Broadening public input into science policy decision making: can the democratic model for science communication influence scientific, innovation and technological trajectories?

This PhD thesis investigates the potential use of science communication models to engage a broader swathe of actors in decision making in relation to scientific and technological innovation in order to address possible democratic deficits in science and technology policy-making. A four-pronged research approach has been employed to examine different representations of the public(s) and different modes of engagement. The first case study investigates whether patient-groups could represent an alternative needs-driven approach to biomedical and health sciences R & D. This is followed by enquiry into the potential for Science Shops to represent a bottom-up approach to promote research and development of local relevance. The barriers and opportunities for the involvement of scientific researchers in science communication are next investigated via a national survey which is comparable to a similar survey conducted in the UK. The final case study investigates to what extent opposition or support regarding nanotechnology (as an emerging technology) is reflected amongst the YouTube user community and the findings are considered in the context of how support or opposition to new or emerging technologies can be addressed using conflict resolution based approaches to manage potential conflict trajectories. The research indicates that the majority of communication exercises of relevance to science policy and planning take the form of a one-way flow of information with little or no facility for public feedback. This thesis proposes that a more bottom-up approach to research and technology would help broaden acceptability and accountability for decisions made relating to new or existing technological trajectories. This approach could be better integrated with and complementary to government, institutional, e.g. university, and research funding agencies activities and help ensure that public needs and issues are better addressed directly by the research community. Such approaches could also facilitate empowerment of societal stakeholders regarding scientific literacy and agenda-setting. One-way information relays could be adapted to facilitate feedback from representative groups e.g. Non-governmental organisations or Civil Society Organisations (such as patient groups) in order to enhance the functioning and socio-economic relevance of knowledge-based societies to the betterment of human livelihoods.

A cultural study on communication and technology with specific reference to media in China

This dissertation examines the role of communications technology in social change. It examines secondary data on contemporary China arguing that many interpretations of events in China are unsuitable at best and at worst conceptually damages our understanding of social change in China. This is especially the case in media studies under the ‘democratic framework’. It proposes that there is an alternative framework in studying the media and social change. This alternative conceptual framework is termed a zone of interpretative development offering a means by which to discuss events that take place in a mediated environment. Taking a theoretical foundation using the philosophy of Mikhail Bakhtin this dissertation develops a platform with which to understand communication technology from an anthropological perspective. Three media events from contemporary China are examined. The first examines the Democracy Wall event and the implications of using a public sphere framework. The second case examines the phenomenon of the Grass Mud Horse, a symbol that has gained popular purchase as a humorous expression of political dissatisfaction and develops the problems seen in the first case but with some solutions. Using a modification of Lev Vygotskiĭ’s zone of proximal development this symbol is understood as an expression of the collective recognition of a shared experience. In the second example from the popular TV talent show contests in China further expressions of collective experience are introduced. With the evidence from these media events in contemporary China this dissertation proposes that we can understand certain modes of communication as occurring in a zone of interpretative development. This proposed anthropological feature of social change via communication and technology can fruitfully describe meaning-formation in society via the expression and recognition of shared experiences.