The people, the people, the people: Engaging under-served audiences

Fogg-Rogers, Laura A.; Hickman, Matthew

Abstract

Science communication, public engagement, public understanding of science - these are just a few of the terms that have been used to describe the practice of interacting with the public on different areas of science. In the past 12 years since starting out in the sector in a science circus travelling around Australia, I have used many of the terms bandied about and mused at the irony of how hard it is to communicate what we are doing.
What we call it may not matter so much as who we reach when we do it. While the terms of what we do change, Emily Dawson feels nothing much else has. Following her session at the 2014 Science Communication Conference(1), she writes in her chapter that, “while there might appear to be a growing diversity of science communication activities, those who use, visit, buy, read, watch or otherwise enjoy such activities remain mostly the same kinds of people: little has changed.”
She then suggests that as a community, “we start by acknowledging there is a social exclusion problem in science communication and by taking that problem seriously, professionally and personally. Only then will we be in a position to start to address these complex and difficult issues over the next 12 years.”
This idea of engaging different audiences is shared by Laura Fogg Rogers who writes in her chapter that, “if we are to engage all groups of people in our society, it means we sometimes need to think about who we are, in order to understand who we may not be reaching. Working with under-served and non-traditional audiences requires shifting your viewpoint in order to see the world from their perspective.”

• Publication Date: Aug 1, 2014
• Publicly Available Date: Jun 6, 2019
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Pages: 1-5
• Book Title: Collected Thoughts 2014: Essays Inspired by the Annual Science Communication Conference
• Keywords: science communication, public engagement, underserved audiences, Maori
• Public URL: https://uwe-repository.worktribe.com/output/813957
• Publisher URL: http://www.britishscienceassociation.org/sites/default/files/root/scicomconf/Collected_Thoughts_2014_online.pdf
• Related Public URLs: http://www.britishscienceassociation.org/