{"id":2106,"date":"2020-07-06T10:20:10","date_gmt":"2020-07-06T09:20:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.uwe.ac.uk\/science-communication\/?p=2106"},"modified":"2020-07-06T10:20:15","modified_gmt":"2020-07-06T09:20:15","slug":"new-insight-into-the-motivations-of-todays-science-communicators","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.uwe.ac.uk\/science-communication\/new-insight-into-the-motivations-of-todays-science-communicators\/","title":{"rendered":"New insight into the motivations of today\u2019s science communicators"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Words: Andy Ridgway<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Why do those who blog, tweet, run events at festivals, give talks and engage in all the myriad of other forms of science communication do what they do? What do they aim to achieve when they communicate science?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While many of those who communicate science may well be too busy to ponder these questions day to day, they are important questions because, perhaps subconsciously for the most part, they influence the nature of the communication work they do. Not only that but when we look at these aims and motivations of science communicators at the macro scale, they provide an insight into their perceptions of the relationship between science and society. Are science and society connected and integrated, or somewhat disconnected?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s why questions about the motivations and aims of science communicators were an important part of the latest research organised by UWE Bristol\u2019s Science Communication Unit <\/a>as part of the European Commission-funded RETHINK project\u00a0<\/a> which is exploring the nature of online science communication and how people make sense of science online.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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A questionnaire, developed by Elena Milani<\/a>, a Research Fellow within the Unit, and Unit co-directors Clare Wilkinson<\/a> and Emma Weitkamp<\/a>, was distributed to science communicators in the UK, The Netherlands, Poland, Sweden, Portugal, Italy and Serbia and sought to find out more about why science communicators do what they do and how they do it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Many of the 778 people who responded were press officers (just over 140), or described themselves as freelance communicators or writers (nearly 120). We also received responses from journalists and researchers, as well as those who described themselves as a blogger, YouTuber or social media influencer and a whole host of other science communicators.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What the questionnaire responses make clear is that for many of those who communicate science across Europe, it\u2019s an enthusiasm for science that lies behind what they do. Many of those who communicate science said they do it because it\u2019s part of their job. Others say their motivation, which might be very relevant at the moment, is to counter misinformation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What was also noticeable was that nearly 300 of our respondents said their motivation was to \u2018educate\u2019 others about science. Perhaps not surprisingly then, when Europe\u2019s science communicators were asked what they hoped to achieve when they communicate science, the most popular responses were \u2018inform\u2019 and \u2018educate\u2019.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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This implies that in the minds of many who communicate science, the way we produce knowledge through science is distinct from knowledge use by society and how society might contribute to that knowledge. Knowledge is a one-way street that leads from scientists to the outside world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That said, a fairly high proportion of European science communicators, 65%, said in the questionnaire that they are looking to create conversations between researchers and the public. This implies a more blurred line between science and society \u2013 a two-way street, with knowledge exchanged between scientists and the outside world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is interesting in its own right. But the nature of the science and society relationship has assumed greater significance and visibility since the start of the coronavirus pandemic. It\u2019s why there\u2019s never been a more important time to think about this relationship, and maybe RETHINK some aspects of it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In addition to asking science communicators about their motivations and aims, the questionnaire also sought to find out what they communicate, how they communicate science (whether they use social media or blogs for instance) and the barriers that stand in the way. The full report, including how this research links to science communication theory and previous research, is available here<\/a>: <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thanks to researchers at Athena Institute, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam<\/a> in The Netherlands, Copernicus Science Centre<\/a>, Poland, Vetenskap & Allmanhet<\/a>, Sweden, Instituto de Tecnologia Qu\u00edmica e Biol\u00f3gica Ant\u00f3nio Xavier<\/a>, Portugal, Sissa Medialab<\/a>, Italy and the Center for the Promotion of Science<\/a> in Serbia for their help in translating and distributing the questionnaire.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Words: Andy Ridgway Why do those who blog, tweet, run events at festivals, give talks and engage in all the myriad of other forms of science communication do what they do? What do they aim to achieve when they communicate science? While many of those who communicate science may well be too busy to ponder … Continue reading “New insight into the motivations of today\u2019s science communicators”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":2107,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"wds_primary_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,3,4,17],"tags":[31,552,458,55,553,67,70,554,550,449,551,405,455,459],"class_list":["post-2106","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-faculty-of-health-and-applied-sciences","category-science-communication","category-science-communication-unit","category-science-writing-journalism","tag-andy-ridgway","tag-athena-institute","tag-center-for-the-promotion-of-science-serbia","tag-clare-wilkinson","tag-copernicus-science-centre","tag-elena-milani","tag-emma-weitkamp","tag-instituto-de-technologica-ouimica-e-biologica-antonio-xavier","tag-misinformation","tag-rethink","tag-science-communication-theory","tag-science-communicators","tag-sissa-medialab","tag-vetenskap"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.uwe.ac.uk\/science-communication\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2106","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.uwe.ac.uk\/science-communication\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.uwe.ac.uk\/science-communication\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.uwe.ac.uk\/science-communication\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/13"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.uwe.ac.uk\/science-communication\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2106"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.uwe.ac.uk\/science-communication\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2106\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2114,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.uwe.ac.uk\/science-communication\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2106\/revisions\/2114"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.uwe.ac.uk\/science-communication\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2107"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.uwe.ac.uk\/science-communication\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2106"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.uwe.ac.uk\/science-communication\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2106"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.uwe.ac.uk\/science-communication\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2106"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}