Knowledge on Stage: Public Roles of Scientists In Times of Communicative Abundance

Abstract

This article explores the challenges and dilemmas the current scenario of communicative abundance poses to experts and scientists that are willing to influence policy-making (or that are dragged to arenas of political debates). It identifies eight contemporary challenges worth noting: (1) dissemination of disinformation; (2) scepticism towards science and experts; (3) multiplication of voices with public resonance; (4) volume and (in)accessibility of data; (5) polarisation and fragmentation of publics; (6) algorithmic distribution of communication; (7) grammars of current public communication; and (8) a complex interplay between visible and invisible discursive arenas. It, then, discusses the strategies used by scientists to deal with these challenges in the context of the Covid-19 Pandemic. It does so through a series of illustrations drawn from visible scientists acting in the Brazilian public sphere. Despite the fact that novel strategies and innovative adaptions are noticed, the article also points to the resilience of top-down forms of communication.

KEYWORDS:

• public scientists
• public sphere
• communicative abundance
• disinformation
• covid-19
• Brazil

DISCLOSURE STATEMENT

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1 https://www.redecomciencia.org/

2 https://www.sciencejf.com/

3 https://www.icfj.org/

4 https://rncd.org. At the time of writing this paper, the network was attacked by hackers, and the site was hijacked.

5 https://sciencepulse.org/eng/

6 https://g1.globo.com/fato-ou-fake/

7 https://covid19br.github.io/sobre.html

8 Interview available at: https://noticias.uol.com.br/saude/ultimas-noticias/redacao/2021/01/26/medico-que-respondeu-fake-news-de-vacina-com-palavrao-acabou-a-paciencia.htm

9 Video available here: https://twitter.com/podcastmid/status/1361834912123408385

10 https://g1.globo.com/pop-arte/musica/blog/mauro-ferreira/post/2021/01/24/remix-de-funk-de-mc-fioti-se-revela-eficaz-para-conscientizar-povo-brasileiro-da-importancia-da-vacina.ghtml. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yQ8xJHuW7TY

Additional information

Funding

The article was developed under projects partially funded by the Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior – Brasil (CAPES) – [Finance Code 001 and 88887.370393/2019-00], by CNPq [423218/2018-2 and 409877/2021-2] and by Fulbright-Brazil. It also benefited from funding from Fapemig - Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de Minas Gerais [CSA - PPM-00284-17].

Notes on contributors

Ricardo Fabrino Mendonça

Ricardo Fabrino Mendonça (corresponding author) is an Associate Professor in the Department of Political Science, Federal University of Minas Gerais, Brazil. He is a researcher at MARGEM — Research Group on Democracy and Justice, and at the Brazilian National Institute for Digital Democracy (INCT.DD), holding a CNPq and a Fapemig fellowships. Email: [email protected]

Yurij Castelfranchi

Yurij Castelfranchi is an Associate Professor of Sociology at the Federal University of Minas Gerais and researcher of the National Institute for the Public Communication of Science and Technology (INCT-CPCT). He coordinates InCiTe, a research group on Innovation, Citizenship and Technoscience and Amerek, post-graduate course in science communication.