Knowledge Producers and Knowledge Acquirers

Popularisation has traditionally been considered as the transmission of scientific knowledge from scientists to the lay public for purposes of edification, legitimation and training. Typically, it is seen as a low status activity, unrelated to research work, which scientists are often unwilling to do and for which they are ill-equipped, as the two Dutch symposia mentioned by Bunders and Whitley (1) exemplify. Essentially, popularisation is not viewed as part of the knowledge production and validation process but as something external to research which can be left to non-scientists, failed scientists or ex-scientists as part of the general public relations effort of the research enterprise. The critical activity of the modern scientists in this view, commonly held by many researchers in the natural sciences, is to produce true knowledge about the world and communicate findings to fellow initiates. Dissemination to other groups is at best a subsidiary activity which does not enhance, and may actually decrease, a researcher’s scientific reputation and prestige.