Comments on: Time to make science popularization popular

By: Uthra dorairajan

Uthra dorairajan — Thu, 28 Jul 2011 14:46:22 +0000

Ashutosh thank u for the thread of ideas. somewhere we have missed communication. India, probably till Britisher came in, was good in communication, that’s why we had so much of literary works in every field- including science, if not modern Science! Somewhere we lost or made to forget our tradition to communicate, be critical, analyse which helped us grow thro ages and ages. Now we lost our own scientific thoughts , we have even lost the thought that we are good in science. even students do not believe in their critical thinking , we need to make them believe we r good in science, in communication. also we need to bring out science articles in every indian language, to suit various age groups. jus a visit to british council library in chennai will tell us how lagging we r in communicating even basics and fundas, leave alone astrophysics or quantum physics! we need a change.

By: Ashutosh

Ashutosh — Wed, 08 Jun 2011 20:18:49 +0000

Thanks for the link Akshat; I was not aware of the courses offered by the Indian Science Communication Society which definitely sound encouraging.

By: Akshat

Akshat — Wed, 08 Jun 2011 10:06:17 +0000

Just came across this http://www.niscair.res.in/ in another comment on my piece.

By: Akshat

Akshat — Wed, 08 Jun 2011 00:26:32 +0000

Nice post Ashutosh. You are damn right about science only being a set of complex ideas laid down in as logical a fashion as possible t the time.

As for science journalism courses, I know that The Indian Science Communication Society offers courses on it. See http://www.iscos.org.

By: Ashutosh

Ashutosh — Tue, 07 Jun 2011 13:57:14 +0000

Correct, Indrajeet. You are quite right that science communication needs to be emphasized, if for no other reason than to showcase the rapidly developing new fields of science. And of course, dispelling pseudoscientific concepts through good communication is of paramount importance.

Interestingly, formal science communication courses have been largely eschewed even in American universities. It’s only recently that a few select universities have started offering these. I actually see a lot of potential for these courses both in America and India since it’s relatively easy to make them interesting and entertaining by including the human side of science and snippets from the papers and media. Unlike some of their other classes, students should enjoy taking these.

By: Indrajeet

Indrajeet — Sun, 05 Jun 2011 02:42:17 +0000

Nice and much needed article Ashutosh. I don’t see anyone complaining about the lack of science communicators, which is hard to believe given that we live in an era where almost every other day a new branch of science opens up and a layman is totally oblivious to this progress.
Unfortunately, the attitude in India amongst students hasn’t changed yet. Anyone hardly understands importance of science popularization, which is bizarre given that Indian society is seething with pseudosciences like astrology, gemology, and spiritual gurus curing people by holy mantras. Many students still think of it as “waste of time” or feel that writing such things is beneath them. Of course, there are few people who understand its importance, but refrain from writing because they have neither writing nor speaking skills required, which can be understood.
Even the educational system doesn’t do much to improve the situation. Unlike Europe and US, we still don’t have courses in science communication or science journalism.