Knowledge◦rooms — science communication in local, welcoming spaces to foster social inclusion

Abstract

Socially inclusive science communication has to take place where people spend most of their time — within their communities. The concept of knowledge◦ rooms uses empty shops in socially disadvantaged urban areas for offering low-threshold, interactive science center activities. The commentary carves out essential features that contributed to the success of the pilot project. Most importantly, the knowledge◦ rooms had to be welcoming and comfortable for visitors of various backgrounds. The spaces were easy to access, the initiators were seen as trustworthy actors by temporarily becoming part of the community and the offer was respectful of the time and knowledge of its users.

Equity in informal science education: developing an access and equity framework for science museums and science centres

“…The project from Vienna, Austria, followed an 'outreach' approach in that rather than attempting to attract different audiences to an ISLE, three ISLE-like spaces (called Knowledge Shops) were set up inside vacant shops in particular neighbourhoods (Streicher, Unterleitner, & Schulze, 2014). In other words, the project took ISE into communities identified as 'socially disadvantaged' and 'difficult-to-reach' (Streicher et al, 2014, pp.…”

“…Firstly, power-sharing was limited, for example, despite the influence of the community consultations, both projects were ultimately controlled by the ISE institution. Secondly, participants were framed as 'other' and finally, the role of equity was positioned as a peripheral rather than a core element of the institutions, specific instead to a particular project (Foggett, 2008;Lynch, 2011;Streicher et al, 2014). Creating spaces to experiment with and develop more inclusive ISE practices is clearly important; questions remain, however, about the extent to which projects such as these are able to change institutional practices or shift patterns of participation in ISE outside the time frames and spaces of specific activities.…”

Science Communication Demands a Critical Approach That Centers Inclusion, Equity, and Intersectionality

“…In renouncing the status quo, we argue against science communication that singularly portrays science in the Western mold: that is, as objective and universal (Cobern and Loving, 2001;Medin and Bang, 2014;Bang et al, 2018) or as "governed by a rigid scientific method that produces incontestable facts" (Cunningham and Helms, 1998, p. 485). Because science communication is inherently contextual (Chilvers, 2012;Streicher et al, 2014;Bang et al, 2018), it is well-suited to counter assumptions of the Western model. ISC offers a critical approach that interrogates history, politics, and society, examining how people's multiple identities interact to affect their engagement with STEMM fields and issues of societal relevance (Feinstein and Meshoulam, 2014;Massarani and Merzagora, 2014;Schuldt and Pearson, 2016;Bevan et al, 2018;Calabrese Barton and Tan, 2019).…”

“…We live in an era of abundant scientific information, yet access to information and to opportunities for substantive public engagement with the processes and outcomes of science are still inequitably distributed. Even as interest in science communication 1 has grown (Chilvers, 2012;Dudo and Besley, 2016), marginalized individuals and communities remain largely undervalued in these efforts (Dawson, 2014b;Feinstein and Meshoulam, 2014;Streicher et al, 2014). This paper aims to advance the field of inclusive science communication (ISC) with a definition and rationale, examples, priorities for integrating research and practice across relevant disciplines, and a symposium-based model for building an ISC community of practice.…”

Shared spaces: a future for JCOM

“…Dawson [3] for example, suggests that we need to rethink how we conceptualise social exclusion from science communication activities, arguing that by focusing on barriers to engagement we 'side step' reflections on whether our practices are themselves exclusive. Streicher et al [4] argue that we should stop expecting people to come to us if we wish to reach out to unengaged communities and should, instead, go to where the people are. Similarly, Aguirre [5] describes how the Explora Science Centre in Moravia worked with the local community, one with significant poverty issues, to develop a social management strategy designed to help ensure the science centre caters for local needs.…”