Foto: Pixaby Briefly analysed
An elementary part of dialogue is – besides the communicating part – listening. In public engagement, the latter is hardly taken into account. This should change. In order to understand what citizens actually receive and where they need more engagement. If you listen to them, you can adapt projects better. Listening should therefore be part of the public engagement strategy. It is time-consuming, but rewarding in the long run. Both citizens and scientists benefit.
Attention Listening requires time and concentration. Find out why this should be part of public engagement and what the benefits are.
More and more scientists and research institutions are engaging in science communication. But communication alone is not enough. Proper engagement only works with dialogue. If researchers and universities really want the public to understand science, they need to listen. In the U.K. and the U.S., universities incorporate this part into interactive formats and rely on dialogue. It’s called public engagement. Why listening should be a fundamental part of the public engagement strategy is the topic of this article.
Partners instead of clients
In most of grasshopper kreativ’s projects we apply the co-creative approach. We work together with our clients and consider them as partners. Together with them we develop the project. It is best to involve as many different voices from our partners as possible. As a result, different perspectives and empirical values are incorporated. In this process it is important to listen. That way we can find out if they really need a podcast, or if another format is more appropriate. This approach is equally suitable for developing a public engagement strategy. Both the one for the public engagement area of an university, and the one for public engagement formats.
Effort of listening pays off
Real listening is difficult. It requires time and concentration. In short, you have to get involved with the other party – in the case of public engagement, with various citizens. The community agrees that listening is part of communication and that it is important. Scientists who enter into dialog with citizens gain inspiration for their research, find out how they think about science, and discover which areas need explanation.
Listening as part of the engagement
Those who are responsible should pay attention to the component of listening, when setting up a public engagement area in universities. In this process it’s best to get in touch with the public from the very beginning. First through stakeholders and then additionally in special activities. The SciComm community has already developed some dialog formats such as citizen consultation hours, the living library or science bench event.
The advantage of listening
If research institutions involve the public at the outset, this builds trust. As an aside, part of this is ensuring that the public understands the scientific research process. Concrete listening makes it clear: the majority of people outside science do not know how science arrives at its results. Moreover, listening minimizes the danger of thinking from the “ivory tower.” That is, that those in charge shape the public engagement strategy from their thinking, which is determined by their bubble. When they actively listen to citizens, they develop an understanding of how science reaches them or what citizens want to understand. This knowledge shapes the strategy.
When public engagement experts and SciComm engage the public directly, they are more likely to reach them later. So why not listen from the beginning to those you want to reach?