Communicating Science Online - A study of the international use of organic research communication online

Summary

The doctoral thesis deals with the use of science communication in a digital environment and explores how the internet supports and develops international science communication between researchers and their target groups. Through several empirical investigations of the users and their use of organic research communication online the thesis underline the fact that that the internet has become a popular media and a primary source for science communication on organic research. Nevertheless the actual use of online resources depends on the user’s background and their social networks as well as the information provider’s design of the web communication. The results indicate that science communication online primarily consists of traditional forms of dissemination and that print media is in fact “remediated” online. The communication is characterized by one-way dissemination from researchers to stakeholders and two-way communication and dialogue is not supported online. This partly has to do with the traditional use of the internet as an information provider, research traditions, culture as well as conventions of science communication. At the same time the potentials for supporting two-way communication online are also connected to the institutional and political context. From this perspective a focus on research as news is often emphasised and at the same time the researchers are rewarded entirely on the basis of the number of scientific articles they publish in international scientific journals. This limits the possible developments of alternative methods for communication as well as open access publication.