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Political science in the German-speaking world is only concerned peripherally with pictures. In the course of the "iconic turn" during the 1990s visual political communication became an issue of more weight, but other disciplines like art history still have more competence when it comes to analysing pictures. Thus, the basic question remains: How can we achieve a sustainable "iconic turn" in political science and civic education? The article proposes an answer in three parts: Its first chapter describes the relationship between political science, civic education, and visual communication in the German-speaking world. The effort to map this scattered research landscape ought to be a contribution to its transnational connectivity. The second part reflects on the special "power of pictures". It argues that pictures probably have specific persuasive power, but nonetheless are neutral political tools (just like words). Obviously they can be exploited by liars, but quite as well they can serve as helpful information resources (e.g. in civic education). Finally, the third chapter claims that political science should try and learn from visually more competent disciplines like art history or communication science. All in all this leads to the final conclusion that political communication research should turn its attention to pictoriality.

A concise, coherent and easily readable textbook about the field of science communication, connecting the practice of science communicators with theory. In the book, recent trends and shifts in the field resonate, such as the transition from telling about science to interacting with the public and the importance of science communication in health and environmental communication. The chapters have been written by experts in their disciplines, coming from philosophy of science and communication studies to health communication and science journalism. Cases from around the world illustrate science communication in practice. The book provides a broad, up-to-date and coherent introduction to science communication for both, students of science communication and related fields, as well as professionals.

"From climate to vaccination, stem-cell research to evolution, scientific work is often the subject of public controversies in which scientists and science communicators find themselves enmeshed. Especially with such hot-button topics, science communication plays vital roles. Gathering together the work of a multidisciplinary, international collection of scholars, the editors of Ethics and Practice in Science Communication present an enlightening dialogue involving these communities, one that articulates the often differing objectives and ethical responsibilities communicators face in bringing a range of scientific knowledge to the wider world. In three sections--how ethics matters, professional practice, and case studies--contributors to this volume explore the many complex questions surrounding the communication of scientific results to nonscientists. Has the science been shared clearly and accurately? Have questions of risk, uncertainty, and appropriate representation been adequately addressed? And, most fundamentally, what is the purpose of communicating science to the public: Is it to inform and empower? Or to persuade--to influence behavior and policy? By inspiring scientists and science communicators alike to think more deeply about their work, this book reaffirms that the integrity of the communication of science is vital to a healthy relationship between science and society today"--The publisher

Communicating science in crisis societies: Challenges across disciplines, contexts and nations / Pascal Hohaus -- Which facts to trust in the debate on climate change? On knowledge and plausibility in times of crisis / Martin Böhnert and Paul Reszke -- Letters to power: Authority appeals in the communication of scientific consensus / Collin Syfert -- Pivoting to support science communication in times of crisis: A case study of the Government of Canada's Glossary on the COVID-19 pandemic / Lynne Bowker -- COVID-19 neologisms between metaphor and culture: A multilingual corpus-based study / Amal Haddad Haddad -- Persuasion in health communication: The case of Saudi and Australian tweets on COVID-19 vaccination / Dina Abdel Salam El-Dakhs -- Communicating risks of an Anti-COVID-19 vaccine in Poland: A comparative case study of content, style and advocacy of three media outlets / Katarzyna Molek-Kozakowska and Sofiia Struchkova -- 'Coronavirus as a political weapon': The COVID pandemic through the lens of the us Alt-Right Media / Zeynep Cihan Koca-Helvacı -- Science versus? The U.S. response to the COVID-19 pandemic / John M. Callahan and Robert Jensen -- Contributors: Biographical notes -- Index.

The relevance of public relations (PR) efforts of scientific organizations for public communication of science is increasingly recognized. PR departments are not mere mediators between scientists and journalists but represent the stakeholder interests of their organizations in the public sphere and are communicative actors themselves. Previous Taiwanese studies focused on university PR in the educational context, whereas the potential function in the communication of research and scientific knowledge received less attention. This study explores how PR departments of academic organizations in Taiwan view their role in the public communication of science. Insights from eleven semistructured interviews with PR officers suggest that public relations departments of academic organizations in Taiwan only half-heartedly contribute to the communication of science. Another interesting finding is that even in the era of social media science, PR still relies heavily on journalism, which in Taiwan lacks professionalism in the communication of science. We suggest a more active role of academic organizations in the public communication of science, pursuing not only marketing or self-presentation goals, but also assuming genuine responsibility for public information about research and scientific knowledge.

