Thesis (MPhil)--University of Stellenbosch, 2008. / Bibliography. Also available via the Internet.

As use of the Internet for scholarly communication increases, many scientists from several disciplines including Astronomy, Mathematics, and Physics are using electronic networks to distribute preprints. The innovation of electronic preprint archives on the web, specifically those set up by Paul Ginsparg at Los Alamos, where scientists can submit manuscripts and access papers before the formal peer review process, has gained the attention of scholarly scientific publishers and researchers around the world. This case study of twelve physicists and chemists at the University of Maryland reveals divergent attitudes and behaviors about preliminary electronic dissemination of research. Several hypotheses including economic considerations, historical and technical patterns of work, social and structural factors, community norms, and the attitudes of scientific publishers, are investigated to explore the social aspects of this phenomenon called e-print archives. Preliminary findings suggest that theoreticians in particle physics and condensed matter physics are the most active users of the e-print archives. While graduate students and post-doctoral researchers are called on to navigate the technical difficulties of electronically submitting papers, it is the older more established scientists who promote usage. The influential attitudes of editors and publishers of scientific journals also contribute to understanding current practices and attitudes about the e-print archives. / Master of Science

Thesis (MPhil)--University of Stellenbosch, 2008. / Bibliography. Also available via the Internet.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Wisconsin--Madison, 1961. / Typescript. Vita. eContent provider-neutral record in process. Description based on print version record. Includes bibliographical references (leaves [129]-133).

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Master of Science / Journalism and Mass Communications / Joye C. Gordon / Widespread debates about scientific issues, from global warming to vaccinations, have raised questions about public trust in science and scientists. Many studies have attempted to determine the cause of observed declines in public trust. This project employs framing theory, suggesting that the way science frames research might improve public trust. Research questions explore whether political conservatism, public religiosity, and exposure to a feature story about a scientist affects trust in science and scientists. A between-subjects quasi-experiment exposed participants to feature articles about scientists in either controversial or non-controversial fields, and asked a series of questions in order to measure the participant’s trust in science and scientists. Results indicated that participants who were male or participants who had some college education and who read the non-controversial feature story were statistically more likely to have a higher level of trust in science and scientists than any other group. Suggestions for future studies are discussed.

A linguagem científica é multimodal, isto é, faz uso de diversos modos de comunicação para desenvolvimento do conhecimento científico. Entre eles, e de particular interesse para esta pesquisa, se encontram as inscrições, as quais se encaixam nos modos visuais de comunicação e são as representações visuais materiais elaboradas inerentemente durante o fazer científico, tais como gráficos, fotografias, tabelas, equações, mapas, esquemas etc. Dada a importância das inscrições tanto para a comunicação científica, quanto para o ensino de ciências, e a sua forte presença em livros didáticos e na sala de aula, o fato de diversos estudantes apresentarem dificuldades no seu uso e interpretação chamou a atenção de alguns educadores, os quais têm voltado seus estudos para entender os fatores que interferem na produção de leituras adequadas de inscrições e elaboração de propostas que desenvolvam o letramento gráfico dos alunos. Este seria o conhecimento relativo para lidar com os modos visuais de comunicação, em especial as inscrições. Nessa perspectiva, o presente trabalho investiga a extensão do letramento gráfico de estudantes de Bacharelado em Química em uma disciplina de comunicação científica durante a realização de exposições orais produzidas a partir de artigos originais de pesquisa. As obras de Woff-Michael Roth e colaboradores foram adotadas como referencial teórico durante a análise, a qual se consistiu em: classificar as funções das inscrições na exposição oral em decorativa, ilustrativa ou complementar; descrever a produção de sentidos a partir das leituras de inscrições, utilizando um Modelo Semiótico de Leitura de Inscrições; e classificar os tipos de leituras de inscrições em leitura competente, transparente ou problemática. Observa-se que a produção de sentidos se relaciona com a função da inscrição, onde inscrições decorativas e ilustrativas requerem uma participação mais ativa da audiência. Já as complementares, dependem mais dos recursos semióticos disponibilizados pelo aluno expositor. A partir disso, a interpretação das inscrições pode ser descrita em termos de elementos e processos do Modelo, o que revela se o que foi disponibilizado era adequado ou não para a produção de sentidos. Em relação à extensão do letramento gráfico dos grupos investigados, um deles se encontra na dimensão analítica, na qual os alunos veem e utilizam as inscrições prioritariamente como dados científicos. É notável também o amplo contato com diversos tipos inscrições e o desenvolvimento de diversas habilidades relacionadas ao letramento gráfico. Os dois demais grupos, se encontram na dimensão elementar, na qual os alunos utilizam e veem as inscrições prioritariamente como ilustradores do conhecimento científico, com um o contato restrito com os diversos tipos de inscrição, assim como, desenvolvimento inadequado de habilidades relacionadas ao letramento gráfico e uma produção de sentidos que não revela o papel das inscrições para a ciência. A leitura competente foi predominante em todas as apresentações, o que era esperado e adequado, devido ao contexto e situação comunicativa da exposição oral. Foi possível ainda identificar um novo tipo de leitura de inscrições, denominada leitura competente inversa. Ademais, o trabalho contribui com o delineamento de ações que promovem o letramento gráfico e com aportes teóricos para a inclusão da discussão dessa temática nos cursos de formação docente. / Scientific language is multimodal, that is, it makes use of several modes of communication to develop scientific knowledge. Among them, and of particular interest for this research, are inscriptions, which fit into the visual modes of communication and are the material visual representations created inherently in scientific tasks, such as graphs, photographs, tables, equations, maps, schemes, etc. Given the importance of the inscriptions both for scientific communication and science teaching, as well as their strong presence in textbooks and the classroom, the fact that students find it difficult to use and interpret them has drawn the attention of educators, who have focused their studies on understanding the factors that interfere in producing adequate readings of inscriptions and drawing up proposals that develop students\' graphicacy. This would be the relative knowledge to deal with visual modes of communication, especially inscriptions. In this perspective, this study investigates the extent of Chemistry undergraduates\' graphicacy in a scientific communication course, while giving oral presentations produced from original research articles. Researches carried out by Wolff-Michael Roth et al was adopted as a theoretical reference during the analysis, which consisted of: classifying the functions of the inscriptions in oral presentations into decorative, illustrative or complementary; describing the production of meanings from the inscription readings using a Semiotic Model to the Reading of Inscriptions; and classifying types of inscription readings into competent, transparent, or problematic reading. It can be observed that the production of meanings is related to the function of the inscription, which decorative and illustrative inscriptions require a more active participation from the audience. The complementary ones depend more on the semiotic resources offered by the student giving the presentation. Based on this, interpreting the inscriptions can be described in terms of the elements and processes of the Model, which reveals whether or not what was made available was adequate for the production of meanings. Concerning the extent of the graphicacy of the groups investigated, one of them can be found in the analytical dimension, in which the students see and use the inscriptions as scientific data. It is worth mentioning the wide range of contact with several types of inscriptions and the development of various skills related to graphicacy. The other two groups are in the elementary dimension, in which the students use and see the inscriptions primarily as illustrators of scientific knowledge, having restricted contact with the various types of inscription. In this case, the development of few skills related to graphicacy and a production of meanings can be observed that does not reveal the role of inscriptions for science. Competent reading was predominant in all presentations, which was expected and appropriate due to the context and communicative nature of the oral presentation. A new type of reading for inscriptions was identified called reverse competent reading. In addition, this study contributes to designing actions that promote graphicacy, as well as theoretical contributions to include the discussion of this theme in teacher training courses.