Broad Public Audience Research Articles

Afterlives of discovery: tomb robberies, treasure and untangling Tutankhamun

Egyptology has been changing. At least in the way its practitioners present their findings to a broad public audience. A selection of recent publications for general-interest readership represents something of a reorientation of perspectives on the (Western-led) archaeological ‘discovery’ of Pharaonic Egyptian remains, and the opening up of a subtle counter-narrative, which is something of an anti-archaeology. Rather than attempting to reconstruct what might positively be said of ancient events, their causes and motivations, Egyptologists are increasingly owning up to what is not known or what happened in the aftermath of the ‘main event’ that conditions the nature of the evidence we have at our disposal.

Virtual Mineralogical Museums and Mineral Websites as Learning Agents: Analysis of How Minerals Are Represented

Virtual mineralogical museums can help visitors construct and enhance their personal scientific mineral models through the information they incorporate. For this to be possible, they must contain a series of key aspects related to minerals’ properties (chemical and physical), use and origin, and the relationships between them. In this study, 38 sites are analyzed, their main characteristics identified, and their educational value assessed, to verify whether all the key aspects considered for the construction of an appropriate and complete mineral model are present. Photographs and mineral files predominate over 3D models and 3D tours. In many of the sites aimed at university students or geoscience experts, there are abundant data about mineral properties, but not in those aimed at a broad public audience. Data about the uses and relationship between uses, extraction, and mineral properties are seldom included. Even if connectivity is very high in all the sites, there are no elements that can be used to test if there has been a knowledge gain after visiting them. The results show that there is still a lot of information missing for this type of resources to be truly helpful for the general population and, specifically, for educational uses.

“Spread is like wildfire”: Attracting and retaining attention in COVID19 science tweetorials

Digital spaces offer scientists new ways to share scientific knowledge with a broad public audience, in some cases leading to the emergence of new genres. This paper examines one new genre intended to inform a non-expert audience about scientific content: the informational tweet thread, or tweetorial. More specifically, the paper explores the rhetorical structure of 50 tweetorials on COVID19 content, focusing on how writers use rhetorical moves to share scientific information and to attract and retain readers’ attention in the content-saturated space of social media. The analysis identifies eight rhetorical moves that regularly appear in these COVID19 tweetorial introduction and body posts. The moves emphasize urgency through their focus on immediate exigencies and their repetition and recirculation throughout a thread. The study’s findings contribute to a growing body of research on public science genres and how they support the goals of Open Science.

Remembering Herbert Gutman's Work, Culture, and Society Fifty Years On

Remembering Herbert Gutman's <i>Work, Culture, and Society</i> Fifty Years On

Chinese contemporary art teachers\u2019 professional development in the 20th and 21st centuries within the multicultural framework

The study of contemporary art is one of the main means of implementing aesthetic education in China. This discipline allows a student to develop a system of spiritual values, reveal talents and acquire skills needed for professional growth. Chinese art is an integral part of the global cultural space, and Chinese contemporary art performs the functions of cultural reflection, occupying an important place in developing the state’s cultural identity. In the process of globalization, it is extremely important to study not only Chinese, but also world contemporary art, as well as the peculiarities of its teaching in the educational institutions of the PRC within the framework of the multiculturalism movement. The study objectives are to develop a unique online platform for teaching and learning contemporary art in China, to identify the features of art teacher training, to identify the methods of and trends in teaching contemporary art in the Chinese system of secondary and higher education, as well as to determine the most effective method of teaching contemporary art in China based on the experiment. In the course of the study, a plan and structure of the website containing audio and video materials, graphic editors and a conference system for students and teachers were developed. An innovative classification of the contemporary art movements was made in accordance with the tools and methods of creating art works. The styles of contemporary art were divided into groups: painting, sculpture/architecture, photography, cybernetic art, literature, optical art, theatrical art, mass culture, and hybrid art. The database was compiled by the masters of Art from China and Ireland, which emphasizes the internationality and multiculturalism of the project. An experiment was conducted to determine the level of effectiveness of different methods of teaching contemporary art in China. In the course of the experiment, the Spark platform developed for the study purpose was recognized as the most effective (56.1%). The effectiveness of the active method and passive method of teaching was 27.2% and 16.7%, respectively. The study results can be used in the study of various trends in contemporary art in the process of modernization and within the framework of pedagogical and commercial activities related to the work of exhibitions and galleries. In addition, they can be used to improve the methods of teaching contemporary art online and offline to the broad public audience and improve the professional skills of graphic or UI/UX designers, 3D modeling experts, engineers, editors, and IT developers. The practical significance of the developed online platform lies in the possibility of database use, practical application of the knowledge gained, and taking online lessons with Chinese and foreign teachers as part of a multicultural experience exchange.

