Pre

1. Opening Science
Building bridges between research and
society
Why science communication?, 18 Feb 2013,
C4DUdG, Universitat de Girona
Miquel Duran, UdG
@miquelduran
miquel.duran@udg.edu
http://miquelduran.net
License: Creative Commons CC-BY-SA

2. Flow
• Why communicate?
• This is a digital world (too)
• An open knowledge society
• Outreach, public awareness, feekback
• Our particular case
• Final thoughts

3. What does science communication
in today’s world mean?
Above all: be active and have an
attitude towards sharing, collaborating
and curating
And please don’t forget to provide
yourself with basic Digital skills – and
ask if necessary

4. Course goals
Responsible Research and Innovation
• -­­ Promote the need to perform science dissemination to engage
publics in the scientific agenda.
• -­­ Showing public engagement models which promote feedback
between experts and non-­­ experts.
• -­­ Offering the possibility of creating professional networks,
supported by face to face sessions, joint projects and knowledge
exchange.
• -­­ Providing tools: low-­­cost communication techniques, sources of
funding, science communication plans, assessment methods,
academic research in science communication...
• -­­ Advising on the implementation of a practical exercise in science
engagement, offering participants oversight as part of the training.
• For, with, and by Society

5. Little Science Communicator Red
Riding Hood
• The constant change due to
heavy use of IT in research
leads sometimes to forget
that important things
(reflexion) must be
prioritized wrt urgent things
(hurry).
• Granma Society waits for
LRRH to bring her the
Knowledge Basket, but Wolf
Twodotzero tricks her so,
instead of tanking the
Reflection lane, takes the
Hurry trail..

6. La Llei de la Ciència a Espanya, 2011
• Preàmbul: “… reconoce las actividades de divulgación y de cultura científica y
tecnológica como consustanciales a la carrera investigadora, para mejorar la
comprensión y la percepción social sobre cuestiones científicas y tecnológicas
y la sensibilidad hacia la innovación, así como para promover una mayor
participación ciudadana en este ámbito”
• Objecitus: “Fomentar la cooperación al desarrollo en materia de investigación
científica, desarrollo tecnológico e innovación, orientada al progreso social y
productivo, bajo el principio de la responsabilidad social de las instituciones de
investigación e innovación”
• Objectius – “Impulsar la cultura científica, tecnológica e innovadora a través
de la educación, la formación y la divulgación en todos los sectores y en el
conjunto de la sociedad”
• Objectius: “Promover la participación activa de los ciudadanos en materia de
investigación, desarrollo e innovación, y el reconocimiento social de la ciencia
a través de la formación científica de la sociedad y de la divulgación científica y
tecnológica, así como el reconocimiento de la actividad innovadora y
empresarial.”

7. La Llei de la Ciència a Espanya, 2011
• Artículo 38. Cultura científica y tecnológica.
• 1. Las Administraciones Públicas fomentarán las actividades
conducentes a la mejora de la cultura científica y tecnológica de la
sociedad a través de la educación, la formación y la divulgación, y
reconocerán adecuadamente las actividades de los agentes del
Sistema Español de Ciencia, Tecnología e Innovación en este
ámbito.
• 2. En los Planes Estatales de Investigación Científica y Técnica y de
Innovación se incluirán medidas para la consecución de los
siguientes objetivos:
• a) Mejorar la formación científica e innovadora de la sociedad, al
objeto de que todas las personas puedan en todo momento tener
criterio propio sobre las modificaciones que tienen lugar en su
entorno natural y tecnológico

8. La Llei de la Ciència a Espanya, 2011
• b) Fomentar la divulgación científica, tecnológica e
innovadora.
• c) Apoyar a las instituciones involucradas en el desarrollo
de la cultura científica y
• tecnológica, mediante el fomento e incentivación de la
actividad de museos, planetarios y centros divulgativos de
la ciencia.
• d) Fomentar la comunicación científica e innovadora por
parte de los agentes de ejecución del Sistema Español de
Ciencia, Tecnología e Innovación.
• e) Proteger el patrimonio científico y tecnológico histórico.
• f) Incluir la cultura científica, tecnológica y de innovación
como eje transversal en todo el sistema educativo.

9. How we (scientists) can communicate (1/3)
• By origin
– Personal
– Groupal
– Corporate
• By destination
– Indexed Journals / Scholar Publications
– Science journals for scientists (eg Scientific American)
– Science General for the Public (eg Quo, La Recherche)
– Communicacion of Science Culture
– Citizens Outreach
– Children's, Youth Outreach

10. How we (scientists) can communicate (2/3)
• By medium
– Paper
– Multimedia/Radio & TV/Cinema
– Internet
– Webs
– Blogs
– Twitter
– Other Social Media
– Augmented Reality
– Video streaming

11. How we (scientists) can communicate (3/3)
• Personal
– Shows
– Theater
– Performances
• By direction
– Unidirectional
– Bidirectional
– Multidireccional
• By privacy level
– Private
– Semiprivate
– Public
• By message
– Own personal: PhD / researcher blog
– News curation on a particular field of science
– News curation on policy, funding, etc.
– Contributing to shared blog
– Contributing to research group
• Others

12. Purpose
• Why, where, when?
• Purpose
– Branding
– Marketing
– Social Service
– Cooperation & Volunteering
– Building online presence
• Some challenges
– Language
– Digital divides
• Source of funding!

