[Commlist] ECREA workshop: Constructed facts, contested truths

Call for abstracts:

Constructed facts, contested truths: Science and environment 
controversies in media and public spaces.

ECREA Section on Science and Environmental Communication workshop at the 
MeCCSA Conference in Brighton 8-10. January 2020:

Deadline for abstract submission: 27. August 2019

A re-occurring theme in public debates is how to understand and talk 
about controversies pertaining to science and the environment. As 
climate change is pushed further forward on the international political 
agenda and as new technologies emerge, dilemmas of how humans interact 
with nature, technologies, capital and each other once again become ever 
more present in public debate. This puts well-known as well as new 
dilemmas on the current and future role of science in society into 
question. On the one hand, political actors rely on science to produce 
the facts and evidence required as inputs in decision-making. On the 
other hand, the privileged position of science to provide the answers is 
increasingly challenged in the public domain in the face of scientific 
uncertainty, complexity and disagreement.

Recent developments in relation to social and digital media have in 
particular raised the issue of factuality and truths in public debate. 
Particularly questions on how to maintain scientific integrity in an 
increasingly politicized environment are brought forward and accentuated 
by social and digital media. Moreover, media technologies increasingly 
invade the small-scale choices of everyday lives as well as larger 
societal and political questions on our interaction with the 
environment, technologies, health, risks etc. While authors in the field 
either endorse or take issue with the notion of post-truth, the question 
still remains how to make sense of the circulations of conflicting facts 
in current public debates on climate-change, pollution, vaccination, 
food safety and many other areas. This calls for a need to understand 
the role of media in conveying, spreading, contesting and constructing 
facts and truths about science and the environment.

In two connected workshops we will address the question of how facts are 
presented and constructed in the media, or other public fora, in 
relation to environmental and scientific controversies. We welcome 
theoretical, methodological or empirical papers, extended abstracts and 
case studies presenting new knowledge concerning all aspects of the 
circulation, construction and contestation of facts and truths in 
relation to science and the environment including but not limited to:

•          Analysis of the construction of truths and facts in all kinds 
of media and public debate

•          The role of social media in constructing facts within digital 
networks of communication

•          Visualisations of science and environmental information, 
debates and facts

•          Public contestations of scientific doxa

•          The role played by facts and the presentations of truths in 
deliberative or radical democratic processes relating to decisions on 
science and the environment

•          Issues of public trust in and the legitimization of key 
actors (eg. public authorities, industry, media) in fact-making processes

•          The role of digital literacy and journalists as educators for 
increasing public environmental engagement

Participating papers of a high academic standard will be considered for 
publication in an anthology under the workshop headline. For more 
information on the MeCCSA Conference see: 
http://www.meccsabrighton2020.co.uk

Please send your 200 word abstract to Mette Marie Roslyng by 27. August 
2019: (mmroslyng /at/ hum.aau.dk) <mailto:(mmroslyng /at/ hum.aau.dk)>

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