PISAYCOM NOTES

INTRODUCTION TO SCICOM
SCIENCE COMMUNICATION
 Use of appropriate:
o Skills
o Media
o Activities
o Dialogue
 Produces one or more of the following primaryresponses to science:
1. Awareness
- Including familiarity with new aspects of science

2. Enjoyment
- Affective responses
- Appreciating science as entertainment or art

3. Interest
- Evidenced by voluntary involvement with science or its communication

4. Opinions
- Forming, reforming, or confirming of science-related attitudes

5. Understanding
- Of science its content, processes and special factors

GOALS OF SCIENCE COMMUNICATION

1. To improve the population’s belief about science
2. To generate social acceptance
3. To generate public trust
4. To collect citizen’s inputs about acceptable/worthwhile research aims and applications of
science
5. To generate political support for science
6. To collect and make use of local knowledge
7. To make use of distributed knowledge of cognitive resources to be found in the citizenry

WHY IS IT IMPORTANT?
1. It makes for better researches.
2. Enables the public to understand and appreciate science better
3. Sparks meaningful discussions and debates toward research
4. Has the capacity to marry public and scientific values towards the production of better
scientists, better research and better science articles

CRITICAL THINKING
 Very important in science communication
 Foundation of scientific thinking
 Importance:
 1. Foundation of science and a liberal democratic society
 A good critical thinker knows how…
o To separate facts from opinions
o To examine an issue from all sides
o To make rational inferences
o To withhold personal judgement/biases

 Rational critical thinkers

o Generally the voices of reason in times of mass hysteria or panic.
o Has the comprehensive skills to consider all possible options and solve a problem

 Critical thinking skills will help you to…

o Better understand the experiences and views of others
o Enhancing your ability to work with different people

GUIDE QUESTIONS
 Who
o Who said the information?
o Is it someone you know? Famous? Does it matter?

 What
o What did they say?
o Did they facts or opinion?
o Did they leave something out?

 Where
o Where did they say it?
o Did they say it in a public or private event?

 When
o When did they say it?
o Is it before or during an important event?

 Why
o Why did they say it?
o Did they explain their opinion?
o Were they trying to make someone look good or bad?

 How
o How did they say it?
o Were they happy or angry?

SCIENCE LITERACY IN THE PHILIPPINES

 Filipinos rank low in science and math literacy
 Math: 353; compared to the global average of 489. We are the second lowest.
 Science: 357; compared to the global average of 489. We are also the second lowest
SCIENCE COMMUNICATION IN THE PHILIPPINES
 It exists in the Philippines
 We have science museums:
o Philippine Science Centrum in Marikina
o Min Museum in Taguig

 Exists on TV
o On knowledge channel: science says

 Exists on Radio
o Radyo Henyo on DZRH

 Exists online
o Flipscience.ph
o Shows the different concepts in science

 Exists on social media

o Pinoy science on FB and TikTok
o BA Racoma in Twitter

GAPS AND CHALLENGES IN SCICOM ACCDG TO NAVARRO AND MCKINNON 2020

 Time constraints
 Insufficient training
 Language considerations
 Local science culture
 Financial constraints

SUMMARY
 Scicom is important not only in raising awareness about science but in helping the public
understand it as well.
 Critical thinking is an important element in scicom.
 Scicom ahs the potential to marry public and scientific values, hopefully leading to the better
scientists, research, funding, and hopefully better science articles in the newspapers.
 Challenges in scicom practice in the Philippines exists but it doesn’t mean we cannot address
these challenges.

WRITING PROCESS
DEMISTIFYING THE WRITING PROCESS
1. Research
a. Primary Sources: Firsthand information and considered as authoritative
 Research reports
 Statistical data
 Journal articles
 New findings
 Interviews
  Press conferences

b. Secondary Sources: Involves interpretation and analysis of information

 Journal article commenting/analyzing other studies
 News articles
 Press releases
 Biographies

c. Guide Questions
 Is the scientist recommended by a trusted source?
 Who does the scientist work for?
 How is the study/story funded?
 What has the scientist published previously?
 Is the scientist likely to profit from this study?
 Is the scientist’s claim published in a peer reviewed journal?

d. Profile Interviews
 We ask personal and intimate questions about the scientist
 Can interview his/her colleagues, friends, or families.

e. Research interviews
 Focus on results, the accuracy, their implications

f. Content/News
 You have to interview a wide range of people

g. Principles of Interviews
 Prepare carefully
 Establish a relationship with the source
 Ask relevant questions
 Listen and watch

h. Where do we find evidence?

