A new model for science communication that takes ethical considerations into account

Abstract

Now how might scientists do this and also help the public to understand issues more clearly so they can make informed judgments on controversial issues? For some time now endeavours in science and engineering communication have focused on increasing a dialogue in the communications between stakeholders. This requires an understanding and exploration of the ethical issues of all protagonists in the dialogue as different parties will undoubtedly have differing views of the values at stake in highly contentious issues such as stem cell technology, reproductive cloning, in vitro fertilisation but also on more general issues such as land use and environmental issues. One point however in the methodological discussion on how best to achieve a higher participation of stakeholders in the decision-making processes through dialogues and meetings is grossly overlooked, and that is the problem of involving a large majority of the public who are not interested in such issues. They often have no direct stake in the issue or in the novel technology proposed by scientists and engineers and are not particularly interested in participating in debates. The result is that the opinions of a large group of potential users are left unexpressed, so that when a novel technology is widely introduced this may create a public outcry, possibly supported by emotive messages of radical environmentalists, resulting in diminishing political support and increasing regulatory measures. For this reason a new model is now proposed aiming to reach as many as possible and to involve more audiences in two-way interaction.