The sciences of science communication

Abstract

The May 2012 Sackler Colloquium on "The Science of Science Communication" brought together scientists with research to communicate and scientists whose research could facilitate that communication. The latter include decision scientists who can identify the scientific results that an audience needs to know, from among all of the scientific results that it would be nice to know; behavioral scientists who can design ways to convey those results and then evaluate the success of those attempts; and social scientists who can create the channels needed for trustworthy communications. This overview offers an introduction to these communication sciences and their roles in science-based communication programs.

Keywords: decision making; environment; judgment; risk; uncertainty.

Fig. 1.

Response by public health experts (black bars) and technology experts (gray bars) to the following question: “What is the probability that H5N1 will become an efficient human-to-human transmitter (capable of being propagated through at least two epidemiological generations of affected humans) sometime during the next 3 years?” Reproduced with permission from ref. .

Fig. 2.

A process for integrating communication and decision making. Reproduced with permission from ref. .