 Print and electronic sources
 Observation
 Interviews
 Surveys
 Personal experiences

2. Finding the scientific lead

a. Imaginary camera “angles”
 Close to a single person
 High above a scene, reporting from a distance
 Close to an organization that offers information (NGO)
 Closer to the scientific community
 Closer to the audience

b. Thesis statement
  Must be able to summarize your story in a single sentence to focus your
research
 Choose the position of your “camera”
3. Identifying your audience
a. Who is your target audience
 What motivates them?
 Where do they get their information?
 What influences them?

4. Providing context in writing

a. Context
 Setting in which the writing is situated
 Helps make sense out of any writing
 Bridges the gap between the author and the audience
 Prevents miscommunication of the writer’s intent
 Backstory; background

b. It is important to ask:
 So what?
 What is it for the public to learn about this particular study?
 Why do they have to know about this?

c. Journalism news values

 Timeliness
 Proximity
 Oddity
 Impact
 Relevance

5. Language and jargon translation

a. According to Tim Radford (Science writer)
 Don’t overestimate your reader’s knowledge and don’t underestimate their
intelligence.
b. Goal of science writing
 Educate people by explaining ideas in simple way.
 Not explaining simple ideas in a complex way.

6. How to structure the narrative

a. Hook
 You only have 5 seconds to catch the reader’s attention.

b. Body
 Always keep them wanting more
 Analogy
 the goal is to explain how two things are alike and make a point about
their comparison.
 According to Jacob Aron, analogies in science writing are like forklift
trucks.
  Simile
 Figure of speech
 Makes the comparison more emphatic or vivid

 Metaphors
 Direct comparison for rhetorical effect

c. Closing sentence
 Leave a last impression to the readers

HOW TO TALK ABOUT SCIENCE

IT IS IMPORTANT FOR US TO PRACTICE WHEN WE TALK ABOUT SCIENCE
 It is like an iceberg – 90% is underwater

TIPS IN SCIENCE COMMUNICATION

1. Practice makes perfect
o Rehearse the topics before the event

2. Be contagious
o Connect with the audience
o Communicate your emotions as well

3. Use your voice

o Create rhythm and change it up
o Animated voice
o Sort of like music and acting

4. Be you
o Be yourself
o Individuality and authenticity

5. Science and Theatre

o There are many things we can learn from this
o Science is very much like performing arts
o We learn to be a bigger version of ourselves in front of the public

6. Improvisation
o Technique you improvise during your talk
o You mirror your audience
o Alan Alda – improvisation is important in scicom to your peers

INTERNET USERS IN THE PHILIPPINES

 Total population: 110.3 million | Urbanisation: 47.6%
  Mobile connections: 152.4 million | Vs. Population: 138.2%
 Internet users: 73.91 million | Vs. Population: 67.0%
 Active social media users: 89.00 million | Vs. Population: 80.7%
DEVICE OWENRSHIP IN THE PHILIPPINES USERS AGED 16 TO 40
1. Mobile device (anytime): 98.6%
2. Smartphone: 98.5%
3. Non-smartphone mobile phone: 13.3%
4. Laptop or desktop computer: 77.3%
5. Tablet device: 33.2%

TOP 3 WEBSITES ACCORDING TO SEMRUSH IN DECEMBER 2020

1. Google: 750M
2. Facebook: 258M
3. YouTube: 181M

POTENTIAL AUDIENCE
 Philippines is a Facebook user country
 Facebook: 83M
 YouTube: 54.20M
 Snapchat: 12.75M
 Twitter: 7.85M
 Instagram: 15M
 LinkedIn: 9.6M

WHAT KIND OF CONTENT DO FILIPINOS CONSUME ONLINE

 Videos
 Vlogs
 Music
 Radio or podcast

SCIENCE COMMUNICATION IN SOCIAL MEDIA

 Through Instagram stories
 Pinoy scientists (FB)
 Pinoy science (TikTok)
 StemPH (Instagram)
 Active Filipino scientists like BA Racoma (Twitter)