This edited volume reports on the growing body of research in science communication training and identifies best practices for communication training programs around the world. Theory and Best Practices in Science Communication Training provides a critical overview of this emerging field. It analyzes the role of communication training in supporting scientists' communication and engagement goals, including their motivations to engage in training, the design of training programs, methods for evaluation, and frameworks to support the role of communication training in helping scientists reach their goals. Overall, this collection reflects on the growth of the field and provides direction for developing future researcher-practitioner collaborations. With contributions from researchers and practitioners from around the world, this book will be of great interest to students, scholars and professionals within this emerging field.

Science, politics, industry, media, state-run and private organisations, private citizens: everyone has their own demands, their own heritage of knowledge, thoughts, opinions, aspirations, needs. Different worlds that interact, question one another, discuss; in one word: they communicate. It is a complicated process that requires professionals «who clearly understand the key aspects of the transmission of scientific knowledge to society through the different essential communication channels for multiple organizations». The purpose of this commentary is to cast some light upon the goals, the philosophy and the organisation behind some European and extra-European Master's degrees in science communication. We have asked the directors of each of them to describe their founding elements, their origins, their specific features, their structure, their goals, the reasons why they were established and the evolution they have seen over their history.

Scientific debates in modern societies often blur the lines between the science that is being debated and the political, moral, and legal implications that come with its societal applications. This manuscript traces the origins of this phenomenon to professional norms within the scientific discipline and to the nature and complexities of modern science and offers an expanded model of science communication that takes into account the political contexts in which science communication takes place. In a second step, it explores what we know from empirical work in political communication, public opinion research, and communication research about the dynamics that determine how issues are debated and attitudes are formed in political environments. Finally, it discusses how and why it will be increasingly important for science communicators to draw from these different literatures to ensure that the voice of the scientific community is heard in the broader societal debates surrounding science.

Liu Li (2020), An Introduction to Science of Science Communication. China Science and Technology Press. ISBN: 9787504688590 (Hardback).

Scientific debates in modern societies often blur the lines between the science that is being debated and the political, moral, and legal implications that come with its societal applications. This manuscript traces the origins of this phenomenon to professional norms within the scientific discipline and to the nature and complexities of modern science and offers an expanded model of science communication that takes into account the political contexts in which science communication takes place. In a second step, it explores what we know from empirical work in political communication, public opinion research, and communication research about the dynamics that determine how issues are debated and attitudes are formed in political environments. Finally, it discusses how and why it will be increasingly important for science communicators to draw from these different literatures to ensure that the voice of the scientific community is heard in the broader societal debates surrounding science.

This theoretical essay gathers reflections from three publications by Jürgen Habermas from the 1960s that can contribute to the study of the public communication of science. We use these ideas to create a graphical representation that summarizes a desirable dynamic for practice while considering information flows that pass through politicized universities, the social life-world and the context of political decisions. This essay considers the inclusion of the public in the scientific agenda and in policy decisions related to that agenda. A concept of public communication of dialogical science—now widely advocated but still difficult to operationalize—is present in the German philosopher's thinking in books published more than 50 years ago. ; Este ensaio teórico explora três publicações de Jürgen Habermas da década de 1960, nas quais o autor trata da crítica da ciência, da produção do conhecimento e da democratização das universidades. O objetivo foi extrair delas recortes de reflexões que podem contribuir para os estudos da comunicação pública da ciência. Consolidam-se as reflexões em uma representação gráfica que resume os fatores a serem considerados, ao se pensar a prática de comunicação da ciência, na sociedade: a importância de levar em conta os três interesses que movem a produção do conhecimento – técnico, prático e emancipatório –, de promover a autorreflexão das ciências em universidades politizadas e democratizadas, e de haver a mediação da sociedade na interação entre ciência e política, de forma a subsidiar a tomada de decisões com base em interesses sociais. Argumenta-se que as bases para uma ideia de comunicação pública da ciência dialógica – hoje amplamente defendida – despontaram no pensamento do filósofo alemão, em livros publicados há mais de 50 anos, embora essa não fosse sua motivação central, naquele momento.