Social Science

Trust and Confidence at the Interfaces of the Life Sciences and Society

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The vision of the PILS Roundtable is that all scientists will have access to the knowledge and tools needed to develop proactive, collaborative, science-based approaches to public engagement in the life sciences. As a science communicator, PILS member, and co- organizer of this workshop, Rick Borchelt of the US Department of Energy, has thought a lot about scientists’ engagement with the public. Borchelt said that George Seurat’s famous painting A Sunday in the Park on the Island of La Grande Jatte is to him the perfect metaphor for science communication (Figure 1-1). An example of pointallism2, the painting’s picture emerges from the blend of about 3 million dots. “Scientists,” Borchelt says, “are very effective at talking about those dots, but the public wants to know about the picture.” Borchelt thinks that for scientists today, however, it’s not only about connecting the dots to the larger picture but about whether scientists can communicate with members of the public in a way that maintains trust, that doesn’t offend values that people hold dear, and that doesn’t hype or oversell the science. Borchelt emphasized that communication has become an issue of managing the trust portfolio of life scientists, their institutions, and the collective life- sciences community.

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Publisher

: ., 2014

Collation

1-67

Language

English

ISBN/ISSN

978-0-309-37792-8

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NONE

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Trust and Confidence at the Interfaces of the Life

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