Tecmerin. Journal of Audiovisual Essays

Issue 10 – 2022 (2)

Audiovisual Consumption in the 21st Century: Critical Factors in Scientific Dissemination

Almudena Muñoz Gallego, Universidad Complutense de Madrid.
Suelayne Cris M. de Sousa, Universidad Federal de Río Grande del Norte

How to cite this article:  Muñoz, A. & De Sousa, S. (2022) Audiovisual Consumption in the 21st Century: Critical Factors in Scientific Dissemination. Tecmerin. Journal of Audiovisual Essays, 10, 2022(2). ISSN: 2659-4269

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Today The media have a certain facility for adapting to the issues that shape the social, political and economic reality of our society. However, science is a difficult subject for media consumption. In general, it is difficult to find audiences outside the academic community that consume science in the media. At the same time, social networks present increasingly short productions that are not conducive to scientific explanations or that oversimplify this type of discourse discourse. As a result, many scientists believe that, in these formats, their research and/or knowledge is constantly misrepresented. Consequently, the relationship between science and media is a social problem that is still far from being solved.

Any democratic society needs a scientific basis that allows us to be informed citizens, able to express our opinions, to intervene and decide on issues that affect us daily and on global problems, whether it be climate change or our daily diet (Hawking, 1989). Therefore, the population’s scientific literacy is essential to propel us as active agents into the knowledge society and away from the information society. as passive beings within the communicative system. A solid scientific basis will determine our power of choice, the development of our critical sense and an awareness of our environment as active beings. So it is on this border between science and society that science dissemination is to be found.

In the following video essay we ask ourselves why is there so little science content in the media? This question does not have a single answer, but covers multiple dimensions, from the obstacles that science itself faces (Cotec, 2006), the difficulty of defining audiences for science (FECYT, 2020) or the question of who should disseminate, the scientist or the communicator.

Bibliography:

  • Burns, T. W., O’Connor, D. J., & Stocklmayer, S. M. (2003). Science communication: a contemporary definition. Public understanding of science, 12(2), 183-202. https://doi.org/10.1177/09636625030122004 
  • Cotec (2006). Comunicar la ciencia. Colección Innovación Práctica. Madrid
  • Encuesta de Percepción Social de la Ciencia y la Tecnología en España (2020), FECYT- Fundación Española de Ciencia y Tecnología. https://tinyurl.com/2cdrcv8h   
  • Francés M. & Peris A. La calidad técnica en los contenidos audiovisuales científicos en Orozco G., Francés M. & León, B. (Coord.) (2018). La comunicación de la ciencia. Editorial Síntesis S.A. Madrid.
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  • IAB Spain (2022). Estudio Anual de redes sociales. https://tinyurl.com/mrhfer89 
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  • León, B. (2001). Divulgación científica y documental televisivo. Estudio de las obras de David Attenborough. Treballs de la Societat Catalana de Biologia, 253-260.
  • León, B. (2002). La divulgación científica a través del género documental. Una aproximación histórica y conceptual. Mediatika, n.º 8, pp. 69-84.
  • León, B., Azevedo, J., Baquero, E., Francés, M., & Salcedo, M. (2010). Ciencias para la televisión. El documental científico y sus claves. Editorial UOC. Barcelona.
  • Ordoñez, K., Ortiz, C. & Altamirano, V. (2015). El audiovisual como herramienta para la divulgación de la ciencia. Narrativas y formaciones discursivas emergentes de la comunicación. Asociación latinoamericana de investigadores de la comunicación, pp. 1-15.

Filmography:

Other videoessays in this issue

9-1

9-6

9-2

9-3

9-4

9-5

9-7

Tecmerin. Journal of Audiovisual Essays
ISSN: 2659-4269
© Tecmerin Research Group
Universidad Carlos III de Madrid