[Book Review] Learning from Science Communication Courses: Techniques for Communicating Science

A book on science communication has been released by the Hokkaido University Science and Technology Communication Unit (CoSTEP).

I personally took the Science Communicator Training and Practice Course at the National Museum of Nature and Science (Kahaku) during my student days, where I engaged in both classroom learning and practical work, so I picked this up with the goal of updating my knowledge. As an aside, the Kahaku science communication course is held every year.

This book is an introductory text that extracts and summarizes the foundations of CoSTEP's science communicator education, introducing the background and theory necessary to begin science communication (refer to pages 12-13).

After providing an overview of the entire landscape of science communication, the book classifies science communication into four categories—'conveying,' 'nurturing,' 'reflecting,' and 'connecting'—and explains each. While each chapter includes many concrete practical examples of science communication, I felt that it attempted to systematically organize knowledge about science communication even more than that.

In particular, a significant amount of space is devoted to the 'reflecting' on science communication chapter, which details post-normal science, risk communication, and the dual-use of science and technology. While war and science/technology have recently been in the spotlight, their history is also summarized. Regarding risk communication, the book analyzes how information is disseminated and accepted during nuclear accidents or the spread of infectious diseases. It even expands its scope to include philosophy of science (pp. 35-46) and philosophy of technology (pp. 268-295) to explain what science and technology are in the first place.

Although the book's title includes 'Techniques for Communicating Science,' it will be a bit disappointing if you pick it up as a practical manual for science communication. This is because it does not contain concrete know-how on presentations, facilitation, workshop management, or writing, which are often carried out in the field.

What makes this book unique among science communication-related literature is that it is not a manual on how to communicate, but rather an examination of the context in which information about science and technology can be transmitted, from whom to whom, and how, based on various case studies. The cover of the book mentions 'hints for empathetic two-way dialogue, information dissemination, outreach, and securing research funding,' but these are merely 'hints,' and there are no techniques you can use starting tomorrow. Through this book, what CoSTEP expects from readers is to acquire linguistic knowledge of science communication through this book—that is, through classroom learning—while also gaining embodied knowledge by accumulating experience in the field. Incidentally, CoSTEP has published a book corresponding to the latter titled 'The Science Communication Toolbox'.

It is difficult even for researchers and practitioners in this field to provide a simple and clear answer to what science communication is. Using Thomas Kuhn's 'The Structure of Scientific Revolutions,' which is also covered in this book, as a guide, I personally find it most satisfying at this moment to interpret it as 'a project to analyze, design, operate, and evaluate narratives and contexts originating from the normal science of that time.' This book places weight on 'analysis' and 'evaluation,' and I hope to apply the learning gained through these to the design and operation of science communication in the field.

I have posted a separate book review for 'The Structure of Scientific Revolutions,' so I would appreciate it if you could refer to that as well.