1. Opening Science
Building bridges between research and
society
Why science communication?, 10+11/6/2013,
C4DUdG, Universitat de Girona
Miquel Duran, UdG
@miquelduran
miquel.duran@udg.edu
http://miquelduran.net
License: Creative Commons CC-BY-SA

2. Flow
• Why communicate?
• This is a digital world (too)
• An open knowledge society
• Outreach, public awareness, feekback
• Our particular case
• Final thoughts

3. What does science communication
in today’s world mean?
Above all: be active and have an
attitude towards sharing, collaborating
and curating
And please don’t forget to provide
yourself with basic Digital skills – and
ask if necessary

4. Little Science Communicator Red
Riding Hood
• The constant change due to
heavy use of IT in research
leads sometimes to forget
that important things
(reflexion) must be
prioritized wrt urgent things
(hurry).
• Granma Society waits for
LRRH to bring her the
Knowledge Basket, but Wolf
Twodotzero tricks her so,
instead of tanking the
Reflection lane, takes the
Hurry trail..

5. How we (scientists) can communicate (1/3)
• By origin
– Personal
– Groupal
– Corporate
• By destination
– Indexed Journals / Scholar Publications
– Science journals for scientists (eg Scientific American)
– Science General for the Public (eg Quo, La Recherche)
– Communicacion of Science Culture
– Citizens Outreach
– Children's, Youth Outreach

6. • By medium
– Paper
– Multimedia/Radio & TV/Cinema
– Internet
– Webs
– Blogs
– Twitter
– Other Social Media
– Augmented Reality
– Video streaming
How we (scientists) can communicate (2/3)

7. How we (scientists) can communicate (3/3)
• Personal
– Shows
– Theater
– Performances
• By direction
– Unidirectional
– Bidirectional
– Multidireccional
• By privacy level
– Private
– Semiprivate
– Public
• By message
– Own personal: PhD / researcher blog
– News curation on a particular field of science
– News curation on policy, funding, etc.
– Contributing to shared blog
– Contributing to research group
• Others

8. Purpose
• Why, where, when?
• Purpose
– Branding
– Marketing
– Social Service
– Cooperation & Volunteering
– Building online presence
• Some challenges
– Language
– Digital divides
• Source of funding!

9. Spiros Kitsinelis: why communicate science?
The art of science communication
• To attract more students in the science departments of
the university
• To create a knowledge based economy and render
countries more competitive in today’s world
• To get public support for more government research
funding
• To create a more technology literate workforce for the
private sector tht wants to innovate.
• Because the public needs to be informed and involved
• People will only be liberated from false ideas, prejudices
etc. only if they have scientific knowledge on their side.
• Distinction between interesting and attractive events.

10. Communicating Science (Kitsinelis)
• Making it intesting: on the difference between
being interested and making it interesting
(opening the door)
– Interested because of scencetid culture increase,
science awareness, well-informed citizenship
• On the relevance of what is being
communicated (rational) - serious
• On making it attractive (emotional) – fun,
games

11. Little Science Communicator Red Riding Hood
• Dazzled Little Social Science Communicator
Red Riding Hood is a part of a collection of
people that see IT and Web 2.0 as a new
form of magic.
• However, like magicians actually just create
illusions, Society must know how to take
profit from Web 2.0 cleverly, namely the
University and the other sectors of Society.
• Digital divide (and perhaps scientific divide)
does not shorten, but widens. We cannot
stand it.
• The wolf (will) eat(s) LRRH

12. Flow
• Why communicate?
• This is a digital world (too)
• An open knowledge society
• Outreach, public awareness, feekback
• Our particular case
• Final thoughts

13. This is me and my digital
circumstances
• And what I eat, what I read, what play with…
– Archive
– Social networks
– Websites
– Blog
– Photos
– Videos
– Mobile devices
– Computers, tablets, cell phones, etc.
– 3D printers!

