This book examines the expanding world of genres on the Internet to understand issues of science communication today. In examining scientific genres on the Internet this book seeks to illustrate the increasing diversification of genre ecologies and their underlying social, disciplinary and individual agendas.

Examines new genres of online science communication to further explore how boundaries between experts and nonexperts continue to shift.

Science and technology are embedded in virtually every aspect of modern life. As a result, people face an increasing need to integrate information from science with their personal values and other considerations as they make important life decisions about medical care, the safety of foods, what to do about climate change, and many other issues. Communicating science effectively, however, is a complex task and an acquired skill. Moreover, the approaches to communicating science that will be most effective for specific audiences and circumstances are not obvious. Fortunately, there is an expanding science base from diverse disciplines that can support science communicators in making these determinations. Communicating Science Effectively offers a research agenda for science communicators and researchers seeking to apply this research and fill gaps in knowledge about how to communicate effectively about science, focusing in particular on issues that are contentious in the public sphere. To inform this research agenda, this publication identifies important influences â€" psychological, economic, political, social, cultural, and media-related â€" on how science related to such issues is understood, perceived, and used.

The essays in Science and the Internet address the timely topic of how digital tools are shaping science communication. Featuring chapters by leading scholars of the rhetoric of science and technology, the volume fills a much needed gap in contemporary rhetoric of science scholarship. Overall, the essays reveal how digital technologies may both fray the boundaries between experts and non-experts and enable more collaborative, democratic means of public engagement with science. --Lisa Keränen, PhD, Associate Professor and Director of Graduate Studies Department of Communication, University of Colorado Denver

Science communication seeks to engage individuals and groups with evidence-based information about the nature, outcomes, and social consequences of science and technology. This text provides an overview of this burgeoning field ─ the issues with which it deals, important influences that affect it, the challenges that it faces. It introduces readers to the research-based literature about science communication and shows how it relates to actual or potential practice. A "Further Exploration" section provides suggestions for activities that readers might do to explore the issues raised. Organized around five themes, each chapter addresses a different aspect of science communication: • Models of science communication – theory into practice • Challenges in communicating science • Major themes in science communication • Informal learning • Communication of contemporary issues in science and society Relevant for all those interested in and concerned about current issues and developments in science communication, this volume is an ideal text for courses and a must-have resource for faculty, students, and professionals in this field.

On topics from genetic engineering and mad cow disease to vaccination and climate change, this Handbook draws on the insights of 57 leading science of science communication scholars who explore what social scientists know about how citizens come to understand and act on what is known by science.

The volume gives a multi-perspective overview of scholarly and science communication, exploring its diverse functions, modalities, interactional structures, and dynamics in a rapidly changing world. In addition, it provides a guide to current research approaches and traditions on communication in many disciplines, including the humanities, technology, social and natural sciences, and on forms of communication with a wide range of audiences.