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Given a world frame of reference, instead of a parochial point of view, it is possible that we might find new ways of formulating and presenting knowledge, and of using the modern system of communication effectively among peoples of all cultures.

This timely and engaging book addresses communicative issues that arise when science and technology travel across socio-cultural boundaries. The authors discuss interactions between different scientific communities; scientists and policy-makers; science and the public; scientists and artists; and other situations where science clashes with other socio-cultural domains. The volume includes theoretical proposals of how to deal with intercultural communication related to science and technology, as well as rich case studies that illustrate the challenges and strategies deployed in these situations. Individual studies explore Europe, Latin America, and Africa, thus including diverse Global North and South contexts.

This commentary considers the separate but interconnected evolution of science communication and environmental communication as fields of research and practice, and argues for better mutual understanding between the fields, including an understanding of necessary differences. It notes that the repertoires of science communication and environmental communication overlap but have different emphases. Environmental communication emphasises public allegiances with a view to persuasion; science communication has focussed on public understanding and appreciation of science. The potential and the need for closer cooperation are growing as the authority of science is challenged in political arenas. Both fields recognise the important contributions of science to public sense-making and informed decision-making on major issues. Increasing engagement with the science that underpins environmental issues could benefit environmental communicators. In political contexts, science communication could learn from environmental communication's greater attention to advocacy and symbolic representations.

Acknowledgements -- Contents -- Notes on Contributors -- List of Figures -- List of Tables -- Chapter 1: Introduction: Intercultural Communication and Science and Technology Studies -- Intercultural Models in STS (1): Trading Zones -- Intercultural Models in STS (2): Trust -- Intercultural Models in STS (3): Expertise and Enculturation -- Intercultural Models in STS (4): Boundary Objects -- Book Structure -- Note -- References -- Part I: Interdisciplinary Communication -- Chapter 2: Linking the Subcultures of Physics: Virtual Empiricism and the Bonding Role of Trust -- The Social Gap Between High-Theory and Experiment -- You Need a Busload of Faith to Get By -- Other Conceptual and Technical Barriers to Communication -- Varieties of Trust -- Trust and Social Distance -- A Bundle of Trust: Virtual Empiricism -- Reassessing Trust in STS Using Virtual Empiricism: Two Cases -- Notes -- References -- Chapter 3: Mutual Linguistic Socialisation in Interdisciplinary Collaboration -- Introduction -- Paleoclimatology and Paleo-Modelling -- Trade at Work: Collaboration Between Paleoclimatologists and Paleo-Modellers -- Paleo-Modellers and Interactional Expertise in Paleoclimatology -- Paleoclimatologists and Interactional Expertise in Paleo-Modelling -- The Mutual Linguistic Socialisation Process: Formal Courses -- Mutual Linguistic Socialisation: Joint Supervision -- Mutual Linguistic Socialisation in Scientific Events and in Research Projects -- Mutual Linguistic Socialisation: Ambassadors -- Conclusion -- Notes -- References -- Chapter 4: Science and Policies of Deforestation in the Amazon: Reflecting Ethnographically on Multidisciplinary Collaboration -- Introduction -- Environmental Science and the Amazon -- Doing Ethnography of Science-Policy Interfaces -- Following the Amazalert Project -- Reducing Society into Models

"Communicating science and technology is a high priority of many research and policy institutions, a concern of many other private and public bodies, and an established subject of training and education. In the past few decades the field has developed and expanded significantly, both in terms of professional practice, and in terms of research and reflection. At the same time, particularly in recent years, interactions between science and society have become a topic of heated public and political debates touching issues like quality and credibility of information, trust in science and scientific actors and institutions and the roles of experts in crises and emergencies. This book provides a state-of-the-art review of this fast-growing and increasingly important area, through examination of research done on the main actors, issues and arenas involved. The third edition of the Handbook brings the reviews up-to-date and deepens the analysis. As well as substantial re-working of many chapters, it includes four new chapters addressing enduring themes (science publics, science-media theories), recent trends (art-science interactions) and new proposed insights on science communication as culture and as "the social conversation around science". New contributors are added to the group of leading scholars in the field featured in the previous editions. The Handbook is a student-friendly resource, but its scope and expert contributions will equally appeal to practitioners and professionals in science communication. Combining the perspectives of different disciplines and of different geographical and cultural contexts, this original text provides an interdisciplinary as well as global approach to public communication of science and technology. It is a valuable resource, notably an indispensable guide to the published work in the field, for students, researchers, educators and professionals in science communication, media and journalism studies, sociology, history of science, and science and technology studies"--

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