14. Tweetaudience
• This presentation is available somewhere in the
cyberspace
• Audience:
– Note taking
– Ideas
– Reflections
– Tweets!!
• Following
• “in situ” evaluation
• This is me, my circumstances, my arcive, my web/blog,
and my social networks (and further – I’m the place
where I am right now)

15. From wikipedia to Wolfram Alpha
• The experience of the Catalan Wikipedia
• Wikimedia Commons
• Wikiprojectes, Wikibooks, etc.
• Viquiproject Science Week 2011 and 2012
• http://alpha.wolfram.com
• On can ask about everything!
• Stephen Wolfram: a new kind of science

16. Some ideas
• Everyone should hava a fast and quality access
to Internet
• Everyone should have a mobilde devide
(smartphone, tablet)
• Everyone should be able to obtaing formation
i basic digital skills
• Safe social networks, e-mail, etc… should be a
Citizen Right
• Twitter: should be make a Public Affair: it will
become history, it will enter history

17. Flow
• Why communicate?
• This is a digital world (too)
• An open knowledge society
• Outreach, public awareness, feekback
• Our particular case
• Final thoughts

18. Pushing forward Open Science
• SpotOn London 2012
– http://www.nature.com/spoton
• UKWebFocus blog
– http://ukwebfocus.wordpress.com

19. Alternative to 20st century publishing?
• Open source software, open source beer…
open publishing!
• Open access (mandatory for EU in 2014)
• Open data (… big data)
• Just 3 examples from SpotOn Science HackDay
– Figshare.com
– Researchfish.com
– http://www.frontiersin.org (open publishing)

20. Panton Principles: Principles for Open
Data in Science.
• http://pantonprinciples.org/
• Science is based on building on, reusing and
openly criticising the published body of
scientific knowledge.
• For science to effectively function, and for
society to reap the full benefits from scientific
endeavours, it is crucial that science data be
made open.

21. Example of Open Science
• http://science.okfn.org
• Open data
• Open access
• Open research
• Open Science Foundation

22. Creative Commons License
• Creative Commons
– Attributes
– ND
– NC
– SA
– BY
• http://creativecommons.org (see video inside)

23. Flow
• Why communicate?
• This is a digital world (too)
• An open knowledge society
• Outreach, public awareness, feekback
• Our particular case
• Final thoughts

24. And now researchers’ frontier:
Outreach
• The guardian: Going viral: Using social media
to publicise academic research
• http://www.guardian.co.uk/higher-education-
network/blog/2011/apr/11/communications-marketing-management-
admin-and-services

25. Outreach: compulsory?
• Outreach is more and more relevant
• It’s a duty of (senior) researchers
• It’s interesting (and perhaps fun) for junior researchers
and PhD students
• Pushed by governments… but no much money
• Loved by people out there
• Universities, learned societies, associations, museums,
… a network of disseminators
• Social communication of research, science,knowledge
• Leads to a well-informed society
• Provides publications beyond scholarly papers - +cv

26. How we (scientists) can communicate
• By origin
– Personal
– Groupal
– Corporate
• By destination
– Indexed Journals / Scholar Publications
– Science journals for scientists (eg Scientific American)
– Science General for the Public (eg Quo, La Recherche)
– Communicacion of Science Culture
– Citizens Outreach
– Children's, Youth Outreach

27. How we (scientists) can communicate
• Personal
– Shows
– Theater
– Performances
• By message
– Own personal: PhD / researcher blog
– News curation on a particular field of science
– News curation on policy, funding, etc.
– Contributing to shared blog
– Contributing to research group

28. A few relevant reports
• FECyT report on social perception of science
• Articles by The Guardian
• Reports by Fundación BBVA
• SpotOn London
• Enciende COSCE Report

29. FECyT report on Social Perception of Science:
increased relevance of Science Communication 2.0
• http://www.fecyt.es/fecyt/docs/tmp/363174605.pdf
• There are no big changes writh respect to last edition, but one
must remark a couple of points: first, physicians and scientists
continue to be the molst valued social groups amont ca. 8.000
interviewed people; and second, the reports shows that
citizens become increasingly informed about science with the
Internet, especially through social networks. All inall, Science
Communication 2.0 is more relevant than ever.
• There are no spectacular changes with respect to the latest
edition, but one must pinpoint that 25% of those interviewed
are not interested in science and technology because, simply
stated, they do not understand them.

