A new book ‘Communicating Science. A global perspective’ will be released on Monday 14 September. It includes a chapter on Italy.
The book documents the global emergence of modern science communication. It has 40 chapters, 108 authors, and covers 39 countries. It’s a huge book: 996 pages.
This is the first study describing how science communication has developed round the world. The book covers all regions and all cultures: advanced nations of Europe, Asia and the Americas, and emerging economies like Russia, Jamaica, Estonia, Iran and Pakistan.
The Italian chapter was written by Giuseppe Pellegrini (University of Trento/Observa Science in Society) and Andrea Rubin (University of Bergamo/Observa Science in Society).
They say that the science communication have had an long and important role in development of science and research policies in Italy.
“the media development of public science communication in Italy has had a significant development since 1980. Television and radio have played a decisive role in attracting public attention to scientific news”, Dr Pellegrini says.
“Little by little, this interest has increased and citizens have begun to frequent the meeting places between science and society, showing a particular interest in the work of scientists”.
The authors show the development of a double movement of interest, a more specialized one towards structured research activities and a more popular one that has had a great development with public science communication initiatives
“This second movement of interest is characterized by numerous public communication efforts on science and to encourage and train new journalists or researchers to communicate with a non-expert public: festivals, science centers, events, professional courses, masters, public conferences are just some of the initiatives in Italy. In this context, many researchers and journalists are experimenting with new communication channels and formats, also obtaining good results”, Dr Rubin says.
The book’s Chief editor Toss Gascoigne, a visiting fellow at the Australian National University, says he is delighted with Italy’s contribution. “The book is important, because we learn from each other, both successes and failures,” he says.
“Communicating Science. A Global Perspective” is available for free download at ANU Press website. Hard copies will be printed on demand.
For the book launch you can register at: https://pcst.co/webinars/public/
For interviews and enquiries please contact:
Giuseppe Pellegrini: pellegrini[at]observanet.it;
Andrea Rubin: rubin[at]observanet.it;
Toss Gascoigne: director[at]tossgascoigne.com.au
