Creating Connections: Museums and the Public Understanding of Current Research: Bill Nye: AltaMira Press

Creating Connections

Museums and the Public Understanding of Current Research

Creating Connections

Museums and the Public Understanding of Current Research

Description

Science museums are in the business of making science accessible to the public-a public constantly bombarded with new information and research results. How the public understands this information will affect what they expect and take away from a museum's exhibits and programs. Creating Connections looks at the public understanding of research (PUR) and how it affects what science museums do. What are the opportunities and critical issues in PUR? What strategies are working and what are some pitfalls? What can be learned from the media's experiences with PUR? Creating Connections will be an invaluable resource for science museum professionals who want to guide their institutions and their visitors toward a new understanding of and appreciation for current research.

Part 1 Foreword
Part 2 Acknowledgments
Part 3 Introduction: Only Connect: Linking the Public with Current Scientific Research
Part 4 SECTION 1: ON THE HISTORY AND CHALLENGES OF PUBLIC UNDERSTANDING OF RESEARCH
Chapter 5 1. La buona e non mascherata filosofia, or the Exhibitionists
Chapter 6 2. The Challenge and the Opportunity of Presenting "Unfinished Science"
Part 7 SECTION 2: PUBLIC UNDERSTANDING OF RESEARCH: THE BIG OPPORTUNITIES AND ISSUES
Chapter 8 3. Different Ways of Looking at Public Understanding of Research
Chapter 9 4. Museums as Agora: Diversifying Approaches to Engaging Publics in Research
Chapter 10 5. Evaluating Public Understanding of Research Projects and Initiatives
Chapter 11 6. What About the Audiences?: Tailoring Public Understanding of Research Programs for Museum Visitors
Chapter 12 7. Dangerous Ground?: Public Engagement with Scientific Controversy
Chapter 13 8. Improving Public Understanding of Scientific Research: A View from the Research Side
Chapter 14 9. New Alliances to Promote the Public Understanding of Research
Chapter 15 10. Collaboration and the Public Understanding of Current Research
Chapter 16 11. Funding and Institutional Issues Related to Public Understanding of Research
Part 17 SECTION 3: SOME EMERGING PUBLIC UNDERSTANDING OF RESEARCH STRATEGIES AND APPROACHES
Chapter 18 12. Understanding the Process of Research
Chapter 19 13. Production Aspects of Promoting Public Understanding of Research
Chapter 20 14. Bridging the Gap: Interpreting Current Research in Museum Settings
Chapter 21 15. At the Cutting Edge: Showcasing Research Through a Public Exhibition Center
Chapter 22 16. Catching Science in the Act: The Mysteries of Çatalhöyük
Chapter 23 17. Public Understanding of Research in a Natural History Museum: The Darwin Centre
Part 24 SECTION 4: WHAT MUSEUMS CAN LEARN FROM MEDIA PUBLIC UNDERSTANDING OF RESEARCH INITIATIVES
Chapter 25 18. Emerging Best Practices at Research-Performing Institutions
Chapter 26 19. It's the Way You Tell 'Em
Chapter 27 20. Covering Science at the New York Times
Chapter 28 21. Nova: The Leading Edge
Chapter 29 22. Earth and Sky: Some Challenges of Communicating Scientific Research on the Radio
Chapter 30 23. Crossing the Public and Commercial Broadcasting Barriers
Part 31 Afterword: Not so Fast: Some Thoughts on Re-Visioning Public Understanding of Research
Part 32 Appendix: Background and Thoughts on Museums, Media and the Public Understanding of Research: An International Working Conference
Part 33 Bibliography for Public Understanding of Research
Part 34 Index
Part 35 About the Contributors

Product details

Published	May 05 2004
Format	Paperback
Edition	1st
Extent	400
ISBN	9780759104761
Imprint	AltaMira Press
Dimensions	227 x 166 mm
Publisher	Bloomsbury Publishing

Anthology Editor

David Chittenden

Anthology Editor

Graham Farmelo

Anthology Editor

Bruce V. Lewenstein

Contributor

Marc Airhart

Contributor

Carol Lynn Alpert

Contributor

Eliene Augenbraun

Contributor

Larry Bell

Contributor

Rick Bonney

Contributor

Rick Borchelt

Contributor

Carol Bossert

Contributor

Peter J. Bruns

Contributor

Christine Cansfield-Smith

Contributor

David Chittenden

Contributor

Neil Chalmers

Contributor

Cornelia Dean

Contributor

Sally Duensing

Contributor

John Durant

Contributor

Albert A. Einsiedel Jr.

Contributor

Edna F. Einsiedel

Contributor

John H. Falk

Contributor

Mark D. Hertle

Contributor

Nancy Linde

Contributor

Laura Martin

Contributor

Heather Mayfield

Contributor

Xerxes Mazda

Contributor

Bill Nye

Contributor

Chris Paola

Contributor

Don Pohlman

Contributor

Tim Radford

Contributor

Larry Stewart

Contributor

Rob Semper

Contributor

Martin Storksdieck

Contributor

David Ucko

Foreword

Bill Nye

The writing and editing in this compilation is excellent. . . Creating Connections is a useful, well-written book. I recommend ittttt

Collections
This volume contains essays from a 2002 conference, "Museums, Media, ad the Public Understanding of Research-An International Working Conference"...The book gives some sense of the breadth and intensity of the discussions, as well as providing a rich and diverse collection of papers on a central issue for science museums.

George E. Hein, Visitor Studies Today
Creating Connections is a rigorous theoretical work that is both clear and stimulating. It will be of particular value to curators who want to reflect on exhibitions presenting developments in research, while stimulating researchers in the sociology of science, citizenship education, epistemology and ethics.

Muse
The writing and editing in this compilation is excellent. . . Creating Connections is a useful, well-written book. I recommend it

Collections