[P2P-F] Fwd: JCOM 10(3) - new issue - September 2011

Thu Sep 22 09:27:03 CEST 2011

ok, will do ASAP!
ciao
a

> Dear friends,
>
> I have no time right now because of my trip, but it would be really great if
> someone could announce the issue, with focus on the articles on genomics ...
>
> Alessandro, I know you don't like to present your own article, but perhaps
> by pointing to the totality of the genomics articles?
>
> Michel
>
> ---------- Forwarded message ----------
> From: <jcom-eo at jcom.sissa.it>
> Date: Wed, Sep 21, 2011 at 5:05 PM
> Subject: JCOM 10(3) - new issue - September 2011
> To: michelsub2004 at gmail.com
>
>
>
> Dear all, we announce that the September 2011 issue of JCOM - Journal of
> Science Communication - (issue 3, volume 10)
>
> http://jcom.sissa.it/
>
> is online.
>
> Comments, remarks and papers by you are kindly requested.
>
> Next issue will be online on the 21st December 2011.
>
> CONTENTS:
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> ARTICLE
>
> Print media reportage of agricultural biotechnology in the Philippines: a
> decade’s (2000-2009) analysis of news coverage and framing
>
> Mariechel J. Navarro, Jenny A. Panopio, Donna Bae Malayang, Noel Amano Jr.
>
> This article presents key results of a ten-year study of media coverage of
> agricultural biotechnology in the Philippines, the only country in Asia to
> date to approve a biotech food/feed crop (Bt corn) for commercialization.
> The top three national English newspapers – Manila Bulletin, Philippine
> Daily Inquirer, and Philippine Star were analyzed to determine patterns of
> media attention measured by coverage peaks, tone, source of news, keywords,
> and media frames used. Biotechnology news was generally positive but not
> high in the media agenda. News coverage was marked by occasional peaks
> brought about by drama and controversial events which triggered attention
> but not long enough to sustain interest. The study provides a glimpse into
> the role of mass media in a developing country context. It shows how a
> complex and contentious topic is integrated into the mainstream of news
> reporting, and eventually evolves from an emotional discourse to one that
> allows informed decision making.
>
> http://jcom.sissa.it/archive/10/03/Jcom1003%282011%29A01/
>
> **********
>
> Media framing of stem cell research: a cross-national analysis of political
> representation of science between the UK and South Korea
>
> Leo Kim
>
> This paper compares opinion-leading newspapers’ frames of stem cell research
> in the UK and South Korea from 2000 to 2008. The change of news frames,
> studied by semantic network analysis, in three critical periods
> (2000-2003/2004-2005/2006-2008) shows the media’s representative strategies
> in privileging news topics and public sentiments. Both political and
> national identity represented by each media outlet play a crucial role in
> framing scientific issues. A news frame that objectifies medical
> achievements and propagates a popular hope evolves as a common discourse in
> The Telegraph and The Guardian, with expanded issues that both incorporate
> and keep in check social concerns. South Korea’s Chosun Ilbo follows the
> frame of objectified science with a strong economic motivation, while
> Hankyoreh remains critical of the ‘Hwang scandal’ and tempers its scientific
> interest with broader political concerns.
>
> http://jcom.sissa.it/archive/10/03/Jcom1003%282011%29A02/
>
> **********
>
> Public understanding of environment and bioenergy resources
>
> Gauhar Raza, P.V.S. Kumar, Surjit Singh
>
> There exists a distinct disconnect between scientists’ perception of nature
> and people’s worldview. This ‘disconnect’ though has dialectical
> relationship with science communication processes which, causes impediments
> in the propagation of scientific ideas. Those ideas, which are placed at
> large cultural distance, do not easily become a part of cognitive structure
> of a common citizen or peoples thought complex. Low level of public
> understanding of bio-energy technologies is one such sphere of
> understanding. The present study is based on assumption that public debate
> on bio-energy is part of the larger human concern about climate change. In
> this paper we present meta-analyses from published literature and take a
> look at the surveys that have been carried out at national and international
> level. In the second section of the article we also present analysis of the
> survey study carried out in India and locate the shifts in public
> understanding of science.
>
> http://jcom.sissa.it/archive/10/03/Jcom1003%282011%29A03/
>
> **********
>
> A pilot project to encourage scientific debate in schools. Comics written
> and peer reviewed by young learners
>
> Giovanni Lo Iacono, Adélia S.A.T. de Paula
>
> Comprehension of the nature and practice of science and its social context
> are important aspects of communicating and learning science. However there
> is still very little understanding amongt the non-scientific community of
> the need for debate in driving scientific knowledge forward and the role of
> critical scrutiny in quality control. Peer review is an essential part of
> this process. We initiated and developed a pilot project to provide an
> opportunity for students to explore the idea that science is a dynamic
> process rather than a static body of facts. Students from two different
> schools experienced the process of peer-review by producing and reviewing
> comics related to the science done at Rothamsted Research. As authors,
> students showed a large degree of creativity and understanding of the
> science while as referees they showed good critical skills. Students had at
> first hand an insight into how science works.
>
> http://jcom.sissa.it/archive/10/03/Jcom1003%282011%29A04/
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> COMMENT
>
> Know your genes. The marketing of direct-to-consumer genetic testing
>
> Alessandro Delfanti
>
> Genetic testing promises to put the ability to decide about our life choices
> in our hands, as well as help solve crucial health problems by preventing
> the insurgence of diseases. But what happens when these exams are managed by
> private companies in a free market? Public communication and marketing have
> proven to be crucial battlefields on which companies companies need to
> engage in order to emerge. This issue of JCOM tries to shed some light on
