Many criticisms of the PUS movement have emphasised that this thing they were calling the public was somewhat of a (unhelpful) black box. Approaches to the public changed with the move with the move away from PUS. Science communication researchers and practitioners now often showcase their desire to listen to non-scientists as well as acknowledging an awareness of the fluid and complex nature of (post/late) modern social identities. At the very least, people will use plurals: publics or audiences. As the editor of Public Understanding of Science put it in a special issue on publics:
We have clearly moved from the old days of the deficit frame and thinking of publics as monolithic to viewing publics as active, knowledgeable, playing multiple roles, receiving as well as shaping science. (Einsiedel, 2007: 5)
However, Einsiedel goes on to suggest both views of the public are ‘monolithic’ in their own way; they both choose to declare what something called the public is. PUS might have ridiculed publics for their ignorance, but PEST romanticises its publics for their participatory instincts, intrinsic morality or simple collective wisdom. As Susana Hornig Priest (2009) concludes in her recent introduction essay on science’s contemporary audiences, the job of science communication might be to help non-scientists feel they are not excluded as opposed to always included; that they can join in if they want, rather than that there is a necessity to spend their lives engaging.
The process of quantifiably surveying public opinion of science is now largely associated with the PUS movement (some would say unfairly[13]). In the US, Jon Miller is the name most associated with such work and well-known for differentiating between identifiable ‘attentive’ or ‘interested’ publics (i.e. science’s fans) and those who do not care much about science and technology. Miller’s work questioned whether American publics had the follow four attributes of scientific literacy:
* Knowledge of basic textbook scientific factual knowledge.
* An understanding of scientific method.
* Appreciated the positive outcomes of science and technology
* Rejected superstitious beliefs such as astrology or numerology.
n some respects, John Durant’s work surveying British publics applied similar ideas to Miller. However, they were slightly more concerned with attitudes to science and technology, rather than just how much knowledge people had. They also looked at public confidence in their knowledge, considering issues such as the gender of those ticking don’t know boxes. We can see aspects of this approach, as well as a more ‘PEST’ influenced one, reflected within the Eurobarometer studies of public opinion. These have been running since 1973 to monitor public opinion in the member states, with the aim of helping the preparation of policy (and evaluation of policy). They look at a host of topics, not just science and technology but also defence, the Euro, EU enlargement and culture. Eurobarometer’s recent study of Europeans’ Attitudes to Climate Change is a good example. It focuses on respondents’ ‘subjective level of information’; asking ‘personally, do you think you that you are well informed or not about…? rather than checking what people knew.
We have clearly moved from the old days of the deficit frame and thinking of publics as monolithic to viewing publics as active, knowledgeable, playing multiple roles, receiving as well as shaping science. (Einsiedel, 2007: 5)
However, Einsiedel goes on to suggest both views of the public are ‘monolithic’ in their own way; they both choose to declare what something called the public is. PUS might have ridiculed publics for their ignorance, but PEST romanticises its publics for their participatory instincts, intrinsic morality or simple collective wisdom. As Susana Hornig Priest (2009) concludes in her recent introduction essay on science’s contemporary audiences, the job of science communication might be to help non-scientists feel they are not excluded as opposed to always included; that they can join in if they want, rather than that there is a necessity to spend their lives engaging.
The process of quantifiably surveying public opinion of science is now largely associated with the PUS movement (some would say unfairly[13]). In the US, Jon Miller is the name most associated with such work and well-known for differentiating between identifiable ‘attentive’ or ‘interested’ publics (i.e. science’s fans) and those who do not care much about science and technology. Miller’s work questioned whether American publics had the follow four attributes of scientific literacy:
* Knowledge of basic textbook scientific factual knowledge.
* An understanding of scientific method.
* Appreciated the positive outcomes of science and technology
* Rejected superstitious beliefs such as astrology or numerology.
n some respects, John Durant’s work surveying British publics applied similar ideas to Miller. However, they were slightly more concerned with attitudes to science and technology, rather than just how much knowledge people had. They also looked at public confidence in their knowledge, considering issues such as the gender of those ticking don’t know boxes. We can see aspects of this approach, as well as a more ‘PEST’ influenced one, reflected within the Eurobarometer studies of public opinion. These have been running since 1973 to monitor public opinion in the member states, with the aim of helping the preparation of policy (and evaluation of policy). They look at a host of topics, not just science and technology but also defence, the Euro, EU enlargement and culture. Eurobarometer’s recent study of Europeans’ Attitudes to Climate Change is a good example. It focuses on respondents’ ‘subjective level of information’; asking ‘personally, do you think you that you are well informed or not about…? rather than checking what people knew.
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