South Africa, as a developing country, depends on science and technology to support industries to reach informed decisions and be competitive in the international marketplace. However, most people cannot distinguish between scientific, non-scientific and pseudo-scientific subjects. To distinguish between these categories of subjects and to emphasise the importance of science communication, it is necessary to communicate science to various stakeholders: schools, government, decision-makers, the general public and the media. An understanding of science makes the task of the role players in science – and especially the communication of science to the general public – even more imperative. The role players in science communication have to ensure that the message of science successfully reaches the general public (literate and illiterate; urban and rural societies; young and old) to ensure prosperity and the enhancement of a sustainable environment. The key role players in science communication in South Africa can be identified as scientists, who are the source or sender of the science message; communication specialists at higher education institutions (HEsI), who fulfil a mediation function to convey the message of science to all stakeholders; and South African journalists, who are the final distributors of the message to all stakeholders (the recipients of the science message). There is, however a fourth key role-player in science communication, and that is the executive management of HEIs, since they should provide the communication specialists at their institutions with the trust and empowerment to distribute the message of science to journalists in order for these messages to reach the general public. Science communication is still a new and vague concept to many South Africans. Limited research has been conducted on the key role players in science communication; the specific role of communication specialists at HEIs in science communication; and the relationship between the different key role players. However, in many countries, including South Africa, various studies have been conducted on public attitudes towards science, which is in general positive. The problem identified in this study is that although science communication is regarded as a priority in South Africa, science messages are not effectively reaching the general public. There are several possible reasons as to why the general public is not well informed about science. One is that scientists find it difficult to simplify scientific facts so that they are understandable to the layman. Another reason is the lack of a proper relationship of trust and mutual understanding between scientists and journalists, resulting in inaccuracies in science articles that appear in newspapers, magazines and on television. A third reason is that communication specialists at HEIs, who are supposed to take responsibility for media liaison, experience a lack of trust and empowerment by their executive management to liaise with stakeholders, including the media, at their own discretion. According to De Beer (2001:84), the executive management at HEIs do not empower their communication specialists to discuss matters with the media without the involvement of the executive management. A fourth reason is a lack of training in the writing of science articles, which results in an inaccurate coverage of science in the media. Therefore, the role of communication specialists at HEIs is very important. Communication specialists have to build a bridge between an institution’s management, scientists and the media as stakeholders of HEI. The general research aim of this study is to investigate the relationship between key role players in science communication and to determine the role that they play in science communication. Following the general research aim, six objectives are stated: Firstly, to determine the importance of science communication amongst key role players in science communication (executive management, scientists, communication specialists) at HEIs in South Africa, as well as journalists in the South African media. Secondly, to determine if a relationship of trust and mutual understanding exists between key role players in science communication in South Africa. The third objective is to determine if the role of communication specialist is a role of strategist, manager or technician in the facilitation of science communication at HEIs in South Africa. Fourthly, to determine the extent of training provided at universities and technikons in South Africa for scientists, communication specialists and journalists to enable them to write science articles. The fifth objective is to investigate the coverage of scientific topics in articles in the South African mass media. The final objective is to analyse the content of articles on science in selected South African media from 1 March to 31 May 2004 and to compare the results of this study with a study conducted by Van Rooyen in 2002 (Van Rooyen, 2002). The empirical component of the study supplements the theoretical component. In Phase 1, a quantitative, exploratory survey research was done to establish the role of communication specialists in science communication at HEIs in South Africa. In Phase 2, content analysis was used to analyse the content of scientific articles in selected print media over a period of three months. Van Rooyen (2002:21) invited researchers to repeat the study she conducted in 2002 at regular intervals. Therefore, based on the invitation of Van Rooyen, Phase 2 of this study was conducted, using the same criteria, method and time frame as Van Rooyen had done. Comparisons of the results of the two studies are provided. The main conclusions of the study were: • Although science communication is regarded as important by the key role players in science communication, not enough is being done by South African HEIs to promote the importance of science to the general public, including the literate and illiterate; urban and rural; young and old people, to ensure a sustainable environment. • There is not a proper relationship of trust and mutual understanding between the key role players in science communication. • Communication specialists are regarded as managers, as opposed to strategists or merely technicians, in science communication, but they are not always empowered to act efficiently as facilitators in the mediation process between scientists and the media. • There is a lack of proper training for scientists, communication specialists and journalists in science writing or science journalism in South Africa. • The coverage of science in the media has not improved much since Van Rooyen’s study was conducted in 2002. Recommendations regarding the management of science communication can be summarised as follows. South Africa needs a national forum to conduct an audit and formulate a structured, reasoned national science communication action plan for South Africa. More feedback should be given to the science communication community about who should receive funding and what projects should be funded. The Government of South Africa should encourage higher education institutions to organise public debate sessions where scientists and the general public can discuss controversial issues regarding science and research in an open forum. Furthermore, scientists should be encouraged to provide information to communication specialists so that they can distribute science messages to all stakeholders. Communication specialists should create and support a science writers’ network in South Africa; develop and promote databases of science writers and media-friendly scientists; collect science articles from scientists and prepare them for publication together with supporting visuals; facilitate linkages and collaboration with corporate sectors; participate in international networking; and conduct visits to expert programmes. It is imperative for communication specialists, scientists and journalists to receive training to optimally fulfil their roles in science communication. Communication specialists should have writing skills to be able to assist scientists and journalists to create messages about science acceptable and understandable to the literate and illiterate; urban and rural; young and old people of South Africa. A course or degree in science journalism is therefore imperative. To enhance coverage of science in the media, science ideally needs to be integrated into popular, peak-time programmes such as local dramas, historical and other documentaries, talk shows, and even soap operas. All mediums should be considered, including radio, television and the Internet to communicate science to the general public. / Thesis (PhD)--University of Pretoria, 2008. / Communication Management / PhD / Unrestricted

