Importance of scicomm

 

Scientists, Trust, Media and Climate Change

Posted 12 April 2013 by Matt Shipman

Who do you trust? That question is at the heart of public debate on climate change. If you trust the scientific community, which overwhelmingly acknowledges the reality of climate change, then you likely think climate change is a global problem that requires a global response. If you don’t trust scientists, then you may have no strong feelings about climate change – or you may think that it’s some sort of hoax. The relationship between trust and public perceptions of climate... Read more

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SciComm Matters Because … the Future Depends On It

Posted 17 December 2012 by Matt Shipman

(Note: This post is part of an occasional series about why science communication is important.) Science communication is important for a lot of reasons, and I’ve already discussed some selfish ones – increased citation rates, tracking journal articles and working with funding agencies. But here’s a selfless reason: the future depends on it. Earlier this month, the International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement issued the latest results of its Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS). The... Read more

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SciComm Matters Because … Funding Agencies Say So

Posted 5 December 2012 by Matt Shipman

(Note: This post is part of an occasional series about why science communication is important.) Science is not cheap. Whether you want to do research on cancer, fruit flies or computer malware, you’re going to have to find someone to pick up the tab. In many cases, that benefactor is going to be a government funding agency. And funding agencies want you to tell the world exactly what you did with their money. How common is this? From the European... Read more

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Can News Media Boost Citations? Examining One (Old) Study

Posted 14 November 2012 by Matt Shipman

I recently raised the idea that media coverage of a research article may boost that article’s citations, and mentioned a 2003 study by Vincent Kiernan that found a correlation between news stories and citation rates. Now I’d like to talk about another, older study that makes a stronger claim regarding the link between news and citations. The paper, “Importance of the Lay Press in the Transmission of Scientific Knowledge to the Scientific Community,” was published in 1991 in the New... Read more

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SciComm Matters Because…It’s Tough to Keep Up with Journals

Posted 12 November 2012 by Matt Shipman

(Note: this is the first in what will be a series of occasional posts about why science communication is important.) One reason that science communication, outside the peer-reviewed literature, is becoming more important is because of…the peer-reviewed literature. In my opinion, this is particularly true for researchers. If you’re a researcher, you want people to see your papers. You also want to stay abreast of new findings that are relevant to your work. For a number of reasons, both of... Read more

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