By investigating scholarly output in science communication from 1997 to 2018, this research sought evidence that science education has been increasingly focusing on communication methods to reach the public. Through an automatic scientometric method, this study analyzed 1300 articles published in two leading journals in the field of science…

How can museums and other informal learning institutions cultivate greater civic engagement among the visiting public around important social issues? This case study of the National Network of Ocean and Climate Change Interpreters' (NNOCCI) professional learning community illustrates how insights from the social sciences can be productively…

Investigates how institutions argue about the idea of public good. Studies how institutions rely on the Contingent Valuation Method (to determine the worth of despoiled environmental resources) to argue that critical-public argumentation theory benefits from critique that reveals how institutional arguments structurally foreclose the ability of…

Finds a significant relationship between those individuals who demonstrate strong community ties and those who use certain types of media. Finds also that media user types were most likely to differ in terms of their ties to community processes. (SR)

Uses a case study and an interactionist perspective to explore the way in which community service draws together power elites in a community's communications network, provides a context for peer evaluation, and is an effective means of maintaining internal surveillance. (SR)

Suggests that environmental communication has become one of the fastest-growing areas within scientific and technical communication. Poses four models for public participation and presents a case study of the application of one model to regional deliberations about environmentally sustainable development. (SR)

High turnout for the 1980 Iowa caucuses and conflicting explanations for that high turnout formed the background for an investigation of the relationship between media uses and gratifications, involvement in the local community, and caucus participation. Campaign fan gratifications--either excitement seeking or communicative utility--were…

Examines how mass media exposure to election campaigns influences beliefs about the closeness of the election race, as well as how these beliefs influence the degree of involvement in the election. Data from the 1968 and 1972 presidential elections are analyzed and indicate that no such relationships exist. (JMF)

A study examined data from 1,828 adults in 17 cities in the United States to test a model of how community integration (sense of community) and use of media affected voting and other political participation. The portion of the model dealing with mass media included the new concept "quasi-mass media," which involves more personalized…

Analyzed relationships between Swedish citizens' educational levels and their information seeking, knowledgeability, and information dissemination to other individuals and politicians. Found that the poorly edcucated were high on information seeking but lower on retention and dissemination. Concluded that the "influence gap" is more of a…

Explores the ways in which nonscientists inform themselves and make decisions about complex and technological controversies. Explores the prejudice against emotion in a 1976-77 case before the Cambridge Experimentation Review Board. Suggests that, in spite of some cultural bias against pathos, emotional appeals play a vital role in the shaping of…

Data from personal interviews with 268 black adults living in predominantly black neighborhoods of San Francisco, California, were used to examine the relationships among political participation, media exposure, and various individual characteristics. Results showed that reading general news magazines had the strongest interaction with the three…

A survey of 80 department chairpersons, directors of forensics, and debate coaches indicated an increased use of nontraditional, audience-centered debate paradigms since the National Developmental Conference on Forensics issued its report advancing alternative debate options during the 1970s. Report recommendations on expanding the role of…

Suggests that communication contributed to commitment to remain in a neighborhood or metropolitan community via a process of belief and attitude formation, but that attitudes were a better predictor of intention to stay in a neighborhood than they were of intention to remain in the metro area. (SD)

In spring 1977, just as California was emerging from one of the worst droughts in its history, 215 Palo Alto homeowners were interviewed about their views on energy and water conservation, and about the extent to which they had adopted 11 energy-conserving practices (ECP) in the home. The objective was to discover variables both important to…