Keeping the connection with our publics and stakeholders
This reverse session is intended to be an opportunity for discussion and exchange of experiences and development of new ideas between the participants, on how to keep alive the relationship with publics and stakeholders, considering the experience lived during the lockdown and focusing the discussion primarily on the use of digital media. The reverse session will start with some short presentations of cases just as a stimulus for the discussion; but the ultimate goal of the session is to work actively with the audience to develop together new ideas, strategies and proposals for replicable activities. Some speakers come from the consortium of the project (funded in the Erasmus+ program) "SCI-CO+ High Professional Skills for Advanced Scientific Communication", which aims to develop models of and training activities for future professionals in the science communication sector.
Outcomes: what will participants get from this session? Skills, knowledge, experience etc.
Participants will have firstly the opportunity to discuss a topic that has been crucial in recent years, namely the use of digital media which each of our institutions was suddenly involved in after the first Covid-19 lockdown of 2020. They will also receive information about "SciCo+" a European research project, some of whose activities they could be able to continue to participate in, even after the Annual Conference.
Facilitator
Amsterdam & Leiden
Netherlands
Session speakers
Director of the Science Centre
The speaker will shortly introduce the project "SciCo+" and how participants can benefit from it. He will then focus on the "Futuro Remoto" festival which was organized online for two editions (2020 and 2021) and on the lessons learned during this experience for the 2022 edition, both towards visitors and towards the research community with which the festival is co-organized.
Head of Department for Education
The Pavilion of Knowledge-Ciência Viva Centre developed online initiatives to continue to be relevant for its different publics while its physical doors were closed. In a very short time we developed #CienciaVivaemCasa, a platform with science activities for families at home. We also participated in the home schooling project in national TV, Estudo em Casa (Study at Home) in partnership with the Ministry of Education. Besides the virtual tours available on our webpage, we also developed a new concept of virtual guided tours where a host guides virtual visitors to our exhibitions, including a short intervention of a scientist. These guided tours included a final synchronous part where an explainer interacted with the participants.
The presentation will introduce, as a stimulus to the discussion in groups, examples of digital activities carried out during the pandemic crisis by Navet in Sweden, with the aim of keeping the contact with the public alive.
Based on feedback from science explainers, Catherine will present some examples of strategies developed online during the closure of museums that can be mobilised today to keep the link with the audience, in particular during face-to-face activities.
Researcher and Lecturer in Science Education
Joseph will present several science communication innovations that occurred in Ireland during the pandemic, from creating online reflective journals for science communication professionals, to moving science exhibitions outside of museums and into unusual public spaces such as on ferries between remote islands on Ireland's north coast. Data gathered from science communication events in Ireland before and during the pandemic will demonstrate how the shift to online engagement affected the type of audiences attending public engagement events.
