Learning from History to Increase Positive Public Reception and Social Value Alignment of Evidence-Based Science Communication

Abstract

For effective science communication, three general objectives should be taken into consideration: 1) accurate conveyance of the scientific evidence; 2) warm public reception of the communicator; and 3) alignment of the information with social values. An examination of both successful and failed science communication efforts over the course of history can reveal strategies to better meet these objectives. This article looks back at influential moments of science communication over the past two millennia in the context of the objectives and, using lessons learned from these events as a guide, introduces a five-element approach to improve the potential for attaining the objectives.

The relationship between a health communication podcast and audience engagement: A social media case study

“…The growth of social media use and its importance for communication processes is also visible among scientists (Bik & Goldstein, 2013;Utz et al, 2022). Social media has been shown to partially simplify the process of communicating and engaging with the public (Dalrymple et al, 2016;Tetro, 2018). Social media is a frequently used way for authorities to spread information quickly (e.g., Dalrymple et al, 2016).…”