台灣科學社群對部落格的想像：同儕交流的延伸、公眾溝通的未滿

Abstract

社交媒體的興起，增加了科學家與公眾交流的選項，不需要依賴大眾媒體。當前多元的媒體傳播環境中，較少研究系統性地探討科學家如何參與公眾科學傳播，無從理解社交媒體對公眾科學傳播的意義為何。本研究透過線上問卷訪談台灣生物醫學、自然和工程科學家。分析 272 份有效問卷的結果顯示，即使是在網路、傳播媒介多元的環境中，和公眾面對面的傳播溝通，仍是科學家最常參與的公眾傳播形式。受訪科學家中，僅少數科學家表示有在經營部落格，經營部落格的科學家期望藉由部落格，拓展同儕團體，和與公眾對話。本研究未能納入人文社會學者，期望未來研究能進一步擴大訪談領域，更完整地描繪社交媒體在台灣公眾科學傳播的意義。

The rise of social media has increased scientists’ options to communicate directly with the public without having to rely on journalistic mediation. However, little is known about how Taiwanese scientists engage with the public in times of social media. This study provides empirical evidence about Taiwanese scientists’ participation in public science communication and the role of social media in that respect. Responses of 272 biomedical, natural and engineering scientists provide an overview of their behaviors and preferences regarding public communication. Traditional face-to-face communication is still the most frequent activity for scientists’ public participation. Of our respondents, only a dozen scientists blog and only few of them blog regularly. Their answers regarding the target audiences they have in mind suggest that blogs primarily serve to address an extended peer community and a channel to communicate with the general public. This study did not include social scientists; future research is necessary to close this gap.