“On Social Media Science Seems to Be More Human”: Exploring Researchers as Digital Science Communicators

Abstract

In contemporary media discourses, researchers may be perceived to communicate something they do not intend to, such as coldness or irrelevance. However, researchers are facing new responsibilities concerning how popular formats used to present science will impact science’s cultural authority (Bucchi, 2017). Currently, there is limited research on the microlevel practices of digital science communication involving researchers as actors. Therefore, this qualitative study explores how digital academic discourse practices develop, using the tweeting and blogging of researchers involved in a multidisciplinary renewable energy research project as a case. The results of a thematic analysis of interviews with researchers (n = 17) suggests that the researchers’ perceptions form a scale ranging from traditional to progressively adjusted practices, which are labelled ‘informing,’ ‘anchoring,’ ‘luring,’ and ‘maneuvering.’ These imply an attempt to diminish the gap between science and the public. The interviewees acknowledge that scientific facts may not be interesting and that they need captivating means that are common in the use of new media, such as buzzwords and clickbait. It appears that trials and experimentation with hybrid genres helped the researchers to distinguish the contours of digital academic discourses. The implications support suggestions to broaden the trajectories of expertise and communication, including issues of culture and identity, trust, and the relevance of science. It is argued that scientists’ embrace of new media channels will refine some articulations of the mediatization processes, and these findings support recent suggestions that mediatization could also be conceptualized as a strategic resource.

Thermodynamics of Cation Binding to the Sarcoendoplasmic Reticulum Calcium ATPase Pump and Impacts on Enzyme Function

“…Numerical and computational modeling of SERCA activity has spanned phenomenological frameworks, such as Hill-type models [55][56][57] to those representing distinct stages of the catalytic process as states. 40,41,[58][59][60] Our implementation is based on the stepwise binding of Ca 2+ originally proposed by Inesi et al,40 but additionally considers Mg 2+ -and K + -bound states, followed by a reduction scheme to lump the E1 states separately from those comprising the E2 configurations. Significantly, the states defined in our model coincide with SERCA structures determined by x-ray crystallography and are ordered in a manner consistent with assays of SERCA function 61 In contrast, the state model proposed by Tran et al 41 assumed that ATP binding precedes the binding of two Ca 2+ ions, which has not been experimentally verified.…”

Challenges in the collaboration between researchers and in-house communication professionals in the digital media landscape

“…The project's science communication activities emphasized tweeting and blogging by researchers, with the support of communication professionals in their organizations, including one of this article's authors (Kaisu Koivumäki). The interviews were collected as part of a larger study, and the aspects of the funding's influence and styles of science communication have been reported in Koivumäki, Koivumäki and Karvonen [2020] and Koivumäki and Wilkinson [2020].…”

“…Public science communication has been regarded as important to scientists' identity construction as the representatives of a particular collective, identifying with or disassociating themselves from research organizations [Davies and Horst, 2016]. The researchers may also be viewed as actors who are capable of creating digital representations of science that contribute to the reception of scientific knowledge [Koivumäki, Koivumäki and Karvonen, 2020].…”

Women Scientists on TikTok: New Opportunities to Become Visible and Challenge Gender Stereotypes

“…Visibility on social media has the potential to increase diversity in science communication because scientists are free to choose how they want to present themselves and what to talk about (Metag, 2021). Scientists develop different strategies for shaping their discourse practices in digital communication environments (Koivumäki et al, 2020), and emotional appeals and "edutainment"oriented approaches in science communication are seen as having the potential to enable communicators to reach new audiences (Taddicken & Reif, 2020). Zawacki et al (2022) argue that TikTok may function as a platform where educational science videos are able to reach a large audience without much effort.…”