ПРОТОКИНОКОМИКС В РОССИИ: НАРОДНОЕ КИНО

The author considers two Russian films of Soviet period – Happiness (1934) by A. Medvedkin and Believe it or Not (1983) by S. Ovcharov. Not out of synk with traditional referring them to a Russian national lubok genre (known abroad as Russian comics) the author attempts to include them into an “umbrella” universal context of movie comics in capacity of a proto-comics as the national variant with distinctive dialectics of folklorism and national spirit. The both specimen’s narration demonstrate a sophisticated artistic form in combination with imaginary naivete, conveying the national ethos, which activates cinema’s communicative function and makes the author’s message comprehensible a for broad public audience through emotional empathy.

Use of Augmented Reality in the Preservation of Architectural Heritage: Case of the Aqueduct Kuru Kopru (Kayseri, Turkey)

Purpose The architectural preservation embeds all the activities dealing with the sustainability of the built heritage. The representation and diffusion of heritage take a core place in that process. This study aims at the diffusion of the Aqueduct Kuru Kopru towards a broad public audience, establishment of the awareness that Augmented Reality (AR) methods can be used for the evaluation and presentation of the semi-collapsed structures and serving as a model for the representation and diffusion of virtual reconstructions of Architectural Heritage (AH). Design/Methodology/Approach This work refers to restoration and heritage visualization charters, combines Computer-Aided Design (CAD), photogrammetry survey method, and advanced texturing techniques to acquire and model virtual reconstructions of the Aqueduct Kuru Kopru from the Roman-Byzantine period to the year 2017. The paper also describes the frameworks for the implementation of a non-immersive and an immersive AR application to visualize modelled reconstructions. The method used consists of three main stages: modelling of the virtual reconstructions, texturing of models, and development of AR applications. Findings This study establishes AR and cultural heritage digitization techniques as efficient tools to represent and diffuse the Aqueduct Kuru Kopru. It engages a broad public audience in better comprehension and assessment of the aqueduct. Research Limitations/Implications The fact that the research is based on a single case study is a limitation for its generalisation. However, the case examined provides a basis for future work that may validate its findings in different contexts. Originality/Value The paper proposes the rediscovering of long-abandoned aqueduct Kuru Kopru by learning its spatio-temporal evolution through AR. The developed methodology can be easily implemented and puts forward the use of low-cost materials.

Structure from motion used to revive archived aerial photographs for geomorphological analysis: an example from Mount Meager volcano, British Columbia, Canada

High-resolution topographic modeling has become more accessible due to the development of structure from motion (SfM)-image-matching algorithms in digital photogrammetry. Large archival databases of historical aerial photographs are available in university, public, and government libraries, commonly as paper copies. The photographs can be in poor condition (i.e., deformed by humidity, scratched, or annotated). In addition, the negatives, as well as metadata, may be missing. Processing such photographs using classic stereo-photogrammetry is difficult and, in many instances, impossible. SfM can be applied to these photosets to access the valuable archive of geomorphic changes over the past century. In this paper, we illustrate the utility of the SfM technique using 568 digitized vertical aerial photographs of Mount Meager volcano, located in southwestern British Columbia, Canada. We use the aerial photographs, which span the period from 1947 to 2006, to track glaciers and glacier–landslide interactions on the volcano. Over this period, glaciers have thinned and retreated, interrupted by minor advances in the 1960s and 1970s. Landslides are frequent on the volcano and contribute to debris cover on the glaciers affecting the ablation process. SfM processing of the aerial photographs allowed us to unlock geomorphic information and reconstruct landscape change that would otherwise have been impossible. The results from SfM provide a visually effective way of presenting landscape change to a broad public audience, as a form of virtual geoheritage. The approach can thus be broadly applied in scientific and professional practices for improving land planning and hazard management.