13. Spiros Kitsinelis: why communicate science?
The art of science communication
• To attract more students in the science departments of
the university
• To create a knowledge based economy and render
countries more competitive in today’s world
• To get public support for more government research
funding
• To create a more technology literate workforce for the
private sector tht wants to innovate.
• Because the public needs to be informed and involved
• People will only be liberated from false ideas, prejudices
etc. only if they have scientific knowledge on their side.
• Distinction between interesting and attractive events.

14. Little Science Communicator Red Riding Hood
• Dazzled Little Social Science Communicator
Red Riding Hood is a part of a collection of
people that see IT and Web 2.0 as a new
form of magic.
• However, like magicians actually just create
illusions, Society must know how to take
profit from Web 2.0 cleverly, namely the
University and the other sectors of Society.
• Digital divide (and perhaps scientific divide)
does not shorten, but widens. We cannot
stand it.
• The wolf (will) eat(s) LRRH

15. Flow
• Why communicate?
• This is a digital world (too)
• An open knowledge society
• Outreach, public awareness, feekback
• Our particular case
• Final thoughts

16. This is me and my digital
circumstances
• And what I eat, what I read, what play with…
– Archive
– Social networks
– Websites
– Blog
– Photos
– Videos
– Mobile devices
– Computers, tablets, cell phones, etc.
– 3D printers!

17. Tweetaudience
• This presentation is available somewhere in the
cyberspace
• Audience:
– Note taking
– Ideas
– Reflections
– Tweets!!
• Following
• “in situ” evaluation
• This is me, my circumstances, my arcive, my web/blog,
and my social networks (and further – I’m the place
where I am right now)

18. From wikipedia to Wolfram Alpha
• The experience of the Catalan Wikipedia
• Wikimedia Commons
• Wikiprojectes, Wikibooks, etc.
• Viquiproject Science Week 2011 and 2012
• http://alpha.wolfram.com
• On can ask about everything!
• Stephen Wolfram: a new kind of science

19. Some ideas
• Everyone should hava a fast and quality access
to Internet
• Everyone should have a mobilde devide
(smartphone, tablet)
• Everyone should be able to obtaing formation
i basic digital skills
• Safe social networks, e-mail, etc… should be a
Citizen Right
• Twitter: should be make a Public Affair: it will
become history, it will enter history

20. Flow
• Why communicate?
• This is a digital world (too)
• An open knowledge society
• Outreach, public awareness, feekback
• Our particular case
• Final thoughts

21. Pushing forward Open Science
• SpotOn London 2012
– http://www.nature.com/spoton
• UKWebFocus blog
– http://ukwebfocus.wordpress.com

22. Alternative to 20st century publishing?
• Open source software, open source beer…
open publishing!
• Open access (mandatory for EU in 2014)
• Open data (… big data)
• Just 3 examples from SpotOn Science HackDay
– Figshare.com
– Researchfish.com
– http://www.frontiersin.org (open publishing)

23. Panton Principles: Principles for Open
Data in Science.
• http://pantonprinciples.org/
• Science is based on building on, reusing and
openly criticising the published body of
scientific knowledge.
• For science to effectively function, and for
society to reap the full benefits from scientific
endeavours, it is crucial that science data be
made open.

24. Example of Open Science
• http://science.okfn.org
• Open data
• Open access
• Open research
• Open Science Foundation

25. Creative Commons License
• Creative Commons
– Attributes
– ND
– NC
– SA
– BY
• http://creativecommons.org (see video inside)

26. Flow
• Why communicate?
• This is a digital world (too)
• An open knowledge society
• Outreach, public awareness, feekback
• Our particular case
• Final thoughts

27. And now researchers’ frontier:
Outreach
• The guardian: Going viral: Using social media
to publicise academic research
• http://www.guardian.co.uk/higher-education-
network/blog/2011/apr/11/communications-marketing-management-
admin-and-services

28. Outreach: compulsory?
• Outreach is more and more relevant
• It’s a duty of (senior) researchers
• It’s interesting (and perhaps fun) for junior researchers
and PhD students
• Pushed by governments… but no much money
• Loved by people out there
• Universities, learned societies, associations, museums,
… a network of disseminators
• Social communication of research, science,knowledge
• Leads to a well-informed society
• Provides publications beyond scholarly papers - +cv

