Feeling Left Out: Underserved Audiences in Science Communication

Christian Humm, Philipp Schrögel and Annette Leßmöllmann
Additional contact information
Christian Humm: Department for Science Communication, Institute of Technology Futures, Karlsruhe Institute for Technology, Germany
Philipp Schrögel: Department for Science Communication, Institute of Technology Futures, Karlsruhe Institute for Technology, Germany
Annette Leßmöllmann: Department for Science Communication, Institute of Technology Futures, Karlsruhe Institute for Technology, Germany

Media and Communication, 2020, vol. 8, issue 1, 164-176

Abstract: Science communication only reaches certain segments of society. Various underserved audiences are detached from it and feel left out, which is a challenge for democratic societies that build on informed participation in deliberative processes. While only recently researchers and practitioners have addressed the question on the detailed composition of the not reached groups, even less is known about the emotional impact on underserved audiences: feelings and emotions can play an important role in how science communication is received, and “feeling left out” can be an important aspect of exclusion. In this exploratory study, we provide insights from interviews and focus groups with three different underserved audiences in Germany. We found that on the one hand, material exclusion factors such as available infrastructure or financial means as well as specifically attributable factors such as language skills, are influencing the audience composition of science communication. On the other hand, emotional exclusion factors such as fear, habitual distance, and self- as well as outside-perception also play an important role. Therefore, simply addressing material aspects can only be part of establishing more inclusive science communication practices. Rather, being aware of emotions and feelings can serve as a point of leverage for science communication in reaching out to underserved audiences.

Keywords: emotion; exclusion; feelings; focus groups; inclusion; marginalisation; science communication; underserved audiences (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.cogitatiopress.com/mediaandcommunication/article/view/2480 (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:cog:meanco:v8:y:2020:i:1:p:164-176

DOI: 10.17645/mac.v8i1.2480

Access Statistics for this article

Media and Communication is currently edited by Raquel Silva

More articles in Media and Communication from Cogitatio Press
Bibliographic data for series maintained by António Vieira () and IT Department ().