Fury Road: Medical Physics Education Using Film

As part of a public education outreach effort, an introduction to the health effects of ionizing radiation and the field of medical physics was developed by a clinical medical physicist. The presentation was delivered to a broad public audience in 2019 (prior to COVID-19 safety concerns) through a community outreach science literacy program that pairs popular films with educational material. The program is a collaboration between a local science center and a community movie theater, and includes content developed by a keynote guest scientist and the screening of a popular film. The film chosen for the medical physics curriculum was “Mad Max: Fury Road” (Warner Bros. Pictures, Burbank, CA), which takes place in a fictional post-apocalyptic environment with widespread radiation contamination. The lecture introduced the audience to concepts of ionizing radiation, DNA damage from radiation, risk models, historical significance, ionizing radiation in the film, and ionizing radiation in our world (including therapeutic medical applications). A panel of clinical medical physicists answered audience questions following the film screening. Event attendance was high, with ticketed and lecturer seats occupying 98% of the theater’s seating capacity. Informal feedback from audience members indicated attendees had an increased interest of the field of medical physics following the program. The described education and outreach format may be used by educators interested in similar opportunities in their own communities, and also may be adapted as an entertaining and accessible installment of a physics club, seminar, or colloquium event in more formal educational settings. The electronic lecture slides are available for download as supplementary materials.

PEWI: An interactive web-based ecosystem service model for a broad public audience

We present an open source web application and ecosystem services model, People in Ecosystems/Watershed Integration (PEWI). PEWI integrates ecological models within an intuitive interface, allowing users to rapidly and dynamically evaluate how changes to agricultural land cover, use, and management affect ecosystem service outcomes. Users create and evaluate land-use and management scenarios in a virtual watershed across years and variable weather conditions using spatially explicit environmental patterns and dynamic feedback on 16 ecosystem service indicators. Indicators include agricultural production (i.e., crop and livestock) and environmental outcomes (i.e., water quality, habitat provision for biodiversity, soil quality, and carbon management). We based initial indicator equations on literature review, empirical data, existing models, and expert consultation, and finalized equations using a combination of testing, sensitivity analysis, and expert review. Model results allow users to explore nuanced tradeoffs and co-benefits between types and levels of agricultural products and other ecosystem services generated in a watershed. PEWI's niche as an ecological model is as a tool for engaging broad public audiences in understanding the science and management of landscapes and watersheds.

“The Most Unlikely of Places:” Opportunities and Challenges of Location at Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art

ABSTRACT In the grand tradition of Isabella Stewart Gardner and Henry Clay Frick, Alice L. Walton has used her immense wealth to create a world-class museum for the enjoyment of a broad public audience. Unlike Gardner and Frick, however, Walton, who opened a museum in 2011, did not select a location in a bustling metropolis to build what will become her greatest legacy. Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art’s location in Bentonville, Arkansas presents a set of challenges and opportunities for the museum and its mission to educate in particular. This article explores how a museum which Walton founded, built in her hometown, approaches these challenges and opportunities to museum education as America’s newest world-class art museum.

Contested extractivism: impact assessment, public engagement, and environmental knowledge production in Alaska's Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta

For large extractive mineral projects, Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) processes function in part as a procedural tool to adjudicate the legitimacy of divergent environmental truth claims. Successful anti-extraction movements work to litigate divergent knowledge claims in the public arena, but few anti-extraction communities have access to a broad public audience. This article examines the proposed Donlin Gold mine in southwestern Alaska, a locally divisive yet publicly invisible extraction controversy, to understand how communities contest the boundaries of knowledge production and legitimacy set out by EIS procedures without the benefit of broad public awareness. Through a multi-method analysis of the public engagement segment of Donlin's Draft EIS, we find that anti-Donlin activists worked to construct environmental knowledge that drew jointly on claims to local knowledge and scientific expertise through a temporary assemblage of local activists and external consultants. The contested epistemic understandings of residents, expert consultants, and state and federal regulators further reveal the role of regulatory processes in constructing and maintaining boundaries of epistemic legitimacy, while also pointing to emergent possibilities for social action based in locally-situated environmental truth claims.Key Words: Environmental Impact Statement, mining, truth claims, Donlin Gold mine, Alaska

Scholars do Bravo Too: Reality Television, Public History, and the Historians on Housewives Podcast

