HR: 15:00h
AN: U43C-06    [Abstracts]
TI: The Microcosm of Scientific Knowledge: Sceintists are Talking but Mostly to Each Other
AU: * Suleski, J
EM: suleski.1@osu.edu
AF: The Ohio State University, 125 South Oval Mall, Columbus, OH 43210-1308 United States
AU: Ibaraki, M
EM: ibaraki@geology.ohio-state.edu
AF: The Ohio State University, 125 South Oval Mall, Columbus, OH 43210-1308 United States
AB: There is no question that scientists are communicating en masse. But with publication in journals as the main form of communication of research results, modern scientific communication methods are contributing to a major chasm of knowledge between the scientific community and the mainstream public. While publication in a scientific journal is an effective means to communicate results to the scientific community, it is an ineffective means to communicate to the general public that turns to mainstream news media to learn about scientific discoveries. With little effort made to communicate beyond the borders of journals, an alarmingly small number of papers ever are reported on in mainstream publications. During the target years of 1990-1992 and 1998-2000 there were over 5,300 accredited scientific journals in print. However, in those same years, less than 0.0005% of the papers published in those journals gained any attention from mainstream news media and mainstream audiences. This begs the question, that as scientists, is it sufficient to publish results in highly technical formats with only scientists as the intended audience? Or, has this trend lead to a great disparity between the knowledgeable elite and the general population? The recent catastrophe encountered in the United States Gulf Coast after Hurricane Katrina is a striking example of published scientific research failing to reach the general public. Hundreds of papers were published during the years 1980-2005 discussing the topic of the potential threat of hurricanes to the gulf coast, yet many citizens of the area were unaware of the severity of a possible storm and subsequent flooding. In the target years researched, none of the papers published on this topic was reported on in mainstream news media, severely restricting the audience. While the intended audiences of the papers went beyond the general public, information in the hands of the people who inhabit the area would have directly by action and indirectly by support for funding influenced the conditions they faced. At a time when a nation is scratching its head and wondering who to blame, it is acutely obvious that the scientific community must shoulder some responsibility for relying on traditional communication methods to convey research findings about the region. This research points to a clear need for scientists to make new efforts to communicate not just to a captive audience of fellow researchers, but to the mainstream decision-makers of the world. Since the majority of the public looks to mass media for scientific news, it is essential that the scientific community open channels of communication with news media and develop alternate forms of communication. As Albert Einstein astutely pointed out in 1954, ''It is just as important to make knowledge live and to keep it alive as to solve specific problems.''
DE: 6600 PUBLIC ISSUES
DE: 6620 Science policy (0485)
DE: 6699 General or miscellaneous
SC: Union [U]
MN: Fall Meeting 2005