Ethical issues in science communication

"As science continues to become implicated in personal and collective decision-making, the stakes for communicating science to non-expert audiences intensify. In such an environment, a clear articulation of ethical issues arising from science communication is essential. If the audience's normative expectations are not understood, even the best-intentioned science communicator find [sic] herself exacerbating existing controversies over decisions with additional unproductive controversies over appropriate communication. Unfortunately, this needed articulation does not yet exist. The purpose of the Third Iowa State Summer Symposium on Science Communication was to bring together scholars from across disciplines whose research can supply a theoretical articulation of the ethical issues surrounding the communication of science to non-expert audiences. Participants contributed both humanistic and social scientific approaches to the issues, drawing from disciplines including science communication, rhetoric, philosophy, and science and technology studies."--