Scholars do Bravo Too:Reality Television, Public History, and the Historians on Housewives Podcast Kacey Calahane (bio), Jessica Millward (bio), and Max Speare (bio) In spring 2019, doctoral candidates Kacey Calahane and Max Speare partnered with Dr. Jessica Millward, associate professor of history at the University of California, Irvine, to create the Historians on Housewives (#HonH) podcast. We envisioned this project as a multi-platform and interdisciplinary endeavor to make scholars accessible to a broad public audience and to help them communicate their work in ways that transcend the academy, using reality television as the primary subject and medium. Our podcast brings together scholars from across the academy to use the pop cultural phenomenon of The Real Housewives reality television show as a vehicle to explore questions about United States and world history and interdisciplinary methods of research. Historians on Housewives and guests on the podcast interrogate characters and episode story arcs to contextualize academic history for a public audience using BravoTV's vast catalogue, including non-Housewives programming, as an archive. Launched in August of 2019, the first season tackled a broad spectrum of subjects, including slavery; segregation; the politics of fashion and identity formation; wealth accumulation and branding; publishing; colonialism; immigration; historical memory; oral history; genocide; adolescence; feminism; motherhood; fertility; divorce; and domestic violence.1 The #HonH project demonstrates how scholars can use the podcast to interact with the public in culturally relevant and accessible ways while also providing new avenues for student engagement and alternative career paths for graduate students. The #HonH project also bridges these conversations beyond listening to the podcast by engaging with social media platforms like Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook to contextualize—with the help of academic books and articles—the popular culture consumed by the public each day. On every episode, guests, who are largely academics, join #HonH and use Bravo's most memorable moments to contextualize their scholarship. We have asked, for example, what does it mean that a broad public found solace in the plasticity and vanity of Orange County, California in the midst of the 2008 market crash? How has the category of "housewife" been destabilized, not just historically, but across the franchises? What does it mean to be a housewife in Atlanta, Orange County, Beverly Hills, Dallas, Miami, [End Page 135] Washington, DC, Potomac, New Jersey, New York, and Melbourne? To what degree are these different experiences not just captured but also consumed? Can the Real Housewives and other Bravo shows help our students engage with national and transnational debates about feminism, sexuality, motherhood, and belonging? How do race and power function on the franchises and how do we reconcile the racial politics that have become formulaic for entertainment value? What is the role of capitalism and the commodification of gendered "norms" in the franchise? Why does Bravo capitalize on the prominence of cast members descended from well-known American families like the Calhouns (Kathryn Dennis), the Kennedys (Carol Radziwill) and the Morgan robber barons (Sonja Morgan)? And, finally, in what ways do the tensions in old-moneyed housewives' relationships play out in their pursuits of entrepreneurial endeavors versus their nouveau riche social climbing counterparts? Our podcast places particular reality TV moments within their historical context and is dedicated to discussing the craft of history, including archives and oral history. The pilot introduced listeners to the Bravo show Southern Charm, which follows the descendants of well-known slaveholding families in South Carolina, like Kathryn Dennis (John C. Calhoun) and William "Shep" Rose (Mary Chesnut Boykin). That episode discussed antebellum slavery and genealogical history by highlighting the manifold linkages between South Carolinian slave holders, enslaved people, and current cast members. #HonH juxtaposed the ways that the "Southern Charmers" continue to inhabit plantation spaces in South Carolina with the trip made by the all-African American cast of the Real Housewives of the Potomac (RHOP) to the Whitney Plantation in St. John the Baptist Parish, Louisiana. This highlighted the key difference between the understanding of race and space on Southern Charm and RHOP: the Potomac women provided a perspective of the plantation centered in African American history and the multi-generational trauma of slavery. In addition, the comparison contextualized the contemporary...

