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Communicating science: lessons from a Twitterstorm

Little, Hannah

Authors

Profile image of Hannah Little

Hannah Little Hannah.Little@uwe.ac.uk
Senior Lecturer in Science Communication



Abstract

In early August 2019, the U.S.A. saw 2 significant mass shootings in just 48 hours. On Twitter, Neil deGrasse Tyson responded with a tweet to his millions of followers. He outlined the number of deaths in 48 hours from other causes, and seemed to disparage the human tendency to respond emotionally “more to spectacle than to data”. The tweet resulted in an uproar. This “twitterstorm” might provide important lessons for practicing science communicators. The first lesson outlined in this letter is about the use of analogy in science communication, and the second is about how emotion is addressed in science communication.

Journal Article Type Letter
Acceptance Date Aug 29, 2019
Online Publication Date Sep 16, 2019
Publication Date Sep 16, 2019
Deposit Date Sep 17, 2019
Publicly Available Date Sep 18, 2019
Journal Journal of Science Communication
Electronic ISSN 1824-2049
Publisher Sissa Medialab
Peer Reviewed Not Peer Reviewed
Volume 18
Issue 4
Article Number L01
Series ISSN 1824-2049
DOI https://doi.org/10.22323/2.18040101
Public URL https://uwe-repository.worktribe.com/output/3064286
Publisher URL https://jcom.sissa.it/archive/18/04/JCOM_1804_2019_L01
Contract Date Sep 17, 2019

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