The first four decades of the twentieth century was a period of rapid development in physics. The late nineteenth century discoveries of X-rays, Becquerel rays and subatomic particles had revealed new properties of matter, and the early twentieth century quantum and relativity theories added to the notion that the discipline was undergoing a fundamental change in thought and practice. Historians and scientists alike have retrospectively conceived of a sharp divide between nineteenth century and twentieth century physics, applying the terms ‘classical’ and ‘modern’ to distinguish between these two practices. However, recent scholarship has suggested that early twentieth century physicists did not see this divide as self-evident, and in fact were responsible for consciously constructing these categories and definitions. This thesis explores the creation of the terms ‘classical’ and ‘modern’ physics in Britain, and the physicists responsible. I consider how these terms were employed in ‘public’ arenas (lectures, books, newspapers, museums) influencing the wider reception of ‘modern’ physics. I consider not only the rhetorics employed by ‘modern’ physicists, but also those we would now consider to be ‘classical’, revealing a diverse range of potential definitions of ‘modern’ physics. Furthermore, even within the ‘modernists’ themselves, there was considerable disagreement over how their work was to be presented, as industrially applicable, or of value simply as intellectual knowledge in and of itself. There were also different notions of how scientific ‘progress’ should be portrayed, whether knowledge advanced through experimental refinement or theoretical work. Early twentieth century ‘modern’ physics appeared to discard long held theories, rejecting much of the discipline’s past. As such, physicists’ connection to the legacy of Newton was under threat. Furthermore, the instability of science more generally was revealed: if physicists had shown the old theories to be wrong, then why should the new ones be any different? This had severe implications as to how the public placed ‘trust’ in science. I explore how physicists carefully managed the ‘public’ transition from ‘classical’ to ‘modern’ physics, regaining public trust during a period of scientific ‘revolution’ and controversy.

The dissertation deals with the issue of the corporate identity of the Academy of Sciences of the CR (ASCR). Through secondary and primary qualitative and quantitative research projects, the corporate identity of the ASCR is analysed in the internal and external milieus of the institution, in the European Area generally and also in comparison with Great Britain. The main aim of the dissertation is the proposal of a model of the corporate identity of the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic with a focus on the area of science popularisation and communication, namely for the purpose of improving the image of the ASCR and increasing the awareness of the general beneficial effect of science and research among the lay and specialised public in the Czech Republic. The proposal of the model is elaborated on its theoretical bases utilising background materials arising from the research projects conducted. The enrichment of the Czech scientific milieu by a deeper view into the general issue and an investigation of corporate identity in the CR and globally can be considered as the contribution of the dissertation in the area of the theory of marketing. The theoretical contribution of the work is also the proposal of a model of corporate identity for the ASCR and the other scientific-research institutions with a similar focus. The practical contribution of the dissertation is the possible utilisation of the proposed model of the corporate identity of the ASCR at the Academy of Sciences of the CR, at the scientific workplaces of the ASCR and at the other scientific-research institutions of a similar focus in the CR and around the world.