30. Science must be amusing so society’s
culture can increase
• http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2012/nov/04/geeks-
comedians-academics-fun-science
• “Geeks, comedians and academics are putting the fun back into science” is
a post by The Guardina subtitled “Science used to be the opposite of
entertaining, but now sell-out tours featuring gags, songs and mini-
lectures are a hit across the country”.
• This post shows how Performing Arts use science to entertain, but how
they entertain by talking about science. The last sentence, however, is
about scientific social science:
• “A few years ago, scientists would moan about an error they had seen on
TV or when a minister made some incompetent statement about science.
Nowadays, they act. The skeptics, and others who have found each other
through the shows curated by Ince and the books and columns of Ben
Goldacre, have become a social-media-enabled army of rationalists who
has stepped up to fight a scourge of anti-vaxxers, homeopaths, politicians,
companies and, frankly, anyone else who misuses evidence.”
• Not only one should complain when politicians make mistakes of TV
channels air Pseudoscientific programs. One must act. Scientits must
move to reach a society with a stronger scientific culture.

31. Two reports by BBVA Foundation on social
perception of science
• “Ciencia: la fe del que no sabe” is a report recently published by El País
• http://sociedad.elpais.com/sociedad/2012/07/23/actualidad/13430725
38_559229.html
• It deals with a report by the BBVA Foundation “Cultura científica:
actitudes ante la ciencia” (currently there is only the PPT presentation)
• http://www.fbbva.es/TLFU/tlfu/esp/investigacion/fichainves/index.jsp?c
odigo=381
• According to El País, this is the second part of something the same
newspaper dealt about, “Estudio internacional de la cultura científica”
• http://sociedad.elpais.com/sociedad/2012/05/08/actualidad/13365022
74_505761.html.
• Nothing especially new and relevant, but it is interesting to know the
trends. Actually, they are well known: physicians, teachers and scientists
are those most valued (actually… physicians are not scientists?

32. Juggling with Science and its
communication
• Anne Osterrieder at SpotOn London coments her personal life: she had to communicate
science almost hidden; however, now she can combine reasonably well her biomedical
research with her communication activity. This means, in a kind of way, a juggling
attitude.
• SpotOn London 2012: My not-so-secret-anymore double life: Juggling research and
science communication
• http://www.nature.com/spoton/2012/11/spoton-london-2012-my-not-so-secret-
anymore-double-life-juggling-research-and-science-communication
• “Now I am a Research and Science Communication Fellow. This means that half of my
time is spent pursuing my research on plant organelles and establishing an independent
research programme. The other half I spend on science communication: organizing
events and training workshops for staff and students, both internally and externally, and
continuing with my own outreach projects.”
• This researcher states a series of reccomendations that interesting; she asks to…
– Find allies.
– Get organized.
– Evaluate.
– Grow a thick skin.
– Be proud of your accomplishments.

33. Enciende Report
• COSCE (confederación sociedades científicas
españolas)
• http://www.cosce.org/pdf/Informe_ENCIENDE.pdf
• Reflexiones y recomendaciones para una mejora de
la educación científica en edades tempranas en
España desde los sectores científico, social y de la
enseñanza de las ciencias

34. Relevant article
• More than a blog: Should science bloggers stick
to popularizing science and fighting
creationism, or does blogging have a wider role
to play in the scientific discoursehan a blog:?
• http://www.nature.com/embor/journal/v12/n11/full/
embor2011201a.html?WT.ec_id=EMBOR-201111

35. The Guardian
• How should researchers talk about science to
the public?
• http://www.guardian.co.uk/higher-education-
network/blog/2012/feb/20/making-science-accessible

