Other
Scientific paper
Dec 2006
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2006agufm.u21c..04l&link_type=abstract
American Geophysical Union, Fall Meeting 2006, abstract #U21C-04
Other
6620 Science Policy (0485)
Scientific paper
Science in the 21st Century has become increasingly fragmented, not in the usual sense of disciplinary divisions, but with increased specialization in the discovery, teaching, public communication and application aspects of new knowledge. As in the infamous `telephone game', messages passed along through multiple parties, risk distortion. More insidiously, without active and effective checks and balances along the way, information can be and is being deliberately distorted, completely altered, or used selectively. Science, of course, is not the only basis for decision-making; values, politics, economics and other factors should also be considered. Nonetheless, a key role of science is to inform decision-making (not to drive it exclusively). The importance of citizens and leaders having access to accurate scientific information and knowledge is so essential to human well-being that new mechanisms must be found to ensure the integrity of scientific information. Among the multiple changes that are needed to achieve this goal, many of which will be explored in this session, one pertains specifically to the academic scientific community. That change entails growing and supporting stellar scientists who participate directly in discovery AND public communication of knowledge. More scientists whose primary jobs are research and teaching could and should also be actively involved in sharing new knowledge with non-scientists. The public expects this to happen but academia gives it lip service at best. Having more scientists who can communicate scientific knowledge that is understandable, relevant, useable, current and credible to non-technical audiences is a key (though far from the only) factor in protecting the integrity of science. The Aldo Leopold Leadership Program now based at Stanford University's Woods Institute for the Environment is a program that trains tenured, academic environmental scientists to communicate effectively with politicians, business people, the media, and multiple other interested parties. An examination of the program will provide insight into the feasibility and challenges of adopting the model more widely.
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