Minto Fabricio T – PCST Network

Author: Tárcio Minto Fabricio – Center for the Development of Functional Materials (CDMF) / Open Laboratory for Interactivity in S&T Public Communication (LAbI) / SÃ£o Carlos Federal University (UFSCar), Brazil

Co-authors:

Adilson Jesus Aparecido de Oliveira – Physics Department / CDMF / LAbI / UFSCar, Brazil
Mariana Rodrigues Pezzo – Open Laboratory for Interactivity in S&T Public Communication (LAbI) / Sà£o Carlos Federal University, Brazil

The open air and concomitantly digital museum “Caminhos do Conhecimento” (Knowledge Paths), created by the Open Laboratory for Interactivity for Science and Technology (S&T) Public Communication at the Federal University of São Carlos, São Paulo, Brazil (LAbI – UFSCar), offers different possibilities of mediation in the dialogue between scientific knowledge and diverse audiences, other than those already consolidated in traditional museums and science centers. The conception of the project is anchored in the theoretical frameworks of Educating Cities and science education with STS (Science-Technology-Society) approach.

The project proposes itineraries on science to be followed on the University Campus. These itineraries are indicated by the project signposts that, besides presenting texts by famous scientists and other intellectuals, contain QR codes that allow access to video content and exclusive texts related to the scientific areas of the places where they are. Such itineraries can also be accessed on the web at www.caminhos.ufscar.br. In addition, the project will offer guided tours, in which participants will be able to visit the University’s laboratories, getting to know, together with where and how science is produced, who produces it.

The museum has two itineraries already operating. The first one, named “Epistemological Trail”, goes through 17 signposts narrating the history of the knowledge areas present at the University. The other, the “Light Trail”, goes through 6 signposts, presenting information about the nature of light aimed at children. Since its implementation, in 2015, the project has registered 2,790 spontaneous accesses through QR codes, with the largest number of accesses registered in 2019, what may be associated with increasing popularization of mobile internet access and, also, familiarity with the use of QR codes.

The author has not yet submitted a copy of the full paper.

Presentation type: Visual presentation
Theme: Technology

Co-authors:

Adilson Jesus Aparecido de Oliveira – Physics Department / CDMF / LAbI / UFSCar, Brazil
Mariana Rodrigues Pezzo – Open Laboratory for Interactivity in S&T Public Communication (LAbI) / Sà£o Carlos Federal University, Brazil

Brazilian Science has been going through a deep crisis, especially since the beginning, in January 2019, of a new federal government, whose President and Ministers systematically insult scientific evidences – as in the matters of the Amazon rainforest and climate change. That, together with successive and dramatic cuts in the Science budget, has brought the scientific community to the public arena, claiming for support and highlighting the relevance of increasing Public Communication of Science efforts. Spotting the moment as an opportunity to better understand how this community sees the goals of such efforts and how to transform this motivation into actions closer to the Public Engagement with Science and Technology model than with traditional diffusionist approaches, this paper reports a theoretical reflection and derived research directed to such comprehension and intervention objectives.

The Public Engagement model is still foreign to most of the research and practice in Public Communication of Science carried on in Brazil and, aiming to increase its presence, we’ve done an extensive review of the literature on the topic; therefrom, we’ve built a set of categories concomitantly designed as analysis tools to characterize and understand discourses and practices already underway within the country and as a framework to, considering such diagnostics, encourage and support policies and practices steered to more dialogic and democratic processes.

To experiment, improve and validate those categories, we’ve applied them to a sample of news and opinion texts published in the first six months of 2019, in the daily newsletter JCNotícias, clipping from various media outlets. Our analysis – of scientists’ statements on Public Communication of Science and/or interaction between Science and Society – evidenced factors favoring or hindering the Public Engagement model, as well as the strength of the proposed categories.

The author has not yet submitted a copy of the full paper.

Presentation type: Visual presentation
Theme: Transformation

Exploring Science where it is made An open air and digital museum in a Brazilian university

Understanding Brazilian Scientists’ motivation towards Public Communication of Science

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