Lindy A. Orthia

How Do People Think About the Science They Encounter in Fiction? Undergraduates investigate responses to science in The Simpsons

In this study, students and staff involved in an undergraduate science communication course investigated peoples responses to a science-rich episode of the animated sitcom The Simpsons. Using focus groups, we sought to find out if and how the episode influenced our 34 participants’ perceptions of science, but our results problematised the very notion of influence. Peoples responses to the science in the episode varied widely, and sometimes in contradictory ways, from some participants seeing no science at all in the episode to others seeing science as the ideological focus of the entire story. Participants’ discussions were shaped and influenced by a myriad of factors, including their relationship to science and their personal and religious beliefs, but also historical discourses, political discourses, experiences watching other television programmes and other factors. We draw on the work of Roman Ingarden to suggest that people fill in or ‘concretise’ the ambiguities and gaps in a fiction text in ways specific to their personal, social, geographical and temporal context, resulting in different interpretations of the texts meaning with each fresh viewing. We conclude that a deficit model which assumes that people absorb fictions content in a linear, passive and credulous manner is an inappropriate characterisation of how people process the science in fiction.

Sociopathetic Abscess or "Yawning Chasm"? The absent postcolonial transition in Doctor Who

This paper explores discourses of colonialism, cosmopolitanism and postcolonialism in the television series Doctor Who. Doctor Who has frequently allegorized past colonial scenarios and has depicted cosmopolitan futures as harmoniously multi-racial, constructing a teleological model of human history. Yet postcolonial transition stages between the overthrow of colonialism and the instatement of cosmopolitanism have received little attention within the programme. This “yawning chasm” — this inability to acknowledge the material realities of an inequitable postcolonial world shaped by exploitative trade practices, diasporic trauma and racist discrimination — is whitewashed by the representation of past, present and future humanity as unchangingly diverse. Harmonious cosmopolitanism is thus presented as a non-negotiable fact of human inevitability, casting instances of racist oppression as unnatural blips. Under this construction, the postcolonial transition needs no explication, because to throw off colonialism’s chains is merely to revert to a more natural state of humanness, that is, cosmopolitanism. Only a few Doctor Who stories break with this model to deal with the “sociopathetic abscess” that is real life postcolonial modernity.

Antirationalist critique or fifth column of scientism? Challenges from Doctor Who to the mad scientist trope

Much of the public understanding of science literature dealing with fictional scientists claims that scientist villains by their nature embody an antiscience critique. I characterize this claim and its founding assumptions as the “mad scientist” trope. I show how scientist villain characters from the science fiction television series Doctor Who undermine the trope via the programme’s use of rhetorical strategies similar to Gilbert and Mulkay’s empiricist and contingent repertoires, which define and patrol the boundaries between “science” and “non-science.” I discuss three such strategies, including the literal framing of scientist villains as “mad.” All three strategies exclude the characters from science, relieve science of responsibility for their villainy, and overtly or covertly contribute to the delivery of pro-science messages consistent with rationalist scientism. I focus on scientist villains from the most popular era of Doctor Who, the mid 1970s, when the show embraced the gothic horror genre.

Communicating the Nature of Science Through The Big Bang Theory: Evidence from a Focus Group Study

In this paper, we discuss a little-studied means of communicating about or teaching the nature of science (NOS)—through fiction television. We report some results of focus group research which suggest that the American sitcom The Big Bang Theory (2007–present), whose main characters are mostly working scientists, has influenced viewers’ perceptions of NOS. Both scientists and non-scientists were among the audience members participating in the study, thus making it possible to evaluate whether the portrayal of NOS resonates with scientists’ lived experience (using scientists’ reflections on the show) and whether non-scientist audience members come to know something about NOS from the show. Responses from the focus groups suggest that three aspects of NOS were most prominent in participants’ minds: science is empirically based, science is subjective and theory-laden, and, in particular, science is socially and culturally embedded. We argue that a broad understanding of NOS can be cultivated peripherally via regular viewing of this television programme, and a deeper understanding of particular aspects may result when viewers vividly remember specific scenes and storylines.

Popular Theatre for Science Engagement: Audience Engagement with Human Cloning Following a Production of Caryl Churchill's A Number

Research into the role of fiction in engaging people with science is a growing area, but a little studied medium in this respect is ‘popular theatre’, or non-pedagogic theatre that exists primarily as a work of art. This study investigated audience engagement with human cloning issues after seeing a performance of Caryl Churchills 2002 cloning-themed play, A Number, and compared this to the level and quality of engagement shown by people who participated in a group discussion about human cloning. The play prompted a majority of audience members to be engaged with human cloning, markedly increased the salience of the issue for its audience, and brought to light new perspectives on it for them. The proportion of people who reported thinking about human cloning two months after the play was quantitatively similar to those who took part in a group discussion, but the conversations that resulted from each stimulus were qualitatively different, with the play providing a concrete case study that grounded discussion. The unique contributions that popular theatre can offer science communication are discussed.

‘Laudably Communicating to the World’: Science in Sydney’s Public Culture, 1788–1821

It has long been held that the general population of the British colony of New South Wales before the 1820s was neither exposed to nor interested in science, and that there was little home-grown science in Sydney at this time. This prevailing view, however, is based on a definition of science as institutionalized knowledge producer. In this paper I examine the Sydney colony between 1788 and 1821 through the lens of recent historiographical developments that have redefined science as a form of communicative action, and that incorporate the study of popular discourse centrally within histories of science. Under this approach, an examination of Sydneys mass media and popular culture reveals a widespread, rich and invested fascination with science among the colonys general population, and active contributions to public science discourse by ordinary colony residents.

Vaccination communication strategies: What have we learned, and lost, in 200 years?

This study compares Australian government vaccination campaigns from two very different time periods, the early nineteenth century (1803–24) and the early twenty-first (2016). It explores the modes of rhetoric and frames that government officials used in each period to encourage parents to vaccinate their children. The analysis shows that modern campaigns rely primarily on scientific fact, whereas 200 years ago personal stories and emotional appeals were more common. We argue that a return to the old ways may be needed to address vaccine hesitancy around the world. Abstract

Democratizing science in the eighteenth century: resonances between Condorcet's Sketch (1795) and twenty-first century science communication

The twenty-first century has witnessed a shift in science communication ideals from one-way science popularization activities towards more reflexive, participatory approaches to public engagement with science. Yet our longue durée histories of science communication’s antecedents focus on the former and have neglected the latter. In this paper I identify parallels between modern science communication ideals and an iconic Enlightenment text, Condorcet’s Sketch for a Historical Picture of the Progress of the Human Mind (1795). I show that Condorcet’s carefully negotiated balance between scientific reason and radical principles of democracy has much in common with twenty-first century debates about science communication. Abstract