The Communication of Space and Earth Science Information to Policyrelevant Audiences:

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The Communication of Space and Earth Science
Information to Policy-relevant Audiences A
strategy to enhance the scientific and ecological
literacy of national policy leaders and
policy-interested citizens
Jon D. Miller Professor and Director Center for
Biomedical Communication The Feinberg School of
Medicine Northwestern University
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Almost all human communication is purposeful.

• When we seek to transmit ideas or information or
  feelings, we generally know who we would like to
  receive the message and how we would like that
  person or group to respond. When we ask a
  question, we know what kind of information or
  response that we would like to have.
• Infants make two kinds of noises. Some noises are
  an effort to indicate that they are hungry,
  uncomfortable, scared, or tired and they want
  someone to do something. But infants also make
  some noises because they enjoy the sound. We
  refer to this kind of noise as babbling. As
  infants grow into adults, they usually become
  more skilled in communicating messages and the
  proportion of babble drops substantially.
• Generally, organizations seek to improve their
  ability to communicate ideas and messages as they
  mature. Some organizations and agencies, however,
  like to hear their own voice and continue to
  produce a significant level of babble.

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My purpose today is to provide a framework for
thinking about the purposes for the communication
of space science and earth science information
and to identify the audiences relevant to those
purposes. I will also talk about some
strategies for communicating messages to relevant
audiences.
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It seems to me that there are three primary
purposes for the communication of space science
and earth science information by the NASA and
Goddard communities.

• First, as a governmental agency, it is important
  to inform decision-makers, policy leaders, and
  interested citizens about the need for space
  exploration and for the observation and
  monitoring of our Earth and solar system and the
  value of the resulting advances in space science
  and earth science.
• Second, it is important to inform
  decision-makers, relevant policy leaders, and
  interested citizens about the progress,
  achievements, and problems associated with the
  exploration of space and the understanding of our
  solar system and our home planet.
• Third, it is important in a democratic society to
  share the awe, the wonder, and the excitement of
  space exploration and our growing knowledge of
  our universe, our solar system, our Sun, and our
  home planet with all students and adults in this
  country and throughout the world.

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There are four primary audiences that four major
audiences that need to understand the need for
the program, the value of the results, and the
progress and problems associated with your
programs.

• Decision-makers in the executive and legislative
  branches of the federal government.
• Policy leaders in corporations, universities,
  professional societies, and environmental
  organizations.
• Citizens who are interested in and attentive to
  science, technology, space, or environmental
  policy issues.
• All children and adults in the United States and
  throughout the world.

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The critical question is how to convey
information and messages to these audiences in a
manner that will be understandable by the
recipients and that will serve the purposes and
needs of NASA and Goddard.

• We will want to look at the current levels of
  knowledge and current attitudes for each of our
  four potential audiences.
• Prior turning to that task, it is important to
  take a short detour and talk about how science
  and technology policy is made in democratic
  political systems like the United States.

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It is useful to think about how we make public
policy in the United States.

• Elections are important because they determine
  the individuals and parties that control major
  branches of government. Selecting the occupants
  of the White House, Senate, and House of
  Representatives are important decisions.
• Presidential elections are usually determined by
  a small set of broad issues and by public
  perceptions of leadership characteristics and
  ability.
• Most legislative seats are safe and fewer than
  10 of legislative seats at the national level
  are at risk each year.
• This electoral system produces a set of office
  holders and provides some broad policy framework
  for the country, but it sometimes produces
  policy gridlock. It usually provides limited
  guidance on specific science or technology or
  space policy issues.

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On specialized issues such as science,
technology, and space policy, elections provide
limited guidance.

• No presidential candidate has ever been elected
  or defeated because of a science policy issue.
• No House or Senate candidate has ever been
  elected or defeated over a science policy issue.

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Science, technology, and space policy issues are
decided outside the electoral process. Rosenau
calls this citizenship between elections.
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A stratified model of the formulation of public
policy
Decision Makers
Policy Leaders
Attentive Public
Interested Public
Residual Public
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A stratified model of the formulation of public
policy
Decision Makers
Policy Leaders
Attentive Public
Interested Public
Residual Public
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For science, technology, and space policy, the
decision-makers include

• The President and his cabinet members with
  responsibilities for science, technology, and
  space policy and the heads of selected agencies.
• The leadership of the House or Senate and the
  members of House and Senate committees that have
  responsibility for science, technology, and space
  policy matters.
• On some occasions, the members of the Supreme
  Court and judges in the federal judiciary.
• The total number of decision-makers in science,
  technology, and space policy is approximately 200.

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A stratified model of the formulation of public
policy
Decision Makers
Policy Leaders
Attentive Public
Interested Public
Residual Public
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For science, technology, and space policy, the
policy leaders include

• The officers and board members of national
  scientific and engineering societies and
  associations.
• Members of the NAS, NAE, and IOM.
• Officers and board members of major corporations
  involved in science or engineering.
• Officers of universities engaged in a significant
  level of scientific or engineering research.
• Winners of a Nobel Prize or a Fields Medal.
• Individuals who testified before a congressional
  committee (House or Senate) on a science policy
  matter.
• Members of major executive branch science
  advisory committees at the secretarial or agency
  level.
• Approximately 8,500 individuals qualified as a
  science policy leader in 2003.

