Transcript Slide 1

The Social Science of Science:
Food and Public Communication
April 7, 2011 – Washington, DC
IFIC 2011 – © Berube 2011
David M. Berube
•Professor
Department of Communication
North Carolina State University
•Coordinator
NCSU Public Communication
of Science and Technology Project
•PI – NSF – NIRT
Intuitive Nanotoxicology and
Public Engagement.
•Manager
Center for Emerging Technologies,
LLC.
1. PERCEPTION
Group leaders
Public
perception
Perception of
public perception
Amplification
and attenuation
Event
CHECKERED HISTORY
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Sodium nitrite.
Partially
hydrogenated oils.
High fructose corn
syrup.
Mycoproteins.
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Semicarbizide from
Azodicarbonamide
(seals)
Acrylamide
(preparing starchy
foods).
OTHER
STUFF
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Dyes –
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Red 40 & 3.
Blue 1 & 2.
Green 3.
Orange B.
Yellow 3 & 6….
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Flavorants 
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Diacetyl (butter).
Ethylvanillin….
Obesogens – xenobiotics (Grun &
Blumberg).
OTHER STUFF
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Packaging
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2,4,7,9tetramethyldec-5yne-4,7diol (labels).
bisphenol A.
Bis (2-ethylhexyl)
phthalate (DEHP)
2. DIGITAL MEDIA
Event –
Egyptian Revolution
Intentional Mediation –
Egyptian state sponsored TV
Unintentional
Mediation – Cell phones,
YouTube and Twitter
Pew Research CenterTVfor
the
People
and
the Press, August 2008
and
Internet
News
Consumption
80
% consumption from each medium
70
60
50
TV 1998
TV 2008
40
WWW 1998
WWW 2008
30
20
10
0
18-24
25-29
30-34
35-49
Age Range
50-64
65+
Interesting findings in 2010
reports
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46% of Americans get news from 4-6
media platforms/day*
7% get news from single platform
59% of Americans get news from
combination of online and offline sources
Internet is second most popular platform
behind TV
Interesting findings (cont.)
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37% of Internet users have contributed
to, created, or commented on news
28% have customized their homepages to
include personalized news sources
33% of cell phone owners have used their
phones to access news
More than 80% of online consumers
receive or send links via email
Mobile news
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26% of people used mobile phones to
connect to 2010 elections*
47% of Americans use mobile phones and
tablets to get local news*
African Americans and Hispanics are more
likely to get news from mobile phones
%’s will likely increase with smartphone
adoption
Comparing platforms
% of people show used platform for news yesterday
70
60
50
40
2004
30
2010
20
10
0
Radio
Newspapers
TV
Internet
Any web or mobile
news
DIGITAL MEDIA
AND NEWS (Net-newsers)
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Technology beyond the
PC (hardware).
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Cell phones.
Smart phones.
Gaming consoles.
Communication
applications
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IM, SMS messaging.
Twitter.
Blogs.
Wikis.
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Search applications.
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Social networking sites
(Facebook)
Search engines (Google).
Personal accumulators
(RSS).
News accumulators
(GoogleNews).
Social bookmarks
(Delicious).
RECOMMENDATION 1 - LET GO OF MISCONCEPTIONS
RISK ANALYSIS IN HIGH UNCERTAINTY
“We need new approaches to risk studies!”
1. Stop worrying about popular culture.
2. Educating the public is fine. Deficit theory
is bogus.
3. Public engagement is expensive and mildly
productive. Decide what your goals are.
RECOMMENDATION 2–
WHAT TO DO WHEN
COMMUNICATING TO THE PUBLIC
1. Stop using intuition when designing
communication campaigns. Failures
are expensive (esp., trust and
anchoring) AND message fatigue is
real.
2. Use data; NO place for popcommunication and PR.
3. Don’t over-extend your expertise. Risk
on a dime is not wise. Use
communication professionals.
Arpil 7, 2011 – Washington, DC
IFIC 2011 - © Berube 20011
The Social Science of Science:
Food and Public Communication
This work was supported in part by
grants from the National Science
Foundation, NSF 06-595, #0809470
Nanotechnology Interdisciplinary
Research Team (NIRT): Intuitive
Toxicology and Public Engagement.
THANKS
[email protected]