Communicating Science in Times of Crisis

COVID-19 Pandemic

H. Dan O'Hair, Mary John O'Hair, H. Dan O'Hair, Mary John O'Hair

• Publisher: Wiley-Blackwell
• Year: 2021
• Print ISBN: 9781119751779
• eBook ISBN: 9781119751793
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Education
• Subtopic: Education Counseling

Learn more about how people communicate during crises with this insightful collection of resources

In Communicating Science in Times of Crisis: COVID-19 Pandemic, distinguished academics and editors H. Dan O'Hair and Mary John O'Hair have delivered an insightful collection of resources designed to shed light on the implications of attempting to communicate science to the public in times of crisis. Using the recent and ongoing coronavirus outbreak as a case study, the authors explain how to balance scientific findings with social and cultural issues, the ability of media to facilitate science and mitigate the impact of adverse events, and the ethical repercussions of communication during unpredictable, ongoing events.

The first volume in a set of two, Communicating Science in Times of Crisis: COVID-19 Pandemic isolates a particular issue or concern in each chapter and exposes the difficult choices and processes facing communicators in times of crisis or upheaval. The book connects scientific issues with public policy and creates a coherent fabric across several communication studies and disciplines. The subjects addressed include:

• A detailed background discussion of historical medical crises and how they were handled by the scientific and political communities of the time
• Cognitive and emotional responses to communications during a crisis
• Social media communication during a crisis, and the use of social media by authority figures during crises
• Communications about health care-related subjects
• Data strategies undertaken by people in authority during the coronavirus crisis

Perfect for communication scholars and researchers who focus on media and communication, Communicating Science in Times of Crisis: COVID-19 Pandemic also has a place on thebookshelves of those who specialize in particular aspects of the contexts raised in each of the chapters: social media communication, public policy, and health care.

Part 1
Conceptualizing Communication Science and COVID-19

1
Managing Science Communication in a Pandemic

H. Dan O’Hair and Mary John O’Hair

University of Kentucky

In December 2019, events began cascading in Asia that changed the lives of everyone on this planet. The transmission of a virus from a bat to humans (known as zoonotic) was little understood at the time, but after only a period of three months, the coronavirus that became known as COVID-19 became the conversation on the tips of tongues of all people. The pushing out of science by medical, technical, even political professionals developed into an onslaught of information that tested most individuals’ learning curves.

The study of science communication has taken some important turns in the last 20–30 years. The meteoric spread of infectious diseases; changing conditions in society, in the atmosphere, in our climate; technological advances; and changes in human relationships have offered rich contexts in which to apply communication theory.

… disease outbreaks, terrorist acts, and natural disasters are obvious examples of contexts in which risk and health communication play increasingly critical roles. Broadcasting media have found risk and health crisis events to be particularly seductive as stories that fascinate their audiences. Moreover, with digital media evolving at such a rapid rate, many members of the audience have taken on the role of newsmaker or reporter—we are not entirely certain to what effect. Digital media has proven to serve many useful functions such as operating as a conduit for warnings to the public and acting as a gauge for how messages are received and acted upon. On top of these dynamic conditions, many in the science, risk and health communication research communities find extreme events and hazardous contexts to be on the increase, and an evolving media landscape introduces both challenges and opportunities for using communication to manage these situations.

(O’Hair, 2018, p. 3)

In this vein, this book will address issues related to the COVID-19 pandemic as well as the research implications intrinsic in the process of communicating science in times of crisis.

Outstanding Features

This book features chapters that reflect state-of-the art discussion by contributors who propose cutting-edge analysis on the topic of science communication involving extreme events. Authors were commissioned to explore the most salient issues in science communication contexts. Each of the chapters focuses on events and processes facing long into the future. In meeting this challenge, these volumes will feature a line of analysis that connects communication science issues, public policy, education, and the pandemic into a coherent narrative.

