南亚的科学传播：挑战与前景

SAARC(南亚区域合作联盟)建立在不同的层次上,比如社会、文化、政治、宗教、科学、经济和自然,这些层次之间的双边和多边共享、交换、互动和沟通可以说是该地区全面发展进程的一个转折点,而在这一点上,公众对科学技术的理解具有举足轻重的作用。尽管各种不同的项目和活动被采纳,用以把科学带入到大众的生活,并且在他们心中培养对科学的喜爱,但是通常可以看到,所有这些层次都处于相互隔离的状态,并且几乎没有什么互动。当下的研究显示了在这些国家中流行的一系列科学传播模式和方法,并且试图确认出某些共同思路,以使这些国家具有更多的互动、增强相互沟通,这样他们也得以共享科学知识和科学智慧的力量。在发展中国家,尤其是南盟地区,比如孟加拉国、不丹、印度、马尔代夫、尼泊尔、巴基斯坦,以及斯里兰卡,科学传播借助各种媒介进行——出版、广播,数字化、民间的和交互的活动,而看起来,我们还有必要投入更多的努力,使得这些国家极为糟糕的科学素养水平能够得到提升,能够根除迷信,并且让公众对科学具有基本的理解。充分利用诸如欧盟第六框架这样的项目,尤其是指向欧盟和发展中国家之间的科学合作(包括科学传播)的项目,现在正是时候。这些层次之间的密切交流和沟通将让各个层次彼此呼应,也铺平了增进了解与合作,以此走向可持续发展的道路。

Science Communication in South Asia:Challenges and Prospects

SAARC(South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation)countries live in various layers, such as social, cultural, political, religious, scientific, economical, and natural. The bilateral and multilateral sharing, exchange, interaction and communication between these layers can mark a turning point of the process of overall development of the region and role of public communication of science and technology could be crucial and vital in this regard. Though, there exist a variety of programmes and activities for taking science to masses and inculcating a scientific bent of mind into them, generally, it was observed that all these layers are working in isolation and there is hardly any interaction. The present study discovers a range of modes and means of science communication prevalent in these countries and tries to identify some common threads amongst them to make them more interactive and communicative to each other so that they can also share the power of scientific knowledge and scientific wisdom. It emerged that science communication through various media, be it print, broadcast, digital, folk or interactive in developing countries, especially in SAARC region, i.e., Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri-Lanka deserves much more serious efforts to be able to enhance their abysmally low level of scientific literacy, eradicate superstitions, and achieve a baseline public understanding of science. It is the high time to draw advantages from the programmes like Sixth Framework of the European Union especially meant for scientific cooperation (including science communication) between EU and developing countries. A close interaction and communication between these layers would make them more responsive to each other as well as paving the way to develop better understanding and cooperation leading to sustainable development.