With Sarah R. Davies , Professor of Technosciences, Materiality, & Digital Cultures - Department of Science and Technology Studies - University of Vienna
Room 003 SISSA - Friday, 29 May, 9:00
Join us for a conversation on the many dimensions of science communication.
In this talk, Sarah Davies reflects on contemporary science communication research, with particular attention to its main focuses and underlying assumptions. She examines how research in the field often takes for granted that science communication is primarily about the transmission of scientific knowledge to public audiences, and therefore concentrates on processes such as effectiveness, impact, and form.
Challenging this perspective, she argues that the public communication of science is not necessarily the only, nor the most significant, dimension at play. Drawing on empirical studies of science communication practices, she highlights the multiple meanings attributed to these activities by both audiences and communicators.
In particular, Davies focuses on the central role of financial aspects in shaping how science communication is understood and practiced, as well as on the widespread conditions of precarity and scarcity that characterize the work of many communicators. She suggests that science communication scholarship should “follow the money” in order to better grasp how the field operates in practice, beyond idealized views centered solely on the circulation and transformation of knowledge.