Science, knowledge and society in times of pandemic:

Abstract

This article deals with the new configurations of information and communication in the domain of health knowledge in Brazil, by the intercurrence of two concomitant factors: the increasingly powerful increment of technical mediations in the digital environment; the health crisis caused by the pandemic of the new coronavirus - the SARS-CoV-2. To study the domain at this critical moment, we considered the scientific society that represents it - the Brazilian Association of Collective Health (Abrasco) - and the way it promoted communication among peers in the scientific field and between them and society, through the "Abrasco Agoras", a set of webinars bringing together researchers, professionals, health authorities, representatives of organizations and social movements to discuss the issues related to the pandemic moment. We started with a theoretical treatment of Domain Analysis, to then approach the new modalities of scientific info-communication in the era of E-science and pandemic. The results of the analysis of a sample of the "Abrasco Agoras" show that the intensive use of digital devices and the accelerated rhythm of scientific knowledge production demand reflections on the health domain that take into account the very way of functioning of the scientific field, the status of researchers and health professionals, the processes of production, mediation, diffusion and appropriation of knowledge, the modes of information and communication among peers and between peers and society.