Science Communication: a "Down Under" Perspective

Abstract

In 1981, the Australian band Men at Work released a song called “Down Under, ” which topped the British, American and Australian charts. Since then it has become the anthem for an alternative worldview that is distinctly Australasian (New Zealanders, by extension, are included in that worldview because we share much in common with our near-neighbours, including a love of yeast-extract sandwich spreads). One of the song’s signature lines is: I said, “Do you speak-a my language?” He just smiled and gave me a vegemite sandwich There are two aspects of this that are relevant to the view of science communication that I wish to promote here. The first is the underlying assumption in the question that to truly understand something there needs to be a common language; the second is the peculiarly austral aspect, as represented by the vegemite sandwich. 1. Science Communication: a definition Science communication may be defined in broad terms as: the popularization of science. In practical terms this means distilling the results of scientific enquiry (which are usually published in papers or books conforming to the conventions and practices of scientific writing) into a

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