Matthew Nisbet
Professor of Communication at Northeastern University.
nisbetmc
Posts by this author
December 12, 2008
In a Policy Forum article this week at Science, Hampshire College professor Salman Hameed discusses the reasons for widespread rejection of evolution across Islamic countries.
Surveys show, for example, that public acceptance of evolution stands at lower than 20% in many Muslim nations. The reason…
December 11, 2008
Next year, as the science community celebrates the 150th anniversary of the publication of Darwin's On the Origin of Species, leading organizations such as the AAAS, NIH, and the National Academies will be participating in coordinated efforts to reach out to new audiences, emphasizing the value…
December 11, 2008
Think Progress, the blog for the Center for American Progress, has a detailed run down on the Obama administration's announced appointment of Steve Chu as Energy secretary, Carol Browner as the head of the new National Energy Council, and Lisa Jackson as head of the EPA. At Dot Earth, Andrew Revkin…
December 11, 2008
The University of Wisconsin news office has posted a valuable Q&A with my friend and UW professor Dietram Scheufele. The occasion is a new study he has published with colleagues at Nature Nanotechnology, examining the relationship between the social background of audiences and their views on…
December 9, 2008
Over at George Mason's Center for Climate Change Communication, they are hosting a poll asking readers to vote for the 2008 Climate Change Communicator of the Year. Among the choices are such notables as Thomas Friedman, Bill McKibbon, John Warner, and Chevron's "Will You Join Us" Campaign.
But…
December 8, 2008
About a 100 attendees turned out for Thursday night's talk at the New York Academy of Sciences. The event marked the end of a year long series on science communication that was launched by Kate Seip, Liz Oswald, and other New York-area graduate students in partnership with the Academies.
As I…
December 8, 2008
This summer I will be heading to Denmark to speak at a June 11 conference of the Danish Science Journalists' Association. A major focus of this year's conference will be the framing of science debates and the connection to policy making and research funding.
Held in Copenhagen, about 250 attendees…
December 8, 2008
On last week's announcement that CNN is shifting the focus and form of its science coverage, I am going to be posting what is a very different interpretation than the predictable laments from various bloggers. But, for now, the CNN announcement also directs attention towards what I believe is the…
December 4, 2008
The National Academies is doing some preliminary pilot research on a new communication initiative. As part of that process, they want to find out what science blogs readers think are the most important and pressing issues in science. Below is a description and a link to an online survey that they…
December 3, 2008
The NY Academy of Sciences offers a stunning venue for public talks, forums, and receptions, with a view from the 40th floor of 7 World Trade Center.
Thursday morning I will be heading up to New York to give a 7pm talk at the New York Academy of Sciences. A crowd of more than 100 is expected for…
November 30, 2008
The HHMI Bulletin, the monthly magazine of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, runs a lengthy feature on science blogging in its November issue. I am quoted in the article with fellow Sciblings Tara Smith and Alex Palazzo.
Readers of Scienceblogs are likely to find the article of strong interest…
November 26, 2008
A few bloggers have registered their reaction to last week's PRI radio segment that questions the wisdom of calling climate change and evolution opponents "deniers." Most notably Orac, Mike the Mad Biologist, and Mark Hofnagle argue that their preferred brand of name calling remains the best…
November 21, 2008
PRI The World ran a 10 minute feature today on the wisdom of using the term "denier" in the debate over climate change and other science policy controversies.
Correspondent Jason Margolis does a terrific job in synthesizing research and comments from various experts on why the use of the label by…
November 20, 2008
My heads up on a forthcoming segment at Public Radio International's The World has generated a discussion about the communication misfires that science advocates create when they use terms such as "denier" and "anti-science."
The segment is scheduled to appear tomorrow (Friday). It will follow a…
November 18, 2008
I taped an interview yesterday with PRI/BBC The World discussing the unfortunate use by science advocates of the term "denier" in debates over climate change, evolution, and other issues involving scientific expertise. I'm told the segment may appear as early as today or tomorrow. Archived audio…
November 17, 2008
For members of the science policy community, I will be giving a talk tonight at 6pm at AAAS headquarters, titled "Science Communication Reconsidered: Key Issues for 2009 and Beyond." (1200 New York Ave., NW.)
In the talk, I will be focusing in detail on recent innovations in public engagement…
November 14, 2008
This past year, in the School of Communication here at American University, we were lucky to add to our faculty Lauren Feldman, a newly minted PhD from the Annenberg School of Communication at the University of Pennsylvania.
Lauren (whose office is across the hall from mine) studies the impact of…
November 14, 2008
What else is new in the Obama presidency? Presidents have given weekly radio addresses for decades, but Obama plans to take this vehicle for direct communication digital, offering motivated viewers (and bloggers) weekly YouTube address. See the report at the Huffington Post.
November 12, 2008
Photo credit.
Readers in DC, New York City, and several other locations may be interested in turning out for talks I will be giving over the coming months. Details on dates, sponsors, and locations are below (the last still pending).
Science Communication Re-Considered: Key Issues for 2009 and…
November 5, 2008
From the Chronicle of Higher Education:
The 2008 presidential election has broken so many political barriers that historians may overlook one unusual fact: When Barack Obama takes the oath of office next January alongside his running mate, Joe Biden, it will be the first time in history that the…
November 4, 2008
With polls looking good for an Obama victory, here's a clip from an interview I did with Big Think back in July, discussing why Obama has been such a successful communicator.
November 4, 2008
Opinion-leaders are a commonly overlooked resource by science organizations and advocates. Public communication initiatives too often ignore the special individuals across communities and social groups that can serve as vital go-betweens and information brokers, passing on messages about an issue…
November 3, 2008
Polls including cell-phones are highlighted in orange.
Wondering about the variation across survey organizations in estimating Obama's national lead? As I have been discussing in my research methods course here at AU, much of the variation is likely accounted for by differences in likely voter…
October 31, 2008
Obama took over the airwaves Wednesday night, hitting most of the important audience groups. According to Nielsen (above), Obama's 30 minute 8pm infomercial which aired on CBS, FOX, NBC, Univision, BET, MSNBC, and TV One drew a combined 33.5 million viewers. His later taped appearance on The Daily…
October 24, 2008
In a Policy Forum article published this week at Science, MIT Professor of Management John Sterman reports on an experiment that shows just how self-defeating it is to continue to overburden the public with technical and science-laden explanations of climate change, especially when the…
October 24, 2008
Following on the heels of Expelled and Obsession, a film warning of radical
Islam, there's more signs that the Right has discovered documentary film as a strategic communication tool to shape policy and mobilize their base.
Newt Gingrich in TV news appearances is promoting his new film on America…
October 22, 2008
How strong is the partisan divide on perceptions of global warming? The tendency for Republicans to doubt the reality of climate change means that they are even distrustful of John McCain's advocacy for action on the problem.
From a news release for a survey just released by Anthony Leiserowitz of…
October 19, 2008
In a two hour special, PBS Frontline tackles what the award winning series calls the most important issue of our time. (Promo above.) The special program airs Tuesday night in most US markets, check your local listings.
"I have reported on the Cold War, the breakup of the Soviet Union, the rise…
October 16, 2008
The chatter among pundits and journalists this post-debate morning has focused in part on John McCain's body language and split-screen demeanor. There was a clear aggressiveness and emotion to McCain's performance last night, much of it signaled not just when he was speaking, but also in split-…
October 16, 2008
Film education? Consulting scientists on Jurassic Park helped morph the image of dinosaurs in the public's mind from reptilian to avian, popularized the idea of "Chaos Theory," and made plausible the notion of animal cloning, preparing the public for later real world announcements such as Dolly the…