Talking science: Women scientists’ engagement in spoken public science communication online

Abstract

We use survey data from women scientists in biology and health sciences to explore digital spoken genres of public science communication and the use of digital tools and resources to produce them. Our results show that more than half of the respondents engage in digital spoken practices that promote scientific culture on digital media. Notably, the type of research methodology used by the respondents influences their level of engagement in these practices, with those using quantitative methodologies showing the lowest level of engagement. Both traditional digital tools (content, audio, and video editing tools) and new generation digital tools (open multimedia resources, AI) are not yet widely used, despite their potential for crafting persuasive texts for science outreach. We found significant statistical associations between the use of digital tools and the importance that the respondents and their professional contexts attribute to specific digital spoken genres. In light of these findings, we argue for greater recognition of digital public science communication practices at the policy level. We also recommend implementing collaborative, multimodal composition tasks as a pedagogical approach to help scientists develop oral and digital communication skills for effective online science communication.