Science, Science communication4 Comments

TV science: a call for enigmatic ambiguities

June 13, 2013June 16, 2013 Literacy of the Present

Many years ago I stayed with friends in Germany. Early one evening my daughter called through to the kitchen from the living-room, “Dad, the news is on.” My daughter was about four at the time and has never understood a word of German. Even without the necessary spoken or written language she was still able to understand the audio-visual language of TV news. I might even add that as a child she had had very little exposure to TV of any kind and yet here she was able to identify TV news in a foreign language in a foreign country. … Continue reading TV science: a call for enigmatic ambiguities

History, Science1 Comment

Six-Penny Science

June 1, 2013 Literacy of the Present

If Queen Victoria had had a television this is what she would have watched. The new style of mass-circulation family magazines that are characteristic of the late-Victorian period have a striking resemblance to evening TV schedules. The technology may have been different but they have a number of features in common: a strong visual element and a family-centred audience; a regular diet of fiction and features; series, serials and one-off pieces; comedy, tragedy, romance and adventure; social comment, travelogue, science and natural history; celebrities and competitions. At times the parallels are quite striking. The Clarion polled its readers to find … Continue reading Six-Penny Science