Taylor, R ‘Science on Television’, in A. Heck and C. Madsen (eds.), Astronomy Communication, Kluwer Academic Publishers, 2003
- Science programming on television is on the decline. There are fewer programmes and those that remain tend to be made for wide audience appeal.
- Serious science programmes – programmes with substance – do not appeal to those who decide what appears on our screens. Scientists, too, are often critical of science programmes and sometimes unhappy with the way they are portrayed on television.
Harding, A ‘Communication in Archaeology’, European Journal of Archaeology, Vol 10(2–3): 119–133
- Communicating archaeology from one person or group to another is beset with problems. The media, the public and students all have different requirements, while the language in which they are addressed — both the spoken language and the intellectual framework or discourse — can act as a disincentive to understanding
- Big changes are in store for archaeologists and for other members of the academic community as electronic publication takes over from traditional methods of dissemination such as the printed book.
- Archaeologists must be prepared for these changes, and should endeavour to put their findings across in a way that interests and stimulates their audience.
Brown, S.A. ‘Creative expression of science through poetry and other media can enrich medical and science education’, Frontiers in Neurology, Vol 6, January 2015, 1–5
- Creative expression of scientific observations and principles through poetry and other media can enrich medical and science education. This debunks the expectation that science and poetry, for example, are mutually exclusive
- Poetry hones critical skills in imagery, metaphor, analogy, analysis, observation, attentiveness, and clear communication. All of these are commonly useful in understanding, problem-solving, and decoding scientific and medical mysteries. Creative science expression facilitates this skills transfer, is not limited to poetry, and can include other media such as visual or performing arts.
- Visual arts can help hone creativity, objectivity, perseverance, spatial reasoning, and observational acuity
- The creativity and subjectivity of creative science expression can be encountered in diverse forms.
- Morris argues that developing writing skills creates better communicators, which equals better doctors
Brumfel, G ‘Supplanting the old media?’, NATURE, Vol 458, 19 March 2009
- Science journalism is in decline; science blogging is growing fast. But can the one replace the other, asks Geoff Brumfiel.
- Rise of the blogs
- Many of those blogs were started by scientists who simply wanted to reach the public with information about their research.
- “Newspapers realize that they can get their audience by peddling crap instead of real science,”
- Although science blogging did not start off as a business, there are attempts to make it one. Since 2006, the publisher of Seed, a magazine about science, has gathered more than 100 science blogs — including Pharyngula — on a range of topics on to a single website, ScienceBlogs, and now pays its bloggers on the basis of how many hits their posts receive.