> the communication and marketing practices used by private companies that
> sell direct-to-consumer genetic testing, from single genetic mutations to
> whole genome sequencing.
>
> http://jcom.sissa.it/archive/10/03/Jcom1003%282011%29C01/
>
> **********
>
> Predictive or preposterous? The marketing of DTC genetic testing
>
> Timothy Caulfield
>
> Direct-to-consumer (DTC) genetic testing has generated a great deal of
> social controversy. While the degree to which DTC testing actually causes
> harm remains uncertain, there is a consensus that the information provided
> by these companies should be accurate. Unfortunately, this is often not the
> case. Indeed, there are misrepresentations associated with all forms of
> testing, be it for superficial cosmetic services, athletic ability or
> disease predisposition. Countering this phenomenon will require a wide range
> of actions, including the use of formal regulatory mechanisms, the education
> of primary healthcare providers (in order to give them the tools necessary
> to advise patients and respond to questions) and more aggressive action by
> the genetic research community.
>
> http://jcom.sissa.it/archive/10/03/Jcom1003%282011%29C01/Jcom1003%282011%29C02
>
> **********
>
> From symptomatic to pre-symptomatic patient: the tide of personal genomics
>
> Marina Levina, Roswell Quinn
>
> Personal Genomics Companies are an emerging form of biotechnology startup
> that bring rapidly advancing whole genome technologies to a variety of
> commercial venues. With a combination of direct-to-consumer marketing,
> social media, and Web 2.0 applications these companies seek to create novel
> uses, including entertainment, for what is described as predictive medicine
> – that is the use of genetic marketers to create health forecasts that would
> allow individual’s healthcare to be tailored to their individual genomic
> data. In this brief piece, the authors use a critical cultural approach to
> question how this combination of genomics research, marketing, and
> communications technologies may alter both patient experiences and research
> processes. In it we argue these companies radically expand the definition of
> a patient by claiming all consumers are simply pre-symptomatic patients.
> Moreover, by placing genomic data on both the marketplace and cyberspace,
> personal genomic companies see
>  k to create new avenues of research that alter how we define (and access)
> research agendas and human subjects. Therefore, beyond commonly discussed
> issues of ethics and privacy rights, Personal Genomics has the potential to
> alter both healthcare priorities and distribution.
>
> http://jcom.sissa.it/archive/10/03/Jcom1003%282011%29C01/Jcom1003%282011%29C03
>
> **********
>
> Of deterritorialization, healthism and biosocialities: the companies'
> marketing and users' experiences of online genetics
>
> Pascal Ducournau, Claire Beaudevin
>
> Since the early 2000s, anybody can buy genetic tests, directly sold on the
> Internet. These tests provide information about susceptibilities to some
> diseases and/or about ancestry. Thus, this article deals with a new
> e-market, whose scientific basis (validity of the tests) and status (as
> medical devices or consumer goods) are currently controversial. On one hand,
> we describe the tests and the advertisement and marketing strategies used by
> the companies (we made an inventory of about 40); on the other hand, we
> discuss several aspects on the basis of interviews conducted with users:
> first, the entanglement of these strategies with the global context of
> healthism and the emphasis put on individuals’ empowerment regarding health
> decisions — “individualized biopolitics”. In addition, this article broaches
> the new kind of biosocial networks appearing in these tests’ wake: some
> users indeed gather on the basis of a genetic proximity, as is it put
> forward by their results.
>
> http://jcom.sissa.it/archive/10/03/Jcom1003%282011%29C01/Jcom1003%282011%29C04
>
> **********
>
> DCGT: the individual's benefits above all
>
> Donato Ramani, Chiara Saviane
>
> Easy, cheap, efficient as online service often are. Direct to Consumer
> Genetic Testing (DCGT) represents a big evolution towards personalised
> medicine. If the phenomenon seems to be unstoppable, the first aim of its
> present and future developments should be the customers’ benefits. A
> certified quality of the services provided, a clear communication and a
> well-structured support to customers should be the critical conditions that
> could transform those online services in something really important: for the
> individual’s health and the society as a whole.
>
> http://jcom.sissa.it/archive/10/03/Jcom1003%282011%29C01/Jcom1003%282011%29C05
>
> **********
>
> Genomics' problem of communication
>
> Jenny Reardon
>
> Since opening their doors in late 2006, personal genomics (PG) companies
> have faced skepticism and criticism from influential academic and government
> circles. While this has posed a clear problem of communication for these
> companies — one of effective promotion — I argue that the communication
> problem these companies face runs much deeper. It is a problem that lies at
> the heart of any genomics: the very understanding of communication and
> information around which genomics is built. While the value of genomic
> information for persons has been widely questioned, questions about the very
> notion of information that undergirds the production of genomic information
> rarely, if ever, has been broached. I suggest that making significant
> inroads into the vexing debates about PG would be greatly aided by
> addressing these more fundamental questions about the nature of information,
> and its genomic qualities.
>
> http://jcom.sissa.it/archive/10/03/Jcom1003%282011%29C01/Jcom1003%282011%29C06
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> REVIEW
>
> A reference for science communication
>
> Marina Ramalho e Silva
>
> S. Hornig Priest (ed.), Enciclopedia of Sicence and Technology
> Communitaction, Sage Publications Inc. (2010)
>
> http://jcom.sissa.it/archive/10/03/Jcom1003%282011%29R01/
>
>
>
>
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-- 
Alessandro Delfanti
ICS, Innovations in the Communication of Science
Sissa, Trieste, Italy
delfanti at sissa.it
http://people.sissa.it/~delfanti/

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