Jenny Eklöf

Technoscientific promotion and biofuel policy: How the press and search engines stage the biofuel controversy

What are the conditions for the public understanding of biofuels and how do the media shape these conditions under the influence of a new production of knowledge? This article investigates how the biofuel controversy plays out in the Swedish press and Google search engine results and analyses winners and losers in the tight attention economy of contemporary media. It describes different visibility strategies biofuel stakeholders employ in both media arenas, and identifies a form of technoscientific promotion that hybrid actors use to succeed in the day-to-day struggle for media attention. To conclude, it raises broader societal questions of the contemporary blurring of knowledge boundaries and the emergence of new information hierarchies and their biases. By understanding how contemporary media shape controversies, we can address the democratic potential of both mass media and science.

Promoting Ethanol in the Shadow of Oil Dependence: 100 years of arguments and frictions in Swedish politics

On a political level, Swedish transport ethanol has always been embedded in visions of an alternative, brighter future. Arguments in support of ethanol have been reiterated throughout the 20th and 21st centuries, exhibiting a striking stability over time. At the same time, the contexts in which arguments for ethanol have been raised have undergone dramatic shifts. This article investigates the historical contingencies of three empirical cases, covering the interwar years, the aftermath of the oil crises of the 1970s and the 21st centurys concerns over global warming. It concludes with the observation that despite political convictions about ethanols commercial, military and environmental potential, domestic production has not managed to take off on its own. It has relied on state support such as tax exemptions, it has been dependent on other industries for feedstock provision and its technical superiority is still waiting for market confirmation.

Saving the World: Personalized Communication of Mindfulness Neuroscience

Over the past 10–15 years, medical interventions, therapeutic approaches, and scientific studies involving mindfulness meditation have gained traction in areas such as clinical psychology, psychotherapy, and neuroscience. Simultaneously, mindfulness has had a very strong public appeal. This chapter examines some of the ways in which the scientific meaning of mindfulness is communicated in public and to the public. In particular, it shows how experts in the field of mindfulness neuroscience seek to communicate to the public at large the imperative of brain fitness for the promotion of health, well-being, and happiness. The study identifies claims being made in popular outlets that, by and large, bypass traditional mass media, such as self-help books, Web sites, and online videos. By treating this material as a form of personalized science communication, this article contributes to the body of literature that understands science communication as a continuum, and the boundary between science and popularized science as the outcome of human negotiations. The study finds that processes of personalization help to build bridges between scientific findings and their supposed application, infuse science with subjective meaning, and turn expert communication with the public into a moral vocation.