading the name change? Is PEST, perhaps, just a bigger > tent within which there's room for good old-fashioned PUS, or some of it at > least - alongside other new dialogic things? I imagine, for example, that > there may be plenty of SET communicators who happily do PUS for school > children just as it was being done 20-plus years ago, because school > children are, by definition, learning, are _understanding_ and are _not_ > voting. > > Chris > > > -----Original Message----- > From: psci-com: on public engagement with science > [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Michael Kenward > Sent: 19 February 2010 12:58 > To: [log in to unmask] > Subject: Re: [PSCI-COM] Joined-up working and information sharing > > Absolutely, especially this bit: > > "The first step is surely to have information sharing and joined-up working > between activities of a common type or purpose, and a number of our actions > and recommendations are aimed at that (e.g. in the training and development > arena)." > > One of my beefs has been the duplication that goes on. In the past too many > engineering bodies, for example, have run similar schemes aimed at schools. > > Fortunately, I sense that there is progress on that front. > > On gaps, one point worth pondering is the needs of the "consumers". > > If PESTs here don't know about everything that goes on in their area - > which, as Roland's report points out, is not easy - what hope is there for > the over worked school teacher? Where do they begin? > > MK > > ********************************************************************** > 1. To suspend yourself from the list, whilst on leave, for example, > send an email to mailto:[log in to unmask] with the following > message: > > set psci-com nomail -- [include hyphens] > > 2. To resume email from the list, send an email to [log in to unmask] > with the message: > > set psci-com mail -- [include hyphens] > > 3. To leave psci-com, send an email to [log in to unmask] with the > message: > > leave psci-com -- [include hyphens] > > 4. 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