Since I wasn’t able to attend PCST 2018, I have been following along on Twitter, happily gleaning little pieces of the conference, and my panel, here and there. I know Sarah Davies, our panel organizer, recorded the discussion for me, but I haven’t had a chance to listen yet.

So I was delighted to see a nice write up of the whole panel, including Bruce Lewenstein’s summary remarks, from the perspective of one of the audience members.

Bruce Lewenstein provided commentary on the session and identified three main themes, which I think beautifully summarised the discussions:

1. Experience and emotion – science as lived experience in our daily lives, and the emotional requirements and inputs of science communication activities
2. Visual culture – the incorporation of science in movies, TV and advertising
3. Meaning – what meaning do we, or our audiences, take away? It’s not about the information we present, but the meaning we can make together. Culture is defined as the production and exchange of meaning, so if we want to incorporate science communication into culture, we need to find new ways to allow everyone to contribute to creating meaning.

Thanks, Shanii Austin, for this summary of the panel and of some of the other panels from that day. I can’t wait to read more from my co-panelists. Sarah’s work, in particular, about emotional labor, seems particularly important to the experience model.

PS, if you are interested, Shanii Austin (whom I have never met) wrote a post for each day of the conference.