Sciencehorizons
A new government funded "PEST" programme, Sciencehorizons, was launched yesterday. A series of events will run nationally over the next 6 months, aiming to get people discussing their hopes and fears for future technologies. The discussions will be fed back to the government and could help shape future science policy.
Sciencehorizons aren't just running events at places like Dana, but have provided interactive packs to download, so you can run their own dialogue events. The BBC news story's spin on them is "science by cartoons". To spark discussion, the packs use cartoon characters of "everyday folk" living in the future.
(click on the image to see a bigger version if you want to read the text)
Personally, I think the resources look more like something aimed at people in their early teens than adults. Which I'm sure isn't the (patronising?) tone they'd want to go for. But that's just my view, maybe it is a great way of engaging people with science policy. I'll keep an open mind, at least till the results come out.
1 comment:
I have to say I find them rather patronising as well. But then maybe we're a rather specialist (and opinionated) audience? I tried them out on my non-scientist, early 20s siblings. They thought they'd been designed for early teens - 'not very adult' was the exact phrase, I think. I'm not sure this is what Demos et al are going for...
It will be interesting to hear reports of how they go down with different groups once - if? - they start being used around the country.
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