Through which medium should science information professionals communicate with the public: television or the internet?

Science information professionals need to make choices through which media they want to communicate with the public. In reaching large audiences outside the domain of formal diffusion of knowledge, the choice may be between the old medium television and the new medium Internet. It seems that general...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Cees M. Koolstra, Mark J.W. Bos, Ivar E. Vermeulen
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Sissa Medialab 2006-09-01
Series:JCOM: Journal of Science Communication
Subjects:
Online Access:http://jcom.sissa.it/archive/05/03/Jcom0503%282006%29A01/Jcom0503%282006%29A01.pdf
Description
Summary:Science information professionals need to make choices through which media they want to communicate with the public. In reaching large audiences outside the domain of formal diffusion of knowledge, the choice may be between the old medium television and the new medium Internet. It seems that general scientific research is focused more and more on the Internet as a favorite means for information exchange and that the old mass medium television plays only a minor role. But when we look at (1) how the public spends their leisure time on television and the Internet, (2) how effective these media are in transferring information, and (3) how much these media are trusted as reliable sources of information, the old medium television should still be regarded as the number one medium to be used for science communication, although there are some limitations for its use.
ISSN:1824-2049