A Field of Expertise, the Organization, or Science Itself? Scientists’ Perception of Representing Research in Public Communication

Abstract

Social and political interest in science regularly prompts scientists to assume the role of public spokesperson. The article investigates this role of representing science as both “speaking on behalf of” science and symbolically “standing for” science and its organizations. With inspiration from the field of organizational communication, it is argued that science communication should be considered as an activity intimately linked with perceptions of identity and organizational culture. When scientists communicate publicly, they do not just disseminate knowledge, they also represent a particular sense making about what science, scientists, and scientific organizations are. Based on a qualitative analysis of 20 leading Danish scientists’ views on their own role in public communication, three different modes of representation are identified: Expert, Research Manager, and Guardian of Science. Each of these modes of representation implies particular notions of quality, audience, motivation, and learning in science communication.

Scientists' views about communication training

“…This context has resulted in communication scholars' growing efforts to problematize scientists' public communication. These efforts are helping to untangle factors that motivate scientists' willingness to interact with journalists, citizens, and policy‐makers (Besley et al, ; Davies, ; Dudo, ; Jensen, ; Poliakoff & Webb, 2007), but these efforts also focus on one dimension of what is an inherently complex phenomenon (Horst, ). Communication researchers must also derive a clearer picture of communication training, specifically how such training is viewed by scientists and what factors—organizational, socio‐demographic, psychological, etc.—make scientists more or less likely to see its value and participate in these programs.…”

Alter egos: an exploration of the perspectives and identities of science comic creators

“…Archer et al, 2010;Hazari et al, 2010;Bøe, 2011], and an emerging literature around scientists' identities in relation to their performance of science communication [e.g. Davies and Horst, 2016;Horst, 2013;Ritchie and Schell, 2009], we have not identified any such work exploring specifically those -whether scientist, artist, or both -involved in forms of science communication that combine science with the arts (i.e. Sci-Art projects).…”

Outreaching, Outsourcing, and Disembedding

“…Still, a wide range of studies indicates that the deficit model is a dominant construction of science-society relations among scientists (see, e.g., Barnett et al 2012;Besley and Nisbet 2013;Burningham et al 2007;Davies 2008;Horst 2013). Davies (2008), for example, observes that scientists construct science communication as education of lay people.…”

“…Johnson and colleagues (2014), in contrast, find that gender does indeed matter and argue that women scientists are often extra motivated to engage in science outreach in order to attract more women to science. Further, increased internationalization affects scientists' public engagement in terms of both language problems and the potential lack of a shared cultural frame of reference among scientists who were socialized in countries other than the one in which they currently work (Horst 2013). …”