Sure, ‘framing’ is important, but it just seems to be a new label to an age old mantra that any decent communicator knows: discuss [insert topic here] in a way that resonates with the audience. And since this really is a discussion at different levels – over minutes with a few people or over years nationwide – a loading dock of course doesn’t fly.

Yeah, sure, many people don’t do it right, but framing is neither new nor rocket science. We just have to realise we’re talking with (with, not to) people who are not us. Then we have to work out how to make our topic resonate. Neither are trivial, I admit.

Best,

D

Thanks for the comment. Roger does not advocate the “loading dock” approach. In fact, he’s been somewhat critical of it.

I thought the “loading dock” approach — just the facts, anything else would be politics — would describe what scientists should do according to RPJr.

You say it describes what’s recommended by PZ.

Are they both selling the same facts off the same dock?
How do they differ?

I applaud the conversation as well. And natural resource managers who use scenario analysis and adaptive management to manage their resources already know about local knowledge and adopt it into their management schemes. And have for years. They just can’t talk about it much to the atomists and empiricists. It’s changing, tho…

Best,

D

Thanks for the comment. I absolutely agree with your point that many scientists ignore the job of communicating with the public. And I applaud people like PZ (and many like him who I interact with on a daily basis). But for those who do take the responsibility of communication, Nisbet and Mooney are drawing attention to a useful body of research that sheds a lot of light on how that communication can be done more effectively to different audiences.

On your point about the Rwandan villagers, bravo! That’s a point the “loading dock” paper I linked to above reinforces.

I feel that a large proportion of scientists have ignored the job of communicating with the public. PZ and a few others have to be given a lot of credit for not only making the effort but for not toning or watering down the conversation to the point that it is useless.

I advocate (and will be writing more on this shortly) the development of a more pervasive component of “science engagement” within our own North American culture. I think this feature may be found more pervasive in other areas. For example, the average Rwandan villager living near the Virunga Volcanos probably has a very sophisticated and personalized understanding of primate (especially gorilla) conservation and primatology, owing to decades of engagement in that area.