Zhao J – PCST Network

Author: Ji Zhao – National Academy of Innovation Strategy, CAST, China

Co-authors:

Xuan Liu – National Academy of Innovation Strategy, CAST, China
Fujun Ren – National Academy of Innovation Strategy, CAST, China

It is stressed in China that technology innovation and science popularization are like the two wings that drive innovative development. However, at this moment, the development of technology innovation and science popularization is still unbalanced in China. One of the main challenges is that the input in popular science is inadequate. Scientists, enterprises and mass media are not actively engaged in supporting science popularization.

In this paper, efforts are focused on the popular science mass media, to study the difference between China’s and abroad representative popular science mass media. In China, the popular science websites Guokr.com and SciMall.com are investigated. These two are among the most popular websites within the lay public and the scientific community. And each has its Wechat official account, which pushes once or twice posts daily. Internationally, the MIT Technology Review is selected for comparison purpose. The selection criteria of the investigated objects are these mass medias have the similar target audience in term of generation, education background, interest range. Comparisons are performed in aspects of topic quality and coverage, report depth and hotspots, journalist workforce, reader’s service and etc.

It is concluded that each representative popular science mass media has its unique characteristics. However, there is still room for the mass media in China to improve, such as focusing more on providing scientific perspective for the latest news to help people understand its long-term outcome and impact. Furthermore, it is suggested to establish the mechanism of converting scientific and technological achievements into popular science resources. Meanwhile, Work related to popular science should be included in the incentive system of scientific research personnel, and a certain proportion of national science and technology projects and talent awards should be reserved for popular science talents.

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

Presentation type: Visual presentation
Theme: Technology

Author: Ji Zhao – National Academy of Innovation Strategy, CAST, China

Co-authors:

Zhengfeng Li – Tsinghua University, China
Hans Peter Peters – Research Center Jülich, Free University Berlin, Germany
Emma Weitkamp – University of the West of England, United Kingdom

Initially scientific culture came into being within the scientific community. It is a set of values, patterns, code of conduct and social norms established based upon scientific activities. With the advance of modern science and technology in the past few decades, scientific culture has penetrated every corner of the society and become a mainstream value. At the same time, the diversity of social culture has also impacted affectedon scientific culture and shaped its diverse features.

Nowadays, due to the widespread usage of the social media such as Twitter, Facebook and YouTube, the public is widely exposed to science misinformation and extensive reports about the misconduct of the scientific community and the inappropriate application of modern science and technology. On the one hand, these negative information reports triggers self-reflection and self-criticism in the scientific community. On the other hand, the public tends to form pessimistic opinion and lose trust in science and technology. How to foster scientific culture in the public is a challenge facing government and the scientific community.

Academic journal plays an important role in scholarly communication. It ensures the quality of published findings by the merit of the peer review and the expertise of the workforce. Driven by the development of technology and economy, academic journals itself themselves areis also subject to profound changes. The use of networks, the growth of data-intensive and data-driven science and globalization of research have enriched the publishing context and dissemination model of journals. Academic journal provides good opportunities to showcase the development level and the diversities of scientific culture worldwide. Meanwhile, it can also be a source and site of regeneration of innovation ideas in the research field.

Therefore, in the proposed roundtable discussion, we would like to focus on the role of academic journals to foster scientific culture in the public.

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

Presentation type: Roundtable discussion
Theme: Transformation

A study on the popular science mass media of China in comparative perspective

How to foster scientific culture in the public: The role of academic journals

Contact

Connect

Join

Discuss

Partners