Public Engagement with Science and Technology

A sizeable 'industry' surrounds the area of the Public Engagement with Science and Technology, PEST for short. It is sometimes difficult to separate this from talking about science in the media.

At one time, this activity went under the label Public Understanding of Science, or even Public Understanding of Science, Engineering and Technology. (They added the E&T after the engineers srated whining.) But people in the business reckoned that sent out the wrong message. ("If only people understood us life would be so much better.") So there is a move to use the cuddlier term "engagement". As yet, though, this is probably the only place where you will find the acronym PEST used as a label. They take themselves seriously out in PEST land.

This section continues to grow as the PEST bandwagon gathers momentum. So what started as a single page has now fragmented, a bit like the community it tries to monitor.

Reports

...and other documents

Mailing lists

Web sites

Those interested in PEST can find far more detailed stuff, with many more reports and links, at the web site produced by the Wellcome Trust on behalf of the PSCI mailing list. The site describes itself as "the searchable database of quality internet resources on the public understanding of science". Find it at:

http://psci-com.org.uk

PCST 98