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Science outreach
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Monday, 04 August 2008 16:48 |
Most so-called science outreach is really just promotion. This is appalling.
We've all encountered this: the science communication department at a large university is usually devoted to marketing the research of that particular university. The so-called "outreach" products of such departments - the public talks, articles, and events for school groups - are all forced to suit this purpose. Mediocre research is described in glowing terms as "world-class" or "ground-breaking". Poor communicators are put forward again and again so that they can be seen as a leader in their field.
This is promotion, not outreach. Describing this as educating about science is like saying that a car commercial is designed to teach viewers about engine design.
This is not to say that it's wrong to do promotion in order to get support from granting agencies and donors. The problem is that this is confused with science outreach.
By outreach I mean activities whose primary goal is to enable people to learn about science, to talk about science, or to do science.
Imagine if your high school english teacher had decided to make your class read his or her amateurish novel rather than Shakespeare. You might have learned something, but it would be dishonest of your teacher to have claimed that you were engaging with great literature.
Promoting mediocre research as "cutting-edge" fundamental science to people who have engaged with the university in good faith, expecting an opportunity to learn, is just as harmful and dishonest. And yet this is just what happens all the time in the science communication departments of many universities.
Of course, many people in such departments end up there because they want to do outreach, and they manage to fit some in around the edges of the promotional material. This helps, but it doesn't solve the basic problem.
So, what's the solution? It's very simple: outreach should be in a separate department to promotion and marketing, and it must be evaluated along different metrics. While the goals for promotion may be described in terms of the number of visits to the website or improvements to the university's public image, the only goals for outreach should be things like the number of people who have participated and evidence for changes in their understanding of science.
These metrics explain why little science outreach is done at universities: there is no obvious pay-off in terms of funding or enrolments, so why bother? In fact, universities should dedicate a certain amount of money to community outreach, just like most large companies do. When a bank sponsors a sporting team, it's not because the sport showcases their newest mortgage.
Similarly, universities should engage in sponsoring genuine science outreach events, without interfering to ensure that their researchers are featured. The pay-off is the positive feelings the sponsorship inspires, the media coverage, and the opportunity to brand the university as a community supporter.
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Last Updated ( Monday, 04 August 2008 16:52 )
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