CERN Accelerating science

Exceptional Colloquium

Digital media have extended the number of channels that scientists (and other academics) use to communicate and share information. Digital technologies have the potential to make all stages of the research process more visible in the public sphere, and to audiences that have, on occasion, opportunities for interaction and engagement. But digital technologies also are introducing novel demands on researchers, requiring skills and competencies on the part of scientists that are encapsulated by the concept of digital scholarship. In this presentation we explore this developing context via a case study: the publication of emails from the Climatic Research Unit at the University of East Anglia (also known as ‘climategate’). The findings of three reviews of ‘climategate’ will be discussed in terms of their implications for science communication. This episode may indirectly influence the ways that scientific knowledge is produced and verified, and what information and data are required to be archived for circulation in the public sphere when a peer reviewed paper is published. In the light of this, we argue that there is a need to develop norms to inform scientific publication in the widest sense of the term, to include all forms of science communication that are available in the public sphere.

Speaker biogs

Dr Richard Holliman is a Senior Lecturer in Science Communication at the Open University (OU), UK. In his research and teaching he explores the ways that (techno-) sciences are communicated via a range of media and genres, and how ideas about (upstream) public engagement with science and technology may be shifting and extending social practices. He recently led the production of a new postgraduate course in science communication as part of the OU’s MSc in Science in Society. Examples of some of these course materials are available via iTunes U.

In 2009 he co-published two edited collections that explore contemporary issues in science communication and public engagement (Holliman, Whitelegg, et al., 2009 and Holliman, Thomas, et al., 2009). He has worked on two recent research projects: Invisible Witnesses (open.ac.uk/invisible-witnesses), which explored gendered representations of scientists, technologists, engineers and technologist on children’s television in the UK; and Isotope, an interdisciplinary action research project where participants collaboratively produced (and now help to maintain) a community website for those interested in science communication (isotope.open.ac.uk).

Professor Eileen Scanlon is Professor of Educational Technology and Associate Director of Research and Scholarship in the Institute of Educational Technology at the Open University, UK. She is also Visiting Professor in Moray House School of Education, University of Edinburgh. She has extensive research experience on educational technology projects, some of which are summarized in McAndrew, et al. (2010). She is currently involved in research projects that: explore aspects of digital scholarship to develop open educational resources; investigate science learning in formal and informal settings concentrating on the development of an inquiry learning pedagogy; and develop innovative approaches to evaluation (e.g. games based learning).



by DG Unit