{"id":5338,"date":"2015-08-09T12:00:46","date_gmt":"2015-08-09T19:00:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogschapman.wpenginepowered.com\/scst\/2015\/08\/09\/science-communication\/"},"modified":"2015-08-09T12:00:46","modified_gmt":"2015-08-09T19:00:46","slug":"science-communication","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.chapman.edu\/scst\/2015\/08\/09\/science-communication\/","title":{"rendered":"Dean's Diversion: Communicating Science"},"content":{"rendered":"

Science communication is something we do a great deal of here in Schmid College. \u00a0Whenever we publish a blog post, help write a press release, or give a public lecture, I am reminded of an excellent PNAS<\/a> paper entitled \u201cBringing values and deliberation to science communication<\/a>\u201d by Thomas Dietz from Michigan State<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The basic premise of the article is that robust and useful communication of science is required for that information to be used correctly in making personal decisions, as well as in the formation of policy. I could write a summary of the article, but that has already been done in other places<\/a>. You should go and read the article yourself rather than relying on summaries that don\u2019t really permit you to gather the entire weight of Dietz\u2019 arguments.<\/p>\n

In lieu of a true synopsis, I thought it might be interesting to simply provide some key quotes from the article, since it is perhaps one of the most quotable pieces from the peer-reviewed literature I have read in quite some time<\/b>.<\/p>\n

The quotes are presented below without commentary, and in the order in which they appear in the article. Some may seem mind-numbingly obvious outside the context of the article, while others may seem incomprehensible.<\/p>\n

Whatever the case, my hope is that they will pique your interest enough to go and read the article yourself<\/a> and to also think very carefully about how science communication can (and should) break down the barriers between BELIEF and KNOWLEDGE. \u00a0It is the latter upon which our policy decisions should be made. I should note that there are many threads in the article that hearken to the content of Daniel Kahneman\u2019s<\/a> Thinking, Fast and Slow<\/i><\/a>, which is fantastic and perhaps should be required reading of all scientists, journalists, and policymakers alike.<\/p>\n