36. Public Engagement
https://www.publicengagement.ac.uk

37. Engaging thru the Internet
http://Science140.org
(+ ciencia140 + catciencia140.net)

38. Humour is very important! Famelab
http://famelab.org

39. Outreach possibilities
• What?
– Our work
– Someone else's work
– Sound knowledge
– Citizen Science
– Public awareness
• On the spot
– Demonstrative
– Pedagogic/teaching Spectacular
• Internet
– Blogging/website
– Science Blogs @ Newspapers Contests
– Etc

40. Two new skills
• Of the various skills involved in a digital world,
besides being able to surf the Internet, wrtie a
blog, take a picture …
• One must be able to selfcast (i.e., produce short
videoclips –like write short pieces) – new literac
• Be able to survive the so-called gossip
econsystems
• And also structure presentations, mental
mappng, cloud sharing, social networking, etc.

41. Flow
• Why communicate?
• This is a digital world (too)
• An open knowledge society
• Outreach, public awareness, feekback
• Our particular case
• Final thoughts

42. Outreach in an actual group
• Two communications buy the @c4dudg to
International Science Communication
meeting, Nancy - and INTED, València:
– PPT "Is digital communication an actual, clever
way to disseminate science?”
– PPT "Imagine! - some trends in recreational
science and the pursue of science careers”
• See them in http://slideshare.net/quelgir

43. C4D UdG
http://c4d.udg.edu

44. Let me bring my own case
• Levels of action:
– Coordinating UdG’s science dissemination
– Involving in C4D’s activities
– Personal activities
• Types of action:
– Communicating results of research (academic)
– Talks (e.g. quasicrystalls)
– Outreach (Researchers’ Night, Science Fairs)
– Shows (e.g. Magic and Science)
• Reason: because we need to increase Society’s
Scientific Culture, and we must promote Science
awareness.

45. And also have a look to …
• Take a look at my blog Edunomia, category
“comciencia”
– http://edunomia.net
• And also my mesoblog “Molecularity Report”
– http://edunoming.wordpress.com
• And even my curation space in Scoop.It
“Impromptu topics”
– http://www.scoop.it/u/quelet

46. Engaging thru recreational science
http://Estalella20.net

47. Flow
• Why communicate?
• This is a digital world (too)
• An open knowledge society
• Outreach, public awareness, feekback
• Our particular case
• Final thoughts

48. RRI: How do we receive feedback?
• Meetings with Research and Innovation
stockholders at UdG’s Science and Technology
Park (i.e., companies, private sector)
• Meeting parents and families at outreach
activities
• By means of online activities
• Bringing young students to the University,
practical activities
• Formal interaction with other Public Institutions,
government officials, elected citzens
• Above all: be active!

49. Some challenges and difficulties
• RRI, Web 2.0, Social Networking, Communicating Research – is
rather an attitude
• There is a paramount task yet in involving and motivating
(good) researchers, research groups and academic units in
communicating (well!) Research and Science.
• Dissemination of Research and Public Outreach is hindered by
current issues.
• There is a high pressure (Publish of Perish, Transfer or Die, etc.)
that does not free time enough to get involved in Public
Outreach and Dissemination activities
• A proper system of Rewards could be established to catalyze
and promote Science and Research communication.

50. OK. We’ve got the point – and now what?
• Let’s movilize
• Let’s change
• Let’s move
• Let’s do thinkgs well
• Let’s concentrate
• Let’s keep freedom
• Let’s catalyze a positive attidude
• Let’s (place here your favourite call to action)

51. My favourite chemist…
Panoramix, the druid

52. Ciència i Futur
de la
Humanitat,
G. Iffrah, Histoire des Xiffres
• Science is knowlege that becomes true by
means of criticism (S. Bachelard)
• Invention in theoretical science has the
character of discovery, but it is a disconvery in
the worlk of mind (L. de Broglie)
• All science is just a depuration of daily
thinking (A. Einstein)
• (note: look for those people’s quotes!)

53. And now, three quotes...
• Education is not a preparation for life, It is life
itself
• Your attitude is a choice
• Education: there is a treasure inside
Thus:
Communicating Science (and hence RRI) is an
attitude. Everyone can communicate well if
provided with relevant skills.