Various efforts in science communication in the Philippines from the Department of Science and Technology were recognized in an international book recently published by the Australian National University.
The Journal Science Communication: A Contemporary Definition defines SciCom as the use of appropriate skills, media, activities, and dialogue to produce one or more of the following responses to science: Awareness, enjoyment, interest, opinion-forming, and understanding.
Entitled Communicating Science, the book has a chapter titled Philippines: From Science Then Communication to Science Communication which traced the history of SciCom in the country from the pre-colonial times up to the modern period.
Some works of the DoST were cited.
These were:
-- Annual National Science and Technology Week celebration which showcases various Science and Technology (S&T) through innovative SciCom methods.
-- Digital library-in-a-box called Science and Technology Academic and Research-Based Openly Operated Kiosks (STARBOOKS).
-- The Science Explorer Bus and NuLab and the DoST-Science Education Institute (DoST-SEI) mobile science learning facilities for elementary and high school students which have interactive exhibits, learning materials, and laboratory equipment which give students from under-equipped schools a hands-on and fun experience in science.
-- The official science and weather program of the DoST called “DOSTv” which airs science shows featuring Filipino scientists and their works, various programs and events of the department, local technologies and innovations, weather reports, and science trivia. “It is the department’s way of fighting the low profile of DoST and science in the national consciousness,” the book said.
Three SciCom practitioners from the academe and industry sectors authored the book.
They are Assistant Professor Garry Jay S. Montemayor from the University of the Philippines-Los Baños; Dr. Mariechel J. Navarro, former director of Global Knowledge Center on Crop Biotechnology; and Kamila Isabelle A. Navarro, a graduate of Master of Science Communication degree at Australian National University.
It was edited by some of the world-recognized experts in science communication like Toss Gascoigne, Michelle Riedlinger, Bruce V. Lewenstein, Luisa Massarani, and Peter Broks.
It featured the status of SciCom practice in 39 countries, among them the Philippines.
The whole book and the chapter on Philippine SciCom can be downloaded for free in the website https://press.anu.edu.au/.