The science of science communication

The art of making layman understand complex scientific research in simple terms. It is actually quite complex too because what we say is usually not what is understood!

So we use ‘science’ to understand why this happens and how the complex perception process occurs in a common man’s brain.

My interaction with people who read my articles and listened to my science talks and explanations made me realize even if your explanations are perfectly clear, people don't understand things you mention exactly you want them to be grasped. Several things interfere with the processing procedure in their minds and people mix up things and perceive in peculiar ways!

The man on the street reads about cancer. He tries to understand with a limited knowledge he has and try to interpret with a mind that is conditioned by things other than scientific. He gets a peculiar sense of what it is - depending on his cognitive biases. But he thinks he knows about the disease fully and feels that he is hundred percent right! He even tries to ‘advice’ others about it!

But an expert sees things differently from a common man. And s/he can identify the loopholes in his understanding and knows his analysis and grasp is limited by various factors governing the process and therefore is not perfect! The world presented to many by their perceptions is nothing like scientific reality. That is why scientific literacy in our societies is very poor.

We follow different ways to tackle this problem. For instance I use art and literature ( poems, stories) to connect things scientific to peoples’ lives, their culture, traditions and other backgrounds. This is quite a balancing act. Because science works differently from art and literature. If we don’t do it properly, we might create pseudo-science and misconceptions and the whole process goes waste. Only experts in BOTH THE FIELDS OF SCIENCE AND ART can do this right.

Sometimes we think we made things clear but the man on the street puts a blank face making us put more effort into it.

The very perception that science is difficult makes some people avoid science altogether. Even if we make things simple, they don’t bother to read/ hear what we write or say. Bringing people to the world of science using attractive things ( according to scientific research) is another step we follow.

Professionals with the relevant skills and knowledge are the best people to address this problem.

But let me tell you doing research in labs and publishing papers is much fun and easier than communicating science to the common people. But still why do we accept these time consuming and brain straining work?

Experts think Scientific communication has become a battlefield now. All sorts of people are trying to talk about science these days, whether they have genuine knowledge about the subject or not. Structural shifts in the political arena and media environments promote dissemination of misleading information. We will have to fight these things with genuine sci-com.

Because science isn’t finished until we communicate it, we ‘re told. To make the world use it and prosper from it in the right way, we have to go through this complex process of communication.

Without effective communication, the scientific community cannot fulfil its promise to society or secure the trust needed to support its enterprise. Because science affects stakeholders with diverse backgrounds, interests, and incentives, that communication requires contributions from across the social, behavioural, and decision sciences.

The decisions governments take, or people make should be science based to get them right. We are only trying to help them in this process, using science, art and literature too! And several other aids at our disposal.

How we are doing this can be viewed here:

ART FROM SCIENCE

SCI-ART-LITERATURE INTERPLAY

SCIENCE SIMPLIFIED

SCI-ART LAB

Science Communication ( on Quora)