Science communication / Take a step back to move forward
Science communication is a booming and flourishing practice and operates increasingly in a global theatre. We are inviting researchers and practicioners of science communication to come to Metz on 16-19 November 2021 to exchange views and to strengthen their networks. This 3-day meeting shall highlight and discuss the challenges that are arsing in different contexts and from communication technology and artificial intelligence. The conference invites papers on three overarching themes.
- Continued and emerging issues of science and technology developments
Papers will present conceptual notes and empirical research for debates and communication of energy sourcing, Artificial Intelligence, global warming and envionmental pollution, genetic enhancement an its social and individual issues, novel foods and nutrition, issues of health in emergency situations. These and more topics are continuously developing and relevant for this conference.
- ‘Collapsology’ concepts and looking beyond
Recent research in science communication focusses very much on communication in a trajectory of collapse: fake-news, pseudo-science, misinformation, conspiratorial mentality, confirmatory bias, filter bubbles, echo chambering, rumour mongering, fiction rather than facts, replication crisis, or judgements based on biases and heuristics. All these concepts highlight trends and dynamics, which in the changing context of social media technology, risk to close down the societal conversation rather than opening it up. We welcome papers analysing any of these dynamics on current controversies of science and technology.
- The need for a reflexive practice of science communication
The conference overall seeks to take a step back and ask the question: are these problems naming the real issues? Are we calling upon ‘false devils’ (le Graoully de Metz, see picture)? The ‘truth’ is commonly known to be the first casualty of warfare, and it appears that science communication is increasingly caught up in a low-intensity theatre of ‘Wild West’ warfare. The conference seeks to examine wider common ground that enables cross-boundary dialogue rather than propaganda, and to strengthen the structures that allow this to happen. Science communication needs to face up to the tensions between seeking to be effective and creating a common understanding and care about what sustains both purposes, also in global emergency situations such as the Corona Virus of 2020.