A bit of brain-y street art, Shoreditch, London. A while ago, I started some research into people who blog about the brain, in particular the ways they see their audiences Sadly, changes in jobs meant I didn’t have time to develop that particular research interest (and I mean sadly, because this study only strengthened my belief that science bloggers are … Continue reading »
Tagged with journalism …
A call for open journalism, and open campaigning, on climate change
A view from the Science Museum’s climate gallery. This was originally published on Greenpeace’s Energy Desk blog and written for a debate they ran at the Frontline Club last month. I might well have written something different today, as I read debate over climate and Sandy and keep track of the anti-gas protest in West … Continue reading »
Science communication and political divides
Last month, I chaired an event on science communication and political divides at the Biochemical Society. As taster, here’s a bit from about half way though, from panelist Steve Cross: Within all kinds of science communication, not just the stuff you think is controversial [e.g. climate change, GMOs] there is a big political divide and … Continue reading »
Identifying arguments in climate science
George Bush used to say, in his generous way, that the science [of climate change] is uncertain. But it’s an almost content free statement because science is about uncertainty. Lord Oxburgh FRS, Imperial College, 30th January 2012. That quote comes from a debate on climate science in the mass media we held at Imperial last week, part of the pilot … Continue reading »
Science in the mass media
I’m working a day a week at UCL this term, teaching the ‘Science and the Mass Media’ course in the Department of Science and Technology Studies. Nosey people can see the full syllabus here (pdf). Or, if you want to play along at home, I’ve pasted some of the essay questions below. Yesterday’s news(papers). A couple of thousand … Continue reading »
Talking sense about (climate) science
Every year the charity Sense About Science publishes a report debunking things celebrities have said about science. Every year it makes me wince. This year I winced publicly, on Comment is Free. I don’t like comedy based on people being stupid as an approach to education at the best of times (see previous pieces for … Continue reading »
Context context context
Context context context. It’s what the mainstream media’s reporting on science always lacks, isn’t it? It’s the oft-repeated line ‘I think you’ll find it’s a bit more complicated than that’ which media critics such as myself can grump about from the cosiness of their ivory tower. Context context context: Easy to say, but hard to provide? Context … Continue reading »
The BBC Trust Report on Science
EDIT, July 2012: Slightly updated version for Open Democracy. Last week the BBC Trust published their review of impartiality and accuracy in science coverage. This included research undertaken by my group at Imperial. My name’s on the front but I should stress that I only did a small part of the work. It was lead … Continue reading »
Towards a multigenerational debate about science
Last week, I was supposed to be one of the speakers at the World Conference of Science Journalists, part of a session on reaching younger audiences. For various reasons (some including ambulances…) I didn’t actually get to give my talk. This post is a linked-up version of what I would have said. The images are … Continue reading »
Imagining the communities of online science
As a researcher of science writing and science writers, I’m interested in the ideas science bloggers have about the communities they are part of. Bloggers being a reflexive lot, I have a growing collection of posts which discuss some of the issues involved here. Still, I want to go beyond the limited perspective provided by … Continue reading »