29. How we (scientists) can communicate
• By origin
– Personal
– Groupal
– Corporate
• By destination
– Indexed Journals / Scholar Publications
– Science journals for scientists (eg Scientific American)
– Science General for the Public (eg Quo, La Recherche)
– Communicacion of Science Culture
– Citizens Outreach
– Children's, Youth Outreach

30. How we (scientists) can communicate
• Personal
– Shows
– Theater
– Performances
• By message
– Own personal: PhD / researcher blog
– News curation on a particular field of science
– News curation on policy, funding, etc.
– Contributing to shared blog
– Contributing to research group

31. Algunes reflexions rellevants
• Informe FECyT de percepció social de la
ciència
• Articles de The Guardian
• Estudis Fundación BBVA
• SpotOn London
• Informe Enciende COSCE

32. Informe FECyT de Percepció Social de la Ciència:
més rellevància de la Comunicació Científica 2.0
• http://www.fecyt.es/fecyt/docs/tmp/363174605.pdf
• No hi ha gaire canvis espectaculars respecte de la darrera
edició, però al menys cal remarcar-hi dues coses: en
primer lloc, els metges i els científics continuen essent els
col.lectius més valorats entre els gairebé 8.000
entrevistats. I en segon lloc, l’informe mostra que cada
cop més els ciutadans s’informen de ciència via internet i
sobretot les xarxes socials, és a dir, que la comunicació
2.0 de la ciència és cada cop més rellevant.
• També és interessant el resultat que el 25% dels
enquestats no està interessant en la ciència i tecnologia
perquè, senzillament, no l’entèn.

33. La ciència ha de ser divertida perquè la
societat sigui científicament culta
• http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2012/nov/04/geeks-
comedians-academics-fun-science
• Geeks, comedians and academics are putting the fun back into science és
el títol d’un post de The Guardian subtitulat “Science used to be the
opposite of entertaining, but now sell-out tours featuring gags, songs and
mini-lectures are a hit across the country”.
• En aquesta entrada s’hi comenta com les arts escèniques fan servir la
ciència per entretenir, però també com entretenen parlant de ciència. La
darrera frase, però, és de política social científica:
• “A few years ago, scientists would moan about an error they had seen on
TV or when a minister made some incompetent statement about science.
Nowadays, they act. The skeptics, and others who have found each other
through the shows curated by Ince and the books and columns of Ben
Goldacre, have become a social-media-enabled army of rationalists who
has stepped up to fight a scourge of anti-vaxxers, homeopaths, politicians,
companies and, frankly, anyone else who misuses evidence.”
• No n’hi ha prou amb queixar-se quan els polítics s’equivoquen o els canals
de televisió fan programes de pseudociència. Cal actuar. Els científics han
de moure’s perquè tinguem una societat més científicament culta.

34. Dos estudis de la Fundació BBVA respecte
de la percepció social de la ciència
• “Ciencia: la fe del que no sabe” és un reportatge que va sortir fa poc
a El País
• http://sociedad.elpais.com/sociedad/2012/07/23/actualidad/13430
72538_559229.html
• Parla d’un informe de la Fundación BBVA “Cultura científica:
actitudes ante la ciencia” (de moment només n’hi ha la presentació
en PPT)
• http://www.fbbva.es/TLFU/tlfu/esp/investigacion/fichainves/index.j
sp?codigo=381
• Segons El País, es tracta de la segona part del que ja va comentar el
mateix diari, “Estudio internacional de la cultura científica”
• http://sociedad.elpais.com/sociedad/2012/05/08/actualidad/13365
02274_505761.html.
• Res de especialment nou i rellevant, però és bo saber per on van els
trets. Ja és ben conegut: metges, mestres i científics són els més
ben valorats (… els metges no en són, de científics?)

35. Fent malabarisme amb la ciència i la
seva comunicació
• Anne Osterrieder a SpotOn London comenta la seva vivència personal, en fer
comunicació de la ciència gairebé d’amagatotis durant un temps, fins arribar al moment
actual en què pot combinar raonablement la seva recerca ebiomèdica amb la seva
activitat comunicadora. En definitiva, que d’alguna forma fa una mica de malabarisme.
SpotOn London 2012: My not-so-secret-anymore double life: Juggling research and
science communication
• http://www.nature.com/spoton/2012/11/spoton-london-2012-my-not-so-secret-
anymore-double-life-juggling-research-and-science-communication
• “Now I am a Research and Science Communication Fellow. This means that half of my
time is spent pursuing my research on plant organelles and establishing an independent
research programme. The other half I spend on science communication: organizing
events and training workshops for staff and students, both internally and externally, and
continuing with my own outreach projects.”
• Aquesta investigadora fa una sèrie de recomanacions interessants: els explica bé -
– Find allies.
– Get organized.
– Evaluate.
– Grow a thick skin.
– Be proud of your accomplishments.

