science on air Elisabetta Tola

formicablu, Bologna, Italy

SCIRAB, Science in radio broadcasting

25-27 sept 2012 – Barcelona, UPF www.formicablu.it

los primeros años

And everybody should be ashamed who uses the wonders of science and engineering without thinking and having mentally realized not more of it than a cow realizes of the botany of the plants which it eats with pleasure.

Think also about the fact that it is the engineers who make true democracy possible.

They facilitate not only the daily work of the people but also make the works of the finest thinkers and artists accessible to the public.

Albert Einstein, 7.08.1930, Berlin

Una teoria de la radio Bertolt Brecht, 1927-32

You little box, held to me escaping

So that your valves should not break

Carried from house to house to ship from sail to train,

So that my enemies might go on talking to me,

Near my bed, to my pain

The last thing at night, the first thing in the morning,

Of their victories and of my cares,

Promise me not to go silent all of a sudden.,

Svendborg poems (1934)

Der Lindberghflug (B. Brecht, Il volo di Lindbergh, 1929)

Hormödelle E

Aufklarüng fur Kinder

(Walter Benjamin, 1925-32)

Before the radio was invented, we barely knew any media that could be used for eminently popular dissemination purposes (...)

Dissemination was based on an established and experienced scientific heritage directly developed by science although leaving out the most difficult arguments. The essential trait of this type of outreach was the omission (...)

(Radio) lets the listeners know that their personal interest has a substantial value for the matter under investigation, and that their questions, even if not expressed aloud at the microphone, require new scientific findings.(...)

The dissemination is not only aimed at

mobilizing science towards the public, but at the same time, the public towards science (...) transforming the issues under investigation and acting on the science itself.

1932

radio as a civil tool…

Peppino Impastato, Radio Aut, 1978

Jean Dominique, Radio Haiti Inter, 2000

radio and the web

arteradio.com  

Neil  MacGregor  dire1ore  del  Bri3sh  Museum  

streaming  

archivio

The  Podfather  2004  

Adam  Curry  

RSS  +  

mp3  

iTunes  

cienciaes.com

las características del medio

Radio does not lack anything: its essence is related to the use of listening to get a full representation.

Rudolf Arnheim

Radio. The art of sound.

1936

War of the worlds, 1938

intimidad

emociones

Allen Funt, 1947

light weight - invisible

intimacy and linearity

•  flexible and able to enter hidden places: listens without being seen nor heard (candid microphone, 1947)

•  fragmentary and narrative: it has a rhythm and deals by and large with anecdote and episodes

•  chance to share cultural excitement provided by scientific discovery

•  good at communicating emotion and mood

a cognitive experience

a cognitive experience

•  “(…) radio is an extension of our nervous central system closer only to human discourse” (M. Mc Luhan)

•  whoever is speaking is speaking for you •  a conversation with a scientist •  phone ins: a strong interactive

experience (M. Merzagora and S. Coyaud)

creating images in your mind

•  reflection and thought: radio has a pace and creates a mental space

•  reflection and thought: two fondamental aspects of science communication

•  “Pictures can get in the way in the explanation of scientific ideas” (D. Cohen, BBC)

“It is easy to make pictures present dramatic and striking images - but images whose major impact is on the emotions.

I have, for instance, often asked

television colleagues to show me a picture of a moral dilemma. I am still waiting for one.”

(Geoff Deehan, BBC)

Chiamate Roma 3131, 1969 Paolo Cavallina y Luca Liguori a social

experience

el lenguaje radiofonico

a unique soundscape

la ciencia es una conversacion con la natura J. Wagensberg

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qué tipo de programas?

formicablu srl

science radio programmes

•  news story: science as politics or as light hearted final news (typically 3-5 minutes)

•  documentaries: science in a more explanatory

and narrative way (typ. 10-30 min.) •  debates: pro and cons in controversial issues

(typ. 20-60 min.)

formicablu srl

science radio programmes

•  phone ins: the listeners’ voices (typ. 20-60 min)

•  feature stories: magazines, discussions, debates, put findings in context and with comment

•  radio drama: from “War of the worlds” on... •  podcast: recorded feature or talk,

downloadable in mp3

Educational radio?

Science or devil’s advocate?

Styles

•  live/recorded •  as it is/edited •  dirty/clean •  speak as you eat/speak as you should •  excite/relax

interviews

•  Informative •  Interpretive •  Emotional •  Oral history

preparing your programme •  choose the format •  choose the topic •  choose the expert •  work with the expert:

–  you need to know a lot about the subject –  you need to get the right information and the right story

and metaphors from him/her –  you need to know how he/she speaks –  you need to test if you can joke, talk about politics, if he/

she is didactical, enthusiastic, serious, boring, an intellectual, a technician, ...

TALK WITH THE EXPERT!

formicablu srl

formicablu srl

El taller de radio Escoger un formato entre estos 3: 1.  Radiodrama: de un libro, de una pequena

historia, de un articulo 2.  Tarjeta audio sobre un aspecto de la ciudad 3.  Historia de una invencion o de un objecto 4.  Podcast por un semanal cientifico 5.  Entrevista en parejas Trabajar en parejas Ententar hacer uno script Grabar y editar