Communicating science: India, China exchange notes

New Delhi (IANS):  In perhaps the first attempt of its kind, scientists from India and China have come together to collate best practices in bringing people in their countries closer to science.

Researchers from both countries have put together science communication activities run by their respective governments in the book ‘Constructing Culture of Science: Communication of Science in India and China’.

The book, with contributions from 10 Indian and eight Chinese researchers, touches upon the role, efficacy and problems of formal and informal channels of communicating science.

‘It is perhaps for the first time that an attempt has been made to narrate the story of science communication in the two fastest emerging economies of the world,’ Gangan Prathap, director, Council of Scientific and Industrial Research-Niscair (National Institute of Science Communication and Information Sciences), told IANS.

‘There is no book that compares science communication efforts being made in the two cultures in such detail.’

A joint effort of scientists from Niscair and the China Research Institute for Science Popularisation (CRISP), it dwells upon question like: Does communication of science lead to development? Is a scientifically better informed citizen able to take better decisions in life?

A comparison or collation of science communication activities in the two countries, therefore, could provide deep insights into the prevailing state-of-the-art practices in the field, he said.

The book gives an overview of models, methodology, development of indicators and conceptual models that have been used for assessment of the present level of public understanding of science.

It was released by former Nasscom president Kiran Karnik Tuesday.

The primary audience of the present volume would be policy makers, science communicators, scholars probing public understanding of science, field activists working in organisations dedicated to science communication and mediapersons.

‘Both the countries can contribute a lot to science globally,’ Gauhar Raza, head, Science Communication through Multimedia Division, Niscair and editor of the book, told IANS.

‘The most important revelation of this exercise is that India and China are still two comparable countries when it comes to science despite the fact that China is ahead of us and we need to learn a lot from it.’

Raza says there is still lot of creativity in India and China when compared to the Western world, which has reached stagnation as societies in developed countries have become uniform.

‘India and China are alike in more ways than one. They house more than one-third of the world’s population, and face almost similar societal concerns, and are on a growth trajectory that requires substantial scientific inputs,’ said the scientist.

Raza, a noted documentary filmmaker, says the write-ups clearly highlight that India lacks in generating and recording data on science communication.

‘China every two years conducts a Scientific Literacy Survey collecting figures of impact of science communication programmes. It follows a meticulous policy to communicate science to every strata of society from labour to the organised sector, which we (India) don’t have,’ he said.

Ge Songxue, Counsellor of Science and Technology, Embassy of China in India, told IANS: ‘Together the two countries have a lot to contribute to the world pool of knowledge and economy and the cooperation between the two would benefit not only the people of the two countries but the entire humanity.’