Thanks to mobile technology, the latest news is always at our fingertips. But this convenience makes finding accurate and reliable information more difficult. Three UTS experts share their insights into how researchers can cut through the noise.
Dr Catriona Bonfiglioli, Dr Caleb Ferguson and Professor Liz Harry explain how communicating directly to the public can make it easier for researchers to demonstrate the impact of their work and find new sources of funding.
“We’re absolutely drowning in information,” says Senior Lecturer in Media Studies in the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences Dr Catriona Bonfiglioli.
“We haven’t just got a reduced quantity of health and science journalism, we’ve got wider access to press releases that come from commercial entities, we’ve got all the bloggers and tweeters and all the research-focused, hospital-focused and disease-specific websites, and now we have to add a drop of fake news into the mix.
“How on earth are ordinary folk supposed to navigate this wave of information and come out understanding what they’re meant to do?”
As an experienced journalist, medical writer and former president of the Australasian Medical Writers Association (a leading body promoting excellence in health and medical communications in Australia and New Zealand) Bonfiglioli sees huge potential for equipping the public with tools to better navigate health and science issues.
To this end, she would like to develop publicly available training in critical appraisal.
Bonfiglioli also plans to develop resources to bridge better communication between journalists and scientific and medical researchers. It’s part of an ongoing Australian Research Council Discovery Project in collaboration with researchers from the University of Sydney and Monash University.