Priit Ennet started Science Debate 2011 in Estonia

The Estonian Association of Science Journalists has organized a science debate in the upcoming Estonian national elections. Teadusdebatt 2011 will occur Monday February 14, 2011 at 6 PM EET (5 PM CET, 4 PM UTC).

The debate will be held at the National Library in Tallinn at a time which is used each Monday for popular lectures on nature. These lectures have a well-established audience, many of whom are probably interested in science topics and will probably be attending the debate.

The Estonian association is spreading the word among scientists and in universities, and Eesti Päevaleht, a major Estonian daily on Thursday covered the announcement of the debate. The debate will be interspersed with the performance of a singer. Including some live music is already a tradition in the nature lectures each Monday.

Video of the debate will be streamed live on Estonian Public Broadcasting’s science web site http://teadus.err.ee/ and on the nature lectures web site http://www.looduseomnibuss.ee/.

Electronic voting starts from February 24 and from February 28, advance voting in all polling stations takes place for three days. The elections day is March 6.

Report from ESOF: International Science Debates

By Shawn Otto (US-Science Debate)

Powerful ideas attract their own supporters. One such idea that is slowly beginning to attract international attention is the idea of Science Debates. Most of the world’s great challenges now revolve around science policy issues, yet we are paralyzed on many of them because of politics, particularly because science has ceded a certain measure of the public definition of reality to ideologues who define it using “but faith or opinion, but not knowledge,” to quote John Locke, whose seminal work centered around avoiding such paralysis. Science debates bring policymakers together with science and the public, highlighting key knowledge issues and helping to break logjams.

I was at the EuroScience Open Forum this last week in Torino, Italy, heading up a panel on the Science Debate movement, talking about its beginnings as a grassroots US science initiative, and why it is important to global policymaking in the 21st century. There is a video here: The Missing Mediator – Science Debates in a Knowledge society

Several countries have already had science debates patterned on the one we (with your support) organized together, here in the U.S. in 2008, and more are planned.

For those who are interested, I wrote a 5-part popular science and travel reporting series on the trip, and on the ins and outs of scientists engaging in the public dialog, called Postings from Italy, below. Perhaps it will be enjoyable weekend reading.

Lost luggage, science debates and ‘green porn’ in Italy’s former capital

‘Angels and Demons’ journey: Traveling to see the Large Hadron Collider

Italian trains, superconductors, the wonders of deodorant and rocks on strings

Leonardo da Vinci, knowledge engineering, Debate 2.0 and summer on the Adriatic

Science and politics in the birthplace of the Enlightenment

Nobel Laureates in Lindau

As a result of a successful co-operation with the Council for the Lindau Nobel Laureate Meetings a number of EUSJA members participated in the 2010 meeting of the Nobel Lauretates in Lindau/Germany from 28 June to 2 July.

Not only they might be interested in the blog in which one of the participating Laureates decribed how he sees the Lindau meetings:

Lindau through the Eyes of a Nobel Lauretate

Joint Research Centre Ispra, Italy — EUSJA trip July 7-9, 2010

Olga Baklitskaya-Kameneva from Moscow, Russia:

During the extremely hot July 20 EUSJA journalists spent 3 days visiting several institutes of the Joint Research Centre (JRC) in Ispra – IPSC (the Institute for the Protection and Security of the Citizens), IHCP (the Institute for Health and Consumer Protection), IES (the Institute for Environment and Sustainability) and IE (the Institute for Energy). These days were full of events as all EUSJA study trips.

Media for Science Forum – Not for TV

It is nice to be invited to Madrid in springtime, it is not too hot and everything looks fresh.

The programme of the FECYT Media for Science Forum (12-13 May 2010) looked promissing and I went there with great expectations and an open mind to hear live discussion with the main actors on science communicating. At the first coffe break this positive attitude was already wached away.

I heard scientists talking about their science, and journalist talking about journalism and their newpaper, and PR-people about their struggle to promote their company and hit the news. It was mainly, beside some usual exceptions, all about my science, my paper, my blog, my compagny and myself. The word media which implicates different platforms of communication means for those people only written words. As an TV-programme maker I felt like an alien. We communicate with stories and pictures, with different formats for different audiances, about science and scientists. But they where not ready for that story.

This time Madrid in springtime was cold and wet.

Philippe Bijvoet
Director/editor

On the relation between science journalism and science communication

Oliver Lehmann, Austria (Klub der Bildungs- und Wissenschaftsjournalisten):

The increasing connections and interactions between science journalism and science communication are evident. A growing number of science journalists act – at least temporarily – as professional science communicators, be it on assignment for defined projects or as permanent collaborators for an institution while staying connected to the world of journalism publishing as a freelance writer/producer. In addition, the overwhelming number of science communicators have their roots in science journalism, having been trained as journalists.

To ignore this situation means to overlook the core interest of the public: fair, reliable, unbiased information on science and technology supplying the basic foundation for the understanding and the acknowledgement of science and technology. The pubic has a right to know who informs in whose interest.

A further aspect: A growing number of science journalists take up work as communicators for economic reasons. This will lead to a decrease of members in professional organizations such as EUSJA in the foreseeable future. Such organizations are therefore forced to re-define their role as representatives of journalists. Should these organizations limit their activities on this representational function a marginalization of relevance (expressed through decreasing member numbers and – ultimately – funds) is inevitable. An increasing number of science communicators as members in such organization calls for an open-minded discussion of these issues in order to enable a fair cooperation between the two groups.

Norway: Brainwashed Science on TV Creates Storm

Bjørn Vassnes, Science Journalist, Norway:

Normally, science is not a subject in Norway. If you ask people on the street, very few can name a single Norwegian scientist, dead or alive. And even the biggest newpapers do not have science reporters, even if Norwegians read more papers than anyone. Then, suddenly, the whole nation is discussing science: in the newspapers, on the TV, in the radio, and most of all in blogs and other internet media. With a temperature that you usually find in much more southernly countries.

No, there has been no big discovery. No controversy over GM food, stem cells or research animals.

SOCIAL SCIENTISTS FELT FOOLED BY TV-COMEDIAN TURNED TO SCIENCE JOURNALIST

The heat is generated by Harald Eia, a TV-comedian turned science reporter, who is exposing social scientists and gender researchers in a  not very flattering manner in a TV series called «Brainwashed». The uproar started already last summer, more than half a year before the series was ready. Some social scientists who had been interviewed by Eia, went out in the press to say they felt they had been fooled, tricked to expose themselves by «dubious» tactics.

Hope for printed #newspapers? European N

Hope for printed #newspapers? European Newspaper Congress (#nec) on search http://ow.ly/1eY48

Bulletin of the World Federation of Science Journalists

From WFSJ: The Bulletin from January 2010 from the World Federation of Science Journalists can be downloaded here.

#wcsj11 RT @NadiaE: Decision made! 7th W

#wcsj11 RT @NadiaE: Decision made! 7th World Conference of Science Journalists will be in Cairo @ Grand Hyatt June 27 – 29, 2011. Let the celebrations begin!