New Book | Bridging the Communication Gap in Science and Technology: Lessons from India

Bridging the Communication Gap in Science and Technology: Lessons from India
edited by Pallava Bagla & V.V. Binoy, Springer Verlag, Singapore, 2017, 324 pages, ISBN 9789811010255. 

About the Book

This first-of-a-kind volume provides a snapshot of existing science communication policy and practice in India across different S&T sectors, and offers solutions to building effective communication. It provides an understanding on how to avoid societal clashes in situations when science meets the public in these sectors. The editors and contributors argue that effective S&T communication leads not only to a more informed public but also benefits research itself, and in a changing society like India this is a crucial element related to good governance and policy making. In this volume, experienced masters of the craft provide practical solutions to making S&T communication more effective in a vast democracy like India, which has complex issues related to literacy levels, diverse languages, varying political will, reach, and resources. Through, discussions on cases of creating information modules for the public on the Internet, television and radio, social media, as well as traditional ways of outreach like people's science movements, holding popular science events, and fairs, the volume provides highly valuable directions on how developing countries with low resources and complex populations can communicate S&T research to the public and bridge communication gaps. This volume will interest researchers from science, social science, mass communication and public relations departments, journalists, as well as practitioners and policy makers from government and non-government institutions involved in S&T policy, practice and communication and people who want to understand the complex S&T landscape of India.

Table of contents (21 chapters)

• Introduction: When Science Meets the Public—Bridging the Gap | VV Binoy
  
• Responsibilities of Science, Responsive to Society: A New Dialogue | Ramesh, Jairam
  
• India's Maiden Mission to Mars: Many Firsts and Some Missed Opportunities in ISRO's Efforts at Public Outreach and Communications | Pallava Bagla
  
• Challenges in Communicating about Defence Research: Insight into Defence Research and Development Organisation's Media Strategy | Gupta, Ravi Kumar
  
• Communicating Issues Related to Land and Natural Resources | Meenakshisundaram, S. S.
  
• The Art and Science of Communicating Risks of Natural Hazards | Tyagi, Ajit
  
• The Challenges of Earthquake Risk Communication to Public | Chadha, R. K.
  
• The Queer Case of Communicating Risks Associated with Use of Mobile Phones and Neighborhood Mobile Towers: Are People Contracting More Brain Cancers? | Parthasarathy, K. S.
  
• Atomic Energy: Reaching Out to the People for Perception Management | Malhotra, Swapnesh Kumar
  
• Current Status of Public Understanding of Science: Results of Kumbh Mela Survey Studies | Raza, Gauhar (et al.)
  
• Communicating Science for a Better Tomorrow | Khan, Hasan Jawaid
  
• Challenges of Communicating Science in Regional Languages: Experiments in Kannada | Sharma, A. S. K. V. S.
  
• Challenges Faced by Science Journalists and Communicators Working in Vernacular Languages and Insights Pertaining to Science Communication Courses | Kapoor, Nimish
  
• Enhancing Science Content on Indian Television: Status, Issues and Way Forward | Venkateswaran, T. V.
  
• SCIDEV.NET: Advent of Online Science Journalism in India | Padma, T. V.
  
• Smart Websites: Insights from the Department of Biotechnology | Bhatta, Archita
  
• Using Social Media for Research and Reaching Out | Sekar, Sandhya (et al.)
  
• Vigyan Rail: Science Exhibition on Wheels | Kamble, Vinay B.
  
• Organising Children's Science Congress: Challenges and Opportunities | Sinha, Anuj
  
• Bridging Educational Institutions for a Citizen Science Project: A Case Study from Malappuram District, Kerala, India | VV Binoy (et al.)
  
• Communicating Science to the Common: Perspectives of the Science Communicators from India | Balasubramanian, D. (et al.)
  

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