Science on Television by Bienvenido León.
The book is a clear and systematic guide to the narrative and rhetorical techniques used by science documentary filmmakers. The book is priced at £18.50, but for direct orders we are offering a 20% discount.
Motivating Science, is a collection of articles from the first five years of The Pantaneto Forum. We are offering a 20% discount for direct orders.
Editorial
Multi-disciplinary research gives rise to special problems: from organisation of diverse groups to research funding mechanisms. In “Organisational and technological challenges of large-scale multi-disciplinary scientific research”, Marina Jirotka et al describe the “Integrative Biology” project whose primary goal is to develop a virtual research environment for groups of researchers across different disciplines. The initial fields of study of the project are cardiovascular disease and cancer. Studies of such “Big Science” research groups are in their infancy, but with the growing importance of such international collaboration, it is important to try to highlight factors which enhance or inhibit research function.
“We need more data” is a cry often heard in research circles, but successfully extracting useful and relevant knowledge from data is another story entirely. In a critical review of current approaches to the problem of identifying interesting patterns in data, Alex Freitas demonstrates that methods which are data-driven are not as effective as user-driven methods, in discovering truly interesting knowledge to the user – letting the facts “speak for themselves” is an encouragement to “bad science”.
How do communication professionals such as journalists and those working in public relations deal effectively with statistical data? The answer is often – not very well. According to Fred Zandpour and Tony Rimmer, in the United States only a handful of undergraduate media studies and communication degrees require completion of a course in statistics. In “Media Studies and Statistics”, they suggest ways of combating the negative attitude towards statistics, as well as enhancing student’s understanding and ability to effectively communicate statistical information.
Nigel Sanitt
Editor
ISSN 1741-1572
Contents
Articles
Are We Really Discovering “Interesting” Knowledge From Data? Alex A. Freitas
Comment
Comment on “The Bologna Process” The Pantaneto Forum Issue 29, January 2008, Lewis Elton