abstract: This study is a qualitative exploration into the roles and social identities that Research Engineering Undergraduates (REU) enacted while engaging the public through designing serious games. At present, the science communication field is searching for ways to train the next generation of scientists to practice public engagement with science in a way that fosters dialogue with the public, however, little research has been done on training undergraduates in this regard. This exploratory study seeks to determine what opportunities a game design project in a summer program in solar energy engineering research provides undergraduates to that end. The project includes REUs designing games through a facilitated design process and then sharing them with the public at arts festivals. Through discourse analysis, data was analyzed through the lens of cohesion in order to interpret what roles and social identities REUs enacted as well as members of the public who play the games. Based on the analysis of 12 REUs and 39 player participants, findings indicate REUs most often enacted the science game designer social identity and science educator role during the public event. Less often, REUs enacted a sociotechnical role to determine the player's relationship to science/solar energy. Also, less often did they position themselves directly as scientists. For the most part, REUs reproduced the dissemination model of science communication in an interactive way and with an element of reflexivity. However, during public engagement events, dialogue with the public occurred when REUs enacted open-ended roles that enabled members of the public to contribute to the conversation by assuming a range of roles and social identities rather than positioning them into a single role. Dialogue was also supported when REUs were responsive and shifted their role/ social identity to correspond with the public’s enactment. Some players enacted a local Arizonan social identity in response to the open-ended role and game content about Arizona’s solar energy. The project afforded REUs the opportunity to learn illustration and reformulation to communicate science concepts. Also, REUs referenced their game during illustration and reformulation, using it as a tool to teach science, be a science game designer, and other enactments. More research is needed to determine how science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) undergraduates learning science communication can design serious games and conduct player reflections in such a way to promote dialogue to a greater degree than observed in this study. / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation Educational Technology 2020

This research provides the first experimental investigation of the ways in which ideological and relational motives influence interpersonal risk communication. Drawing on the literatures in social and cognitive psychology, risk communication, and environmental decision making, this research examined whether individuals expressing concerns about tradeoffs between climate change adaptation and prevention were less likely to share climate change information with others if the information discussed adaptation policies. Participants were presented with an article about climate change framed as either relating to adaptation or prevention. Their willingness to share the article with others was measured, as well as their appraisals of how they thought others would respond to the message (e.g., increase or decrease their environmental behavior) and how others would evaluate oneself for sharing the message. Concerns about tradeoffs and sensitivity to social rejection were measured prior to the experimental procedure. Results yielded partial support for the hypotheses, with concern about tradeoffs negatively influencing attitudes toward sharing of the adaptation-related article. Hypothesized interaction effects with concerns about social rejection were not supported. Exploratory analyses revealed that the perception that others in one’s social network holds similar or dissimilar views to oneself about climate change emerged as an important moderator of the effects of concern about tradeoffs on sharing intentions. Limitations and future directions for research on interpersonal risk communication are discussed.

Twitter is one platform where scientists can communicate their research results, both among each other and to a wider audience. This master thesis investigates to what extent, and by which means, tweets with scientific content invite the general public to engage in the topics. The four different topics analysed in this study were: C.elegans/Neuromyelitis, Staphylococcus, mRNA expression and Species diversity/Phylogenetic tree. Several methods were used to analyse these datasets, such as identification of jargon, content analysis and word frequencies, analysed within the metadiscourse framework stance and engagement. All in order to detect any intentions of communication outside the academic circle. It was possible to detect communicative and descriptive content in two of the topics, mRNA expression and Species diversity/Phylogenetic tree. The vocabulary was analysed in both of these topics, detecting a high frequency of reader-mentions and markers for novelty, something that has been seen in other kinds of media producing popular science. However, for most tweets with scientific content the main receivers seem to be other researchers in the same fields. Tweets containing links to scientific articles predominantly contain only the title of the article. One prominent aspect of Twitter is its changing nature. This can be seen in this study where tweets from the topics Staphylococcus and Species diversity/Phylogenetic tree had links to news media. If the datasets were collected today, tweets from the topic mRNA expression would probably also display this pattern.