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Within this pyramidal system, policy leaders play
a critical role by

• Monitoring public policy from the perspective of
  the scientific or energy community and defining
  critical issues that need to be addressed.
• Organizing other leaders to identify policy
  solutions and to advance those policy solutions
  to decision-makers.
• Negotiating with decision-makers about policy
  choices.
• Organizing the appropriate attentive public or
  publics when direct negotiations with policy
  makers are not productive or when there is
  significant disagreement among policy leaders
  themselves.

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A stratified model of the formulation of public
policy
Decision Makers
Policy Leaders
Attentive Public
Interested Public
Residual Public
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The attentive public for science, technology, and
space policy includes all adults who

• report that they are very interested in new
  scientific discoveries, new inventions and
  technologies, or space exploration, and
• indicate that they are very well informed about
  either new scientific discoveries, or new
  inventions and technologies, or space
  exploration, and
• are regular readers of a daily newspaper, a
  weekly news magazine, or a monthly science
  magazine regular viewers of television news
  programming or frequent users of the Internet to
  obtain science-related information.
• In 2004, 12 of American adults were attentive to
  science, technology, space, or environmental
  policy issues, or about 26 million individuals.

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A stratified model of the formulation of public
policy
Decision Makers
Policy Leaders
Attentive Public
Interested Public
Residual Public
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A stratified model of the formulation of public
policy
Decision Makers
Policy Leaders
Attentive Public
Interested Public
Residual Public
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Strategies.

• I want to talk about strategies for communicating
  with each of the four audiences that I think are
  critical to your mission and your program.
• I will start with decision-makers and then talk
  about science and space policy leaders.
• I will look at the attentive publics for science,
  technology, space, and environmental issues.
• And I will conclude by talking about the messages
  that you should direct to the broader or general
  public.

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As an executive branch agency, NASA must report
first and primarily to the President.

• It is important to communicate your successes and
  your problems to the White House and NASA
  headquarters is responsible for that linkage.
• It is also important to communicate to other
  executive branch agencies and to share results
  and opportunities.
• All of your collaborators, contractors, and
  grantees have two Senators and at least one House
  member.
• And all of you belong to scientific groups and
  organizations that sometimes communicate with
  both executive and legislative branch
  decision-makers.

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Science and technology policy leaders, space
policy leaders, and environmental policy leaders
are a second important audience with whom you
need to communicate.

• In the stratified model of policy formulation
  that I outlined earlier, these leaders play an
  important role in the policy making process.
• NASA has tended to take the support of the
  scientific community for granted.
• The results of recent national studies of science
  and space policy leaders point to some serious
  problems that need to be addressed.

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Leadership attitudes toward selected space policy
issues.
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Leadership attitudes to other space policy issues.
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Leadership priorities for federal spending, 2003.
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Leadership priorities for federal spending, 2003.
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Leadership priorities for federal spending, 2003.
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Leadership priorities for federal spending, 2003.
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Leadership priorities for federal spending, 2003.
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NASA is not perceived as doing a good job by
space policy leaders.
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Leadership assessment of areas of NASA management.
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Leadership understanding of selected concepts.
CU clear understanding GS general
understanding LF less familiar
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Leadership trust in information sources.
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The third major audience with whom you need to
communicate is the attentive publics for science,
technology, space, and environmental issues.

• In January 2004, approximately 12 of American
  adults or 26 million individuals were
  attentive to science, technology, space, or
  environmental issues.
• An additional 73 of American adults or 160
  million individuals were interested in these
  issues but did not think that they were well
  informed about these matters.
• It is important to recognize that the attentive
  public becomes involved in the policy formulation
  process only when there is a major disagreement
  among policy leaders and when the policy
  leadership groups appeal to these attentive
  citizens to make their views known to
  decision-makers.

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Public attitude toward a manned mission to Mars,
2004.
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Public attitude toward a permanent base on the
Moon, 2005.
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Public attitude toward the space station, 2005.
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The fourth audience is all of the children and
adults in our society.

• In a democratic society, it is appropriate to
  share the excitement, wonder, and awe of space
  exploration, including the monitoring and
  measurement of our own planet.
• In general, I think that NASA does a reasonably
  good job in this area. The combination of school
  programs, museum programs, and television
  coverage of major launch and space activities
  provides an acceptable level of access in the
  United States and throughout the world.
• NASA should continue these programs and always
  seek to make them qualitatively better, but there
  is not a compelling case to expand these
  activities as a part of a general communication
  plan.

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What can we conclude from this review of the
purposes, audiences, and strategies for the
communication of space and earth science
information?

• NASA has multiple purposes and multiple
  audiences. It is essential to recognize and
  emphasize the multiple faceted nature of NASA to
  decision-makers, policy leaders, and interested
  and attentive citizens.
• The most serious problem facing NASA in the
  short-term is a serious erosion of support among
  science policy leaders and space policy leaders.
  These leaders are far more influential and far
  more important than any segment of the public in
  the formulation of space policy.
• In the spirit of a multi-purpose agency, it is
  critical for NASA to unbundle its communication
  program and to avoid putting all of its eggs in
  one basket. There are strong bases of support for
  deep space probes and for continued and improved
  monitoring of Earth and of our solar system.
  These programs need to be able to advocate for
  their own future.
• The manned mission to Mars currently lacks
  support from science and space policy leaders and
  from the attentive publics for science,
  technology, space, and the environment. NASA
  should make its case for this program but not
  link its fate to the rest of NASAs programs.

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A copy of this presentation and a written paper
are available upon request from j-miller8_at_nort
hwestern.edu