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    Science Communication in South Africa

    Reflections on Current Issues

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    Contributor(s)
    Weingart, Peter (editor)
    Joubert, Marina (editor)
    Falade, Bankole (editor)
    Collection
    ScholarLed
    Language
    English
    Show full item record
    Abstract
    "Why do we need to communicate science? Is science, with its highly specialised language and its arcane methods, too distant to be understood by the public? Is it really possible for citizens to participate meaningfully in scientific research projects and debate? Should scientists be mandated to engage with the public to facilitate better understanding of science? How can they best communicate their special knowledge to be intelligible? These and a plethora of related questions are being raised by researchers and politicians alike as they have become convinced that science and society need to draw nearer to one another. Once the persuasion took hold that science should open up to the public and these questions were raised, it became clear that coming up with satisfactory answers would be a complex challenge. The inaccessibility of scientific language and methods, due to ever increasing specialisation, is at the base of its very success. Thus, translating specialised knowledge to become understandable, interesting and relevant to various publics creates particular perils. This is exacerbated by the ongoing disruption of the public discourse through the digitisation of communication platforms. For example, the availability of medical knowledge on the internet and the immense opportunities to inform oneself about health risks via social media are undermined by the manipulable nature of this technology that does not allow its users to distinguish between credible content and misinformation. In countries around the world, scientists, policy-makers and the public have high hopes for science communication: that it may elevate its populations educationally, that it may raise the level of sound decision-making for people in their daily lives, and that it may contribute to innovation and economic well-being. This collection of current reflections gives an insight into the issues that have to be addressed by research to reach these noble goals, for South Africa and by South Africans in particular."
    URI
    http://library.oapen.org/handle/20.500.12657/23444
    Keywords
    science communication; RRI; science engagement; social media; South Africa
    DOI
    10.5281/zenodo.3557206
    ISBN
    9781928502043; 9781928502050
    Publisher
    African Minds
    Publisher website
    https://www.africanminds.co.za/
    Publication date and place
    Cape Town, 2019
    Classification
    Communication studies
    Science: general issues
    Pages
    236
    Rights
    http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
    • Imported or submitted locally

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    License

    • If not noted otherwise all contents are available under Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)

    Credits

    • logo EU
    • This project received funding from the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 683680, 810640, 871069 and 964352.

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