In current turbulent times, sustainable relationships hinge on the mutual understanding created by a clear communication strategy between a business unit and its stakeholders. The purpose of this research was to develop a corporate communication strategy model for the University of Pretoria Centre for Sustainable Malaria Control (UP CSMC). Purposive sample testing was conducted to determine the stakeholder perceptions of the main variables of this study, being: communication management, social media, stakeholder relationships and the corporate communication strategy. Objectives were achieved, the hypotheses stated duly tested and the results applied towards the development of a conceptual framework for a more formal and sustainable corporate communication strategy with a specific focus on communication about science related matters. This study contributes to effective stakeholder communication between the organisation and its stakeholders through the introduction of communication mediums like social media and traditional media. This research proposes a corporate communication strategy with integrated social media platforms, which helps organisations manage the relationships with their stakeholders. It suggests that when communicating about science, the UP CSMC should aim to communicate through different forms of interpersonal communication such as one-on-one engagements, events, seminars, exhibitions and other presentations. The Centre's corporate communication strategy should also include objectives to improve communication about science through interpersonal communication with stakeholders. The new model proposes concepts that focus on an analysis of the environment, identification of strategic issues, development of communication hierarchy, communicating an effective communication strategy, developing a strategic communication plan and monitoring complete embedment. The new proposed model is founded on an empirical study that comprises a descriptive study based on 45 developed questionnaires developed specifically for this study and answered by stakeholders of the UP CSMC. The standard corporate communication model presented by Steyn and Puth (2000) was analysed, evaluated and tailored to fit the organisation's requirements. The proposed model developed in this study includes critical components relevant to the establishment and maintenance of sustainable relationships and can be adopted by any organisation with similar communication challenges as covered in this study. / Dissertation (MCom)--University of Pretoria, 2016. / Communication Management / MCom / Unrestricted

Given the severe environmental problems we are facing, it is crucial to communicate environmental knowledge to society in order to facilitate a trajectory towards sustainability. Therefore, the aim of this study is to explore how departments at Swedish universities, whose research revolves around environmental topics, communicate their research. At four departments at two universities, I examine based on semi-structured interviews (I) with whom and in what ways these departments communicate their research, (II) what the motivations are to do so, and (III) if there are challenges in communicating environmental science. For examining the departments’ communication strategies, I apply the theory of a multi-model framework of expert-public interaction. This multi-model framework, however, proved to be too simplistic for the complexity of reality, as the models underlying this framework are too intertwined, and not competing descriptions of reality. They rather describe specific aspects of communication practices.  The results show that even though there are two-way communication practices with both the government, specific stakeholders, and the general public, the mere dissemination of environmental knowledge seems to be the default practice of science communication at the examined departments - especially concerning the general public. The motivation to communicate environmental knowledge is of intrinsic nature, to give something back to society and to increase awareness about sustainability practices. Discovered challenges in science communication include a general lack of time to effectively communicate research results, as well as deficient education in science communication for researchers.  For transforming into sustainable societies communication strategies need to be improved.

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Yes / Alternative forms of information dissemination have always been a crucial part of many radical forms of activism and organization. Arguably the most famous is the ‘zine - popularized in the punk/anarchist subculture of the 1980’s and 90’s, ‘zines were the antithesis of mainstream magazines, journals, and periodicals. They were an extension of the D.I.Y. (do-it-yourself) attitude that flourished within the subculture, reflecting a more informal and individualistic approach to the dissemination of information and ideas without the rigid formalities of mainstream literature. With the emergence of a new countercultural led by millennials, ‘zines have once again found popularity, taking advantage of the Internet to spread information even further than before through digital means. Although all ‘zines are different due to the individualistic and free nature of the format, most are often educational texts that also incorporate other forms of writing and media to help engage its audience with its content in a more exciting and entertaining way. Unfortunately, it appears that ‘zines have yet to find a foothold in academia as they have in social justice and activist groups – this is a shame, as there is a wealth of possibilities for the application of a ‘zine format for the dissemination of information to non-specialist audiences. This paper explores the idea of utilizing ‘zines as an alternative approach to public outreach in archaeology. This will include documenting and reflecting on the current progress of a ‘zine being developed by myself and other archaeologists about anarchist approaches to archaeological theory and practice. I will examine how practical it is to adopt this method for outreach, compare it to the more "traditional" methods of dissemination (journals, conferences, etc.), and reflect on my personal experiences with creating an archaeological 'zine of my own.