Science Communication in the World

The wonders of science have a powerful hold on the imagination, yet the challenge of conveying to the public the expanding frontiers of human scientific knowledge grows daily more complex. This analysis of the process has three goals. First, to offer a survey of research conducted in the field of public communication of science and technology (PCST) over the past four decades, in a range of countries. Then and this second ambition is enabled by the preceding one it identifies and focuses on the researchers varying methods and perspectives. While all countries have, at times and to varying degrees, embarked on extremely ambitious policies to promote and valorize scientific and technical culture, the objectives they pursue must be understood and assessed within specific national contexts. This fact has guided our conceptualization of problems as well as our search for solutions. Our third and final ambition is to establish the trends implicit in these efforts.

This account of the development of science communication in China, India, Korea, South Africa, and Spain includes special chapters on the teaching of science communication in universities as well as on measuring the public impact of the culture of science.

Offers a comprehensive account of the development of science communication in China, India, Korea, South Africa, and Spain

Abbreviations and Acronyms.- Introduction.- PART 1: National Overviews.- 1. The 'Communicative Turn' in Contemporary Techno-Science: Latin American Approaches and Global Tendencies.- 2. The Evolution of Science Communication Research on Australia.- 3. The Development of Science Communication Studies in Canada.- 4. Science Popularization Studies in China.- 5. Policy Perspective on Science Popularization in China.- 6. Deliberation, Dialogue or Dissemination: Changing Objectives in the Communication of Science and Technology in Denmark.- 7. Social Sciences and the Communication of Science and Technology in France: Implications, Experimentation and Critique.- 8. The Recent Public Understanding of Science Movement in Germany.- 9. Public Understanding of Science: Glimpses of the Past and Roads Ahead.- 10. Whose Science? What Knowledge? Science, Rationality and Literacy in Africa.- 11. An Experience of Science Communication in Korea: The Space-Sharing Project with Mass Media.- 12. From Science Popularization To Public Engagement: The History of Science Communication in Korea.- 13. Spanish PCST and the European Science in Society Strategy.- 14. Science Museums and Cultural Images of Modernity: Scientific Communication, New Identities and Sociopolitical Constraints on Science Museums in Spain.- PART 2: Horizontal Issues.- 15. Slowly But Surely: How the European Union Promotes Science Communication.- 16. Vital and Vulnerable: Science Communication as a University Subject.- 17. Visible Scientists, Media Coverage and National Identity: Nobel Laureates in the Italian Daily Press.- 18. Engagement: The Key To the Communicative Effectiveness of Science and Ideas.- 19. From Public To Policy.- 20. Science Culture and its Indicators.- Index.