Consequence evaluations and moral concerns about climate change: insights from nationally representative surveys across four European countries

This paper examines consequence evaluations and moral concerns about climate change across four European countries. Data from nationally representative samples (each n > 1000) were analysed in order to explore the relative importance of consequences versus morality in explaining public support for different climate policies. Most respondents expected climate change to have largely negative consequences for their respective country. Climate change consequences were viewed most negatively in Germany, followed by France, the U.K. and Norway. While the vast majority of respondents expressed at least some degree of moral concern about climate change, a notable minority in each sample stated that they have no such concerns. Moral concerns were highest in France, followed by the U.K. and Norway, and lowest in Germany. It was found that both judgements explain support for policies that aim to mitigate climate change or aim to adapt to the impacts of climate change. However, our results further suggest that moral concern was a stronger predictor of policy support than consequence evaluations. If at all, consequence evaluations were more likely to predict policy support in Germany and Norway than in the U.K. and France. Overall, policies that involved subsidies received the strongest support, whereas policies involving individual costs received the least support. This research broadens our understanding of the intertwining between risk perceptions and public support for climate policies, documenting variability across and within countries. Implications for policy-makers with an interest in communicating climate change risks to the broader public audience are discussed.

The Sweet Spot? Writing for a Reading Age of 12

AbstractWriting for a reading age of 12 (or Reading Grade Level of 6 to 7) has long been considered a benchmark for accessible writing, the ‘sweet spot’ we should aim for to ensure our texts are accessible to a broad public audience. But what does a reading age of 12 actually mean and is it still useful as a guiding principle? This paper turns to emerging research in the field of academic literacies to review the concept of a reading age of 12 and consider what accessibility means in terms of language. It shows that while the idea of a 12‐year‐old as a benchmark has value, the basis on which it is typically determined is unhelpful if not misleading, and argues for an alternative approach based on meaning. It uses this approach to propose some practical strategies for understanding the key differences between everyday and academic language so that as authors, curators, educators, editors and publishers we can reach our audiences with greater inclusiveness and effectiveness.

Lester J. Cappon and the Idea of the Public Scholar

ABSTRACT Lester J. Cappon (1900–1981) deserves a place as a pioneer public scholar. Over six decades, he worked as an historian, archivist, documentary editor, historical administrator, and president of archival and historical associations. Drawing on Cappon's rich personal papers, especially his diary kept from 1954 to 1981, this essay explores Cappon's legitimate claim to be a public historian and, in today's parlance, his modeling of the public scholar. Cappon's interest in reaching the public about the importance of historical understanding without compromising historical scholarship permeated every aspect of his career. His career serves as a model for librarians, archivists, and others in the information professions seeking to engage with a broader public audience about their professional mission.

Louise Erdrich’s Place in American Literature: Narrative Innovation in Love Medicine

Abstract As a novelist, Louise Erdrich is unique in receiving both popular and critical acclaim. Strangely, her popular appeal has discouraged study of her novels as experimental narrative texts. This is unfortunate, since innovations in Erdrich’s novels rival much “experimental” contemporary American fiction. This study outlines a convention of a three-level hierarchy of characters in novels and compares this convention with two experimental American novels: Infinite Jest (1996) by David Foster Wallace and Gravity’s Rainbow (1973) by Thomas Pynchon. The study then addresses Erdrich’s first novel, Love Medicine (1984), to show that it is unique in not having a main character. Although the other two experimental novels try to do without a main character, neither of them succeed at getting beyond this convention. Love Medicine innovates in at least one major narrative convention in a way that other experimental novels cannot do. This is one way in which Louise Erdrich and Love Medicine compare favorably to some of the most respected experimental contemporary American novels. Erdrich’s novels should take their place alongside other experimental American novels, being studied in similar ways, regardless of whether they are also read by a broad public audience.

Museum Monsters and Victorious Viruses: Improving Public Understanding of Emerging Biomedical Research.

Although microbes directly impact everyone's health, most people have limited knowledge about them. In this article, we describe a museum and media public education campaign aimed at helping diverse audiences better understand emerging knowledge about microbes and infectious disease. Funded primarily by the Science Education Partnership (SEPA) program of the National Institutes of Health, this campaign involved crosscutting programs designed to extend impacts throughout a broad public audience.

