by Derek Morrison, 1 August 2012
I love RadioLab’s topic range plus its overall quirkiness and envy Robert Krulwich’s (NPR Science Correspondent and one of the RadioLab co-presenters) ability to simplify and communicate sometimes complex concepts. In particular, I draw attention to the commencement speech he gave at California Institute of Technology in 2008 which is still available as a podcast with the title “Tell me a story” (RadioLab, 23 July 2008). His speech undoubtedly did (and probably still does) disturb some people with particular religious or cultural orientations but his key message was that recognizing the power, the art, and skill of storytelling needs to become a key part of the portfolio in enhancing the public understanding of science and should, therefore, be considered the business of all engaged in all aspects of science and technology.
I find myself again applauding NPR’s routine provision of transcripts of material such as this and wish the BBC would divert some of its still generous public funding to building such transcript archives; I suggest that would also help provide future researchers and scholars with a more robust and easily searchable archive than the current focus on the preservation of the primary audio or video material alone. As I highlighted in my 2010 article No Country for Old Readers written words remain a phenomenally efficient vehicle for carrying human knowledge and meaning over large spans of time and space, e.g.
The word is not going anywhere. In fact, it is and has been one of the most powerful forces to shape humankind, for both good and bad … There is no question that words are powerful, that they always have been and always will be … But just as we seldom carve words in rocks these days, we will probably not print many of them on paper for binding tomorrow. In fact, the cost of paper (which has risen 50 percent in the past year), the amount of human energy required to move it, and the volume of space needed to store it make books as we know them less than the optimum method for delivering bits. In fact, the art of bookmaking is not only less than perfect but will probably be as relevant in 2020 as blacksmithing is today. (Nicholas Negroponte 1996, The Future of the Book, Wired)
The ideal of course is when both primary media source and transcript are available and so in this case I recommend listening to Krulwich’s speech first and then following up with the transcript in order that the nuances and processes of delivery can also be taken account of.
But enough complaining about our beloved BBC, what does it have to offer in regard to enhancing the public understanding of science, engineering or technology? Quite a bit is the answer. Here’s a few examples of the 227 programmes currently on offer:
- Alice Bell recently told a good story in arguing for the need for more engagement by scientists rather than just focusing on building the “literacy” of the public (BBC Radio 4, Four Thought, Series 3, 4 July 2012, 15 minutes). The talk is also available for download (9MB).
- Does Science Need the People? a two part series (of ~30 minutes) each which explores who should have the final say on important issues in science, researchers or the public?
- The Life Scientific presented by Jim al-Khalili who invites a leading scientist to tell us about their life and work.
- The Tribes of Science which explores the unique cultures of the different groupings that form what we know as scientists.
- The Infinite Monkey Cage offers an archive going back to 2009 and describes itself as a “Witty, irreverent look at the world through scientists eyes. With Brian Cox and Robin Ince“. Despite the cloak of humour the programmes cover a lot of scientific ground and are unashamedly rationalist in their orientation.
- The “In Our Time” science archive in which Melvyn Bragg and his “guests with provenance” discuss the history of ideas and the evolution of the sciences – from ancient astronomy to particle physics. The archive goes back to 1998; pity there are no transcripts 🙂
We should also note that the UK Open University and the BBC co-fund a significant number of radio and television productions that are intended to enhance public understanding, e.g. Material World. See also the OU’s OpenLearn site.
