Toward The Tipping Point: Igniting a Social Epidemic of Scientists, Engineers and Technology Roles on Television

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Toward The Tipping Point Igniting a Social
Epidemic of Scientists, Engineers and Technology
Roles on Television
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Sharon Campbell Waters, Ph.D.Tidewater Community
CollegeJune 29, 2006National Science
FoundationArlington, VAinitiating a dialogue
about the creation, implementation, and
publication of social epidemics
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Purpose of the Dialogue Today

• dialogos through the word
• A dialogue is a stream of meaning flowing among
  us, through us and between us. This will make
  possible a flow of meaning in the whole group,
  out of which may emerge some new understanding.
  Its something new which may not have been in the
  starting point at all. Its something
  creativeand this shared meaning is the glue or
  cement that holds people and societies
  together.

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Fictional Representations Matter...

• the science and technology we ultimately see are
  partly shaped by the images of the work which
  exist outside the confines of the laboratory
  report or the scientific paper (Turney, 1998, p.
  3).
• While news and other non-fictional treatments of
  SET fields, and particular roles within them,
  help shape public perceptions, it may be
  fictional depictions and accounts that have the
  greatest influence.

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One of the Recommendations from the NSF Public
Affairs Advisory Group...

• 2 NSF should strengthen its relationship with
  the traditional broadcast and print media in
  order to establish NSF as a leading resource for
  SET information news, and expertise. A few
  strategies to achieve this objective are
• Field a group of experts that the media can turn
  to for objective information on recent advances
  and discoveries
• Find imaginative ways to link science stories
  with headline news, introduce science content
  into popular news topics and provide essential,
  unbiased information about complicated or
  controversial science-related issues that affect
  peoples lives.

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Among Recent Findings from the National Science
Foundations (NSF) Science Engineering
Indicators (2006)

• Television is still the main source of
  information about ST, but the Internet is a
  strong competitor.
• Most Americans do not think they are well
  informed about ST. While most have positive
  attitudes about the benefits of ST, some have
  reservations (moral issues, etc.)
• Surveys on topics ranging from the environment to
  nanotechnology reveal a variety of perceptions
  and concerns.
• But most importantly is the finding that

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Television and Other Forms of Popular Culture
Influence What Adults Know and Think About Science

• Of the comprehensive list (Table 7-1) of
  prime-time science programs on television in
  2005, none of the 29 shows are on broadcast
  networks (ABC, CBS, FOX, NBC, UPN, or WB) and
  only 3 are on PBS, the networks received by
  nearly all households.
• THEREFORE,

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The Time has Come to Ignite A Social Epidemic in
Science, Engineering and Technology (SET) Roles
on Television

• According to Gladwell (2002) The Tipping Point is
  the biography of an ideathe phenomena of word of
  mouth.
• Ideas and products and messages and behaviors
  spread just like viruses do (p. 7).
• The possibility of sudden change is at the
  center of the idea of The Tipping Point. Tipping
  is about a specific idea permeating through
  society.
• The Tipping Point is the magical moment of
  critical mass, the threshold, the boiling point
  (p. 12). Tipping happens only when a special
  person comes along, grabs an idea, and passes it
  on.

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All Epidemics have Tipping Points. Wanted
Mavens, Connectors, Salesmen (women)

• The Law of the Few states there are exceptional
  people who are capable of starting epidemics
• Mavens - Mavens have the knowledge and the social
  skills to start word-of-mouth epidemics.
  Information brokers. Data banks. What sets Mavens
  apart, though, is not so much what they know but
  how they pass it along (p. 67). Mavens provide
  the message.
• Connectors - are social glue. They spread the
  message.
• Salesmen(women) - A select group of people with
  the skills to persuade us when we are unconvinced
  of what we are hearing.
• Are you a Maven, a Connector, or a Salesman
  (woman)? Or all three?

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Social Epidemics of SET Roles on Television

• 1816--Frankenstein - Hollywood didnt create the
  governing myth of modern biology (Turney, 1998,
  p. 3), Mary Shelley did.
• Shelleys Frankenstein has long been a versatile
  frame for interpreting mankinds relationship
  with technology. She didnt offer predictions
  about the future of science, but she did at the
  beginning of the modern era, identify concerns
  which go to the heart of our response to science.

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Frankenstein (1816-Present)

• To make his creature, Victor Frankenstein
  dabbled among the unhallowed damps of the grave
  and frequented dissecting rooms and
  slaughterhouses. In Mary Shelleys day, as in our
  own, the health human form delighted and
  intrigued artists, physicians, and anatomists.
  But corpses, decaying tissue, and body parts
  stirred almost universal disgust. Alive or dead,
  whole or in pieces, human bodies arouse strong
  emotion--and account for part of Frankensteins
  enduring hold on us.

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STAR TREK

• 1966 - Created by Gene Roddenberry. In March and
  April 1977, NASA produced a television commercial
  with Lieutenant Uhura (Nichelle Nichols) who,
  surrounded by models of the Space Shuttle and the
  Enterprise, encouraged qualified minorities and
  women to apply to NASA. Although a previous
  yearlong recruitment drive had garnered only a
  hundred applications from women and fewer than
  thirty-five from minorities, after Nichols
  commercial aired, NASA received over 8,000
  applications, 1,649 from women an over 1,000 from
  minorities. Three African American astronaut
  trainees were selected Guy Bluford, Frederick
  Gregory, and Ron McNair.

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CSI, CSI NY, CSI Miami

• 2001 - (Also, Crossing Jordan, Cold Case, Law and
  Order, Forensic Files, Bones) - According to U.S.
  News World Report, televisions diet of
  forensic fantasy projects the image that all
  cases are solvable by highly technical science,
  and if you offer less than that, it is viewed as
  reasonable doubt. The burden it places on
  prosecutors is overwhelming. Prosecutors have
  named the phenomenon the CSI effect.

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NUMB3RSPotential Social Epidemic?

• 2005 a drama about an FBI agent who recruits
  his mathematical-genius brother to help the
  Bureau solve a wide range of challenging crimes
  in Los Angeles.
• Provides interactive We All Use Math Everyday
  website for viewers http//www.cbs.com/primetime
  /numb3rs/about.shtml

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Notable Mavens, Connectors, and Salespeople of
Social Epidemics in SET Fields

• Leonardo DaVinci (Renaissance Man)
• Gene Roddenberry
• Florence Nightingale
• Louis Pasteur
• You

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Coming to a Cell Phone Near You...

• Live television - How much would you be willing
  to pay to watch your favorite science/engineering
  show?
• While users already can get video on their mobile
  phones through their cellular phone companies,
  that information robs tremendous capacity from
  the carriers networks.
• Instead, new technologies use separate antennas
  in metro areas to beam TV signals directly to
  cell phones, in much the same way broadcast
  television has worked for decades.
• Will provide greater opportunities for
  science/engineering shows to tip!
• According to Time magazine, todays children see
  the screen as an environment to be explored,
  inhabited, shared and shaped (March 27, 2006)

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References

• Gladwell, M. (2002). The tipping point How
  little things can make a big difference.
• National Science Foundation (2006). Science and
  engineering indicators (annual reports).
  Washington, DC U.S. Government Printing
  Office.
• Roane, K. R. (2005). The CSI effect. U.S. News
  World Report. Available online at
  http//www.usnews.com/usnews/culture/articles/05
  0425/25csi.htm
• Turney, J. (1998). Frankensteins footsteps
  Science, genetics, and popular culture. Yale
  University Press New Haven.