Theory of Knowledge - Course Companion for Students Marija Uzunova Dang Arvin Singh Uzunov Dang

huge amounts of scientific knowledge
With
paywalls or otherwise inaccessible
behind
to jargon, the question of public
due
takes on great significance.
communication
the aim of science is to find and promote
If
understanding of life, the world and the
an
an understanding that would be of
cosmos,
to all, should it be accessible to all?
interest
answer might be yes, but one issue is
The
need to reward scientific
“incentives“—the
and corporations that take risks by
pioneers
their time or money to do research.
investing
2019 the University of California made
In
for dropping its $10 million per year
headlines
to Elsevier, a publishing company
subscription
owns over 2,500 scientific journals
that
incidentally, the journal Medical
(including,
discussed in the Duesberg case
Hypotheses
The university’s argument was simple:
earlier).
should not cost that much. Indeed,
knowledge
scientists never get paid for their research,
most
the scientific publishing business maintains
but
of the highest profit margins in the
some
Follow the link to this article by Stephen
world.
for UK newspaper the Guardian: “Is
Buryani
staggeringly profitable business of scientific
the
terms: Buryani
Search
profitable business
Staggeringly
people agree on the benefit of cultivating a
Most
interest in science. One example is science
public
which can collect money to fund
museums,
and inspire people to pursue further
research,
study, careers or at the least to be more
scientific
to science and more sceptical of dogma.
open
festivals, museums, university open
Science
and various forms of media are all part of
days
science communication landscape for the
the
audience. Sociocultural context
non-scientist
a large role in determining the method
plays
objective of science communication. For
and
science communication during
example,
Cold War was very different from
the
about global warming, in terms
communication
who is communicating, what, to whom and
of
nature or details of thescience itself, and are
the
relevant toTOK.
particularly
to publicize and popularize science have
Efforts
in place since Victorian times. How this
been
is done has been transitioning
communication
of a “deficit model” to more participatory
out
Deficit models set out to educate an
models.
uninformed and distrustful public
assumedly
in a top-down way that emphasized the
audience
of scientific experts. It was also called
“authority”
push for “scientific literacy”, and the paradigm
a
communication in the 1980s and1990s.
for
recently, we have seen a change towards
More
the public with science, and even
engaging
science, a relatively new practice that in
citizen
ways marks a return to the idea of science
some
by nature-loving amateurs, like a more
done
version of the “gentleman scientists”
diverse
the 18th and 19th centuries. Citizen science
of
the boundaries between scientist and
blurs
and science enthusiasts have
non-scientist,
involved in many fields from classifying
been
case of the pioneering scientist-freedivers
The
are working to decode the communication
who
of whales, and who are in important
systems
outpacing marine biologists, is discussed in
ways
is common for science to be communicated
It
scientists, or on their behalf by science
by
in order to inspire enthusiasm
evangelists,
trust in science. Carl Sagan’s Cosmos was
and
for an entire generation and evokes
formative
even today. Sir David Attenborough’s
nostalgia
on the natural world is similarly
reporting
and iconic. Using the link here,
influential
can watch and hear both of them sing,
you
in the YouTube miracle that is the
autotuned,
II. Perspectives
II. Perspectives
Science communication is the “organized, explicit,
and intended actions that aim to communicate
scientic knowledge, methodology, processes,
or practices in settings where nonscientists are a
recognized part of the audiences”. (Horst et al 2017)
publishing bad for science?” (27 June 2017).
of scientific publishing Guardian
galaxies to bird population surveys.
Chapter 4, III.3.
“Symphony of Science”.
for what purpose. These questions go beyond
183