Public engagement and trust building on social media
Article published on the ASSET website
This editorial introduces the new release of ASSET paper series.
Article published on the ASSET website
This editorial introduces the new release of ASSET paper series.
Article published on the ASSET website
How many ways are there to tell a story and who will do it?
In these months we tried to answer those questions by running an analysis of the most relevant tweets and accounts about some key words, chosen by the editorial board, focused on Zika virus and vaccines.
During epidemics, pandemics, natural or environmental disasters, the problem of communication is one of the primary issues to deal with, and scientists and stakeholders know this well. It is a two-sided issue: communicating risk without creating any alarms, and an effective communication between persons who manage emergencies.
According to the Special Eurobaromer 409, around one out of six Europeans think that climate change is the single most serious problem that the world is facing.
India is facing an aggressive outbreak of dengue fever – probably the worst in the last ten years – and risk communication from authorities proved to be very ineffective: the lack of proper strategies for both prevention and reaction to dengue outbreaks resulted in low levels of public awareness and poor coordination between different institutions.
The Italian CNR - the National Research Council - will be turning 90 next November. Its President, Luigi Nicolais (a chemical engineer, also member of Gruppo 2003), last September 30 celebrated the birthday of our most important public research body at its head office in Rome with an essential, but significant, ceremony.
In the last 15 years, European firms and public bodies have been more and more invited to invest in communication activity, in order to prevent conflicts and guarantee access to environmental information for citizens. The sixth European environmental program (1600/2002 EC) considers “the improvement of collaboration and partnership with organizations, a strategic approach for environmental goals achievements” and defines “voluntary-based commitments an essential element”.
From the East comes not only the threat of a Korean nuclear attack but also worrying news from China of a new avian flu epidemic, provoked by a virus which had never before affected mankind, called H7N9.
It is
so obvious, it appears trivial. The City of Science must be
immediately rebuilt, back to there it was born. That same place where somebody was able to partially
destroy the material structure – as explained by Vittorio Silvestrini – who
was on the right track.
The reasons, which may seem trivial, prompting
us – imposing on us – to rebuild the City of Science back where it was born,
are two in number. They are both completely different.
Beginning from January 2014, 90% of scientific publications within the field of high energy physics will be freely available to anybody able to access the Internet.
The costs would be high but not prohibitive: roughly 60 million pounds each year. But in return the Britannic Majesty's scientists have an on line peer review communication system that has totally open access: on line, open to all and free. There are enormous advantages to this. In logistic terms, since there would no longer be the need to find physical spaces.