Engaging with Online Audiences: A cross-country analysis of use of the Web for communicating biomedical science to public audiences.

摘要

This research project is an examination of the websites of biomedical research institutes toudidentify the extent to which the Web is used to communicate science to public audiences.udThrough a review of the literature, it was found that biomedical research institutes canudcommunicate information effectively by targeting content at particular segments of theirudaudience; providing in-depth yet accessible information; endeavouring to take an openudapproach to communication, in order to build trust, which does not attempt to shield theudpublic from uncertainty; and blending different approaches to, or models of, communication.udThis research was accomplished through a content analysis of the websites of 68 biomedicaludresearch centres in the United Kingdom, Ireland, United States, Canada and ContinentaludEurope. The websites were examined for their attribution and transparency; content andudcurrency; interactivity and navigation; design; and accessibility. Further data was obtainedudthrough questionnaires from communication practitioners in the institutes in order to validateudcontent analysis results.udResearch has shown that biomedical research institutes in the United States surpass the otherudcountries in their efforts to communicate with public audiences via the Web. Of the five highestudscoring websites, four were located in the United States. On a whole however, the publicudcommunication of biomedical research does not appear to be the primary aim of onlineudcommunication and the deficit model is still widely used with very little opportunity providedudfor user discussion or interaction.