The authors created unique perspectives from which to portray these contexts and their accompanying challenges. Each chapter signifies the most up-to-date research in these areas with insightful ideas of where future research and best practices should proceed in the future. Like other recent scholarly books we have published (O’Hair, 2018; O’Hair & O’Hair, 2020), original research findings are offered from ongoing research programs, and in other chapters, unique frameworks and models are presented that unpack constituent elements of complex processes, and “casting them into discernable designs worthy of consideration by researchers, practitioners, and policy makers” (O’Hair, 2018, p. 4). The importance of this work is its ability to bring together the best scholarship in science communication research.

Just as importantly, this book is envisioned to serve as ignition for future work in science communication and to serve as a text for an increasing number of college courses in science communication. It is hoped that this book will nurture additional interest in many types of communication studies and offer connections between communication research and others engaged in science and educational contexts.

Each chapter was commissioned and reviewed with the ensuing guidelines in mind:

• Significant issue/problem?
• Theoretical grounding?
• Recent exemplars included?
• Practical and impactful implications?
• Implications (going forward)?
• New directions offered?
• Unique contribution to science communication research?

Communicating Science in Times of Crisis: COVID-19 Pandemic is intended for multiple audiences, with the primary audiences being those quite familiar to scholarly publishers and academic researchers. The book should attract interest among communication scholars and researchers focusing on science communication. In addition, it is hoped that seminars in science communication, crisis management, policy management, leadership studies, and even medicine will find the book attractive as a primary or secondary text. A third audience is likely to be found in main campus libraries and public libraries as well as libraries situated at health sciences centers. This project follows in the footsteps of other scholarly books, which have become a vital part of the academic and professional contributions of the communication disciplines. The chapters contained herein offer the opportunity to integrate ideas that are on the vanguard of science communication. The chapters throughout the book are organized through four parts: (a) conceptualizing communication science and COVID-19, (b) promoting health and well-being, (c) advancing models of information and media, (d) and examining policy and leadership. These chapters are employed as part of the overall strategy we lay out in offering an approach for using communication science more effectively during times of crisis, in particular the pandemic of COVID-19.

In the following sections of this chapter, we develop a sketch of three interlocking concepts that facilitate a path for managing the COVID-19 pandemic. We start with a discussion about the essential nature of science communication and the known and unknown complexities of moving science into the public realm where it can be leveraged. In a following section, we confront an inescapable truth of human society—pandemics. It is here that we peel back the veneer of dangerous illnesses that have always confronted our societies and those that in recent times have served as the harbinger of what we confront today and what will likely be in future generations. The section that follows is meant to highlight how communication science can serve as a strategy for mitigating the horrendous effects of COVID-19 and perhaps other viruses confronting us in the future.

The Essential Nature of Science Communication

Conceptualizations of processes termed science have been part of our vocabulary for hundreds of years. Science has had an intermittent relationship with the public—sometimes exalted (moon landings polio vaccine, etc.), sometimes suspicious or evil (wartime gases, oversized mistakes like Three Mile Island) and all too frequently those with mixed reviews (vaccines, weight control treatment, etc.). Another way of thinking about science is through considerations of analyses focusing on elements of the scientific process. One of the more abstract but elegant descriptions of science is “a way of knowing” (McComas & Nouri, 2016, p. 560). The processes for generating science are generally thought to include notions that science is not entirely objective, is socially embedded, is empirically based, and cannot answer all questions (Alshamrani, 2008). One generalization that could be made about science is that it has had a long history of advancing the efforts of humans, society, medicine, engineering, and technology. Most of these effects have been heralded by those who understand them and benefitted from them.

It might be useful to conclude this section with broader thoughts about the essential nature of science. Littlefield (this book) advances important arguments supporting the historically close relationship between science and public policy. Examples abound demonstrating how federal policymakers have partnered with scientific organization in order to protect citizens from harm and even develop ways to promote their well-being (Littlefield). The chapter from Childress and Clark (this book) are equally robust in their perspective that science and public policy should enjoy a productive future together. We feel comfortable in borrowing an exemplar quote from the chapte...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title page
• Copyright
• List of Contributors
• Part 1 Conceptualizing Communication Science and COVID-19
• Part 2 Promoting Health and Well-being
• Part 3 Advancing Models of Information and Media
• Part 4 Examining Policy and Leadership
• Index