Audiences of science communication between pluralisation, fragmentation and polarisation

Abstract

Audiences have been a major component of how science communication was thought about and conceptualised in scholarly circles. But despite the importance given to audiences in science communication, they were, and still are, often difficult to grasp. This chapter distinguishes between the dissemination, dialogue and conversation models of science communication and shows how audience conceptualisations have developed from a mass ‘lay’ audience, through a dialogue partner to being theorised as stakeholders or conflict parties. It also discusses how plural audiences have come to exist for science communication, differing in their views of science in general or of specific science-related issues, as well as in their use of topical information and their media diet.