Bridging The Gap Between Implementation Science and Parenting Intervention

Kaminski et al.1 recently reported selected findings from a study evaluating two group-based parenting interventions designed to promote “more positive socioemotional, behavioral, cognitive, and health outcomes” for children in low-income families (defined as < 200% of the federal poverty line). The authors provide a laudably clear and detailed flow diagram of study enrollment and follow-up assessment rates. However, specific and meaningful information about intervention exposure, participation rates, and other fundamental implementation considerations are not provided alongside the reporting of outcomes. The omission of core implementation data brings into sharp focus two interrelated and chronic limitations in the intervention research literature, in general, and particularly in the knowledge base on parenting interventions. These gaps, described below, heavily constrain the public health impact of programming for vulnerable families and children. This first limitation is inattention to or inaccuracy in describing where a study falls on the research-to-practice continuum,2,3 obfuscating the reader’s ability to evaluate the generalizability, applicability, and transferability of a study’s findings. For example, Kaminski et al. use the term “effectiveness” in reference to the evidence generated from what are clearly efficacy trials. The authors also characterize two different approaches, each with “its own curriculum” and simultaneously tested in initial efficacy trials, as “implementation adaptations” of a single “public health model” (based on a shared “philosophy” and “core set of goals.”). Accuracy matters, especially when presenting findings to a broad public health audience that includes policymakers and practitioners with neither the time nor expertise to disentangle misapplied terms and concepts. The second limitation pertains to the need for researchers to provide greater information on external validity in both efficacy and effectiveness studies. A decade ago, Glasgow et al.4 put forth a set of recommendations for specific changes that researchers, journal editors, and funding organizations can make to meet this need. These changes include “increased attention to moderating factors … such as participant characteristics (reach) and setting characteristics (adoption)”4(p1264) on the part of researchers. In 2008, an editorial by Steckler and McLeroy5 announced the new emphasis of the American Journal of Public Health on external validity and identified specific categories of external validity information that should be reported when appropriate, noting that: It has been frequently argued that internal validity is the priority for research. However, in an applied discipline, the purpose of which includes working to improve the health of the public, it is also important that external validity be emphasized and strengthened.5(p9) The call for improved reporting on external validity “to guide decision makers in their selection of research-tested interventions” vigorously continues today.6 Perou et al.7 report that extensive implementation data on both process and cost were collected as part of the Legacy study, completed in 2009. Participation rates and cost data for the Legacy interventions are highly salient—arguably critical—to interpreting intention-to-treat outcomes, given the serious challenges to reach and sustainability documented in the literature on preventive parenting interventions.8,9 Kaminski et al. describe a set of closed parenting groups, designed to be three or five years in duration and comprising 101 or 250 weekly sessions depending on approach. The literature is well established regarding the challenges of low enrollment, poor attendance, and high attrition in group-based parent-mediated interventions.10 This finding is consistent even for brief approaches.11 The issue here is not whether intensive and long-term interventions are necessary. The crux of the matter is the need for greater specificity about the magnitude, timing, duration, cointerventions, and population characteristics associated with enduring positive outcomes.12 To make judicious choices in a time of extremely limited resources for maternal and child health programs, decision-makers need confidence that a highly intensive approach can be implemented (applicability) and outcomes replicated (transferability) within feasible cost parameters of community settings. In a recent article elaborating on themes set forth in the 2009 landmark report on prevention science by the National Research Council and Institute of Medicine,13 Yoshikawa et al.11 underscore the urgent need for cost-effectiveness studies on mental health prevention and promotion strategies. Analysis of the interplay of dosage, participant characteristics, and service delivery factors is essential to effective programming and policies, and it demands the same primacy and immediacy of consideration as the results of an intention-to-treat analysis. This is a crucial direction for future research on both selective and indicated14 intervention efforts addressing children’s mental, emotional, and behavioral health.

An Evolving Scientific Public Sphere: State Science Enlightenment, Communicative Discourse, and Public Culture from Imperial Russia to Khrushchev's Soviet Times

ArgumentBy the late nineteenth century, science pedagogues and academicians became involved in a vast movement to popularize science throughout the Russian empire. With the aftermath of the 1917 Bolshevik Revolution, many now found the new Marxist state a willing supporter of their goals of spreading science to an under-educated public. In the Stalin era, Soviet state officials believed that the spread of science and technology had to coalesce with the Communist Party's utilitarian goals and needs to revive the industrial sector of the economy. This resulted in a new Stalinist technologically oriented popularization campaign. In the Khrushchev era (1953–64), Soviet politicians became increasingly more aware of the competitive power of Soviet technology in the global arena and developed extensive campaigns to publicize Soviet feats for a broad domestic and foreign public audience. This was particularly true for topics such as the space program and big technologies such as nuclear power.