36. Informe Enciende
• COSCE (confederación sociedades científicas
españolas)
• http://www.cosce.org/pdf/Informe_ENCIENDE.pdf
• Reflexiones y recomendaciones para una mejora de
la educación científica en edades tempranas en
España desde los sectores científico, social y de la
enseñanza de las ciencias

37. Relevant article
• More than a blog: Should science bloggers stick
to popularizing science and fighting
creationism, or does blogging have a wider role
to play in the scientific discoursehan a blog:?
• http://www.nature.com/embor/journal/v12/n11/full/
embor2011201a.html?WT.ec_id=EMBOR-201111

38. The Guardian
• How should researchers talk about science to
the public?
• http://www.guardian.co.uk/higher-education-
network/blog/2012/feb/20/making-science-accessible

39. Public Engagement
https://www.publicengagement.ac.uk

40. Engaging thru the Internet
http://Science140.org
(+ ciencia140 + catciencia140.net)

41. Humour is very important! Famelab
http://famelab.org

42. Outreach possibilities
• What?
– Our work
– Someone else's work
– Sound knowledge
– Citizen Science
– Public awareness
• On the spot
– Demonstrative
– Pedagogic/teaching Spectacular
• Internet
– Blogging/website
– Science Blogs @ Newspapers Contests
– Etc

43. Flow
• Why communicate?
• This is a digital world (too)
• An open knowledge society
• Outreach, public awareness, feekback
• Our particular case
• Final thoughts

44. Outreach in an actual group
• Two communications buy the @c4dudg to
International Science Communication
meeting, Nancy - and INTED, València:
– PPT "Is digital communication an actual, clever
way to disseminate science?”
– PPT "Imagine! - some trends in recreational
science and the pursue of science careers”
• See them in http://slideshare.net/quelgir

45. C4D UdG
http://c4d.udg.edu

46. Let me bring my own case
• Levels of action:
– Coordinating UdG’s science dissemination
– Involving in C4D’s activities
– Personal activities
• Types of action:
– Communicating results of research (academic)
– Talks (e.g. quasicrystalls)
– Outreach (Researchers’ Night, Science Fairs)
– Shows (e.g. Magic and Science)
• Reason: because we need to increase Society’s
Scientific Culture, and we must promote Science
awareness.

47. And also have a look to …
• Take a look at my blog Edunomia, category
“comciencia”
– http://edunomia.net
• And also my mesoblog “Molecularity Report”
– http://edunoming.wordpress.com
• And even my curation space in Scoop.It
“Impromptu topics”
– http://www.scoop.it/u/quelet

48. Engaging thru recreational science
http://Estalella20.net

49. Flow
• Why communicate?
• This is a digital world (too)
• An open knowledge society
• Outreach, public awareness, feekback
• Our particular case
• Final thoughts

50. RRI: How do we receive feedback?
• Meetings with Research and Innovation
stockholders at UdG’s Science and Technology
Park (i.e., companies, private sector)
• Meeting parents and families at outreach
activities
• By means of online activities
• Bringing young students to the University,
practical activities
• Formal interaction with other Public Institutions,
government officials, elected citzens
• Above all: be active!

51. Some challenges and difficulties
• RRI, Web 2.0, Social Networking, Communicating Research – is
rather an attitude
• There is a paramount task yet in involving and motivating
(good) researchers, research groups and academic units in
communicating (well!) Research and Science.
• Dissemination of Research and Public Outreach is hindered by
current issues.
• There is a high pressure (Publish of Perish, Transfer or Die, etc.)
that does not free time enough to get involved in Public
Outreach and Dissemination activities
• A proper system of Rewards could be established to catalyze
and promote Science and Research communication.

52. OK. We’ve got the point – and now what?
• Let’s movilize
• Let’s change
• Let’s move
• Let’s do thinkgs well
• Let’s concentrate
• Let’s keep freedom
• Let’s catalyze a positive attidude
• Let’s (place here your favourite call to action)

53. El meu químic favorit…
En Panoràmix, el druida

54. G. Iffrah, Histoire des Xiffres
• Science is knowlege that becomes true by
means of criticism (S. Bachelard)
• Invention in theoretical science has the
character of discovery, but it is a disconvery in
the worlk of mind (L. de Broglie)
• All science is just a depuration of daily
thinking (A. Einstein)
• (note: look for those people’s quotes!)
Ciència i Futur de la Humanitat,
28/1/2008

55. And now, three quotes...
• Education is not a preparation for life, It is life
itself
• Your attitude is a choice
• Education: there is a treasure inside
Thus:
Communicating Science (and hence RRI) is an
attitude. Everyone can communicate well if
provided with relevant skills.

56. Ciència i Futur de la Humanitat,
28/1/2008