Is there a communication problem?

Size: px

Start display at page:

Download "Is there a communication problem?"

Verity Collins
10 years ago
Views:

1 Is there a communication problem? Fulvio Stel & Dario B. Giaiotti Regional Agency for the Environmental Protection of Friuli Venezia Giulia Unione Meteorologica del Friuli Venezia Giulia - ONLUS Berlin September 2011 [email protected]

Friuli Venezia Giulia Unione Meteorologica del Friuli Venezia

2 Why this question (and work)? I do not know if there is a communication problem, but session of conferences devoted to communication affairs are almost always crowded I personally enjoyed all the EMS sessions devoted to communication and communication problems. In Zurich (last EMS meeting) the proposed paradigm was that of a communication short and sexy I tried to face the question of the Communication problem with a physicist approach Split the question is there a communication problem in elemental constituents, trying to quantify (if possible) each element

personally enjoyed all the EMS sessions devoted to communication and communication problems.

3 Is there a communication problem? Communication: exchange of information between a source and a target Problem: Information complication that creates a difficulty in the normal or expected evolution of events Target Source Canal

and a target Problem: Information complication that

4 Newspapers World Wide Web Look for words pertaining to different fields (society, culture, technology,...) trying to evidence differences in frequency and trends A newspaper with a National distribution was chosen Two search engines (Google and Altavista) were chosen CAVEAT Quantification is language dependent: so far only Italian and English languages have been used

..) trying to evidence differences in frequency and trends A newspaper with a National

5 Newspapers hardcopy 2 Number of occurrences rescaled over 2007 Average number of occurrences in the different years from 2007 to 2010 rescaled to year 2007 Frequency 1,8 1,6 1,4 1,2 1 0, ,6 0,4 Love Wine Sex Climate Weather Weather forecasts Football Climate change Research was done on Italian words here translated for communication problems

1,6 1,4 1,2 1 0,8 2007 2008 2009 2010 0,6 0,4 Love Wine Sex Climate Weather Weather

6 Newspapers web site Average number of occurrences in the different years from 2007 to 2010 Numbers Average number of word occurrences Weather Rain Weather forecasts Severe weather Footbal Sex Climate Climate change Research was done on Italian words here translated for communication problems

number of word occurrences Weather Rain Weather forecasts Severe weather Footbal Sex

7 Newspapers web site 2,5 Normalized relative frequency trend of different words Trend in the number of occurrences normalized according to a neutral word (e.g., sex or love) Frequency 2,25 2 1,75 1,5 1,25 1 0,75 0, ,25 0 Weather Rain Weather forecasts Severe weather Footbal Sex Climate Climate change Research was done on Italian words here translated for communication problems

8 Newspapers web site How to interpret these findings There is a general increase in the number of expressions related to the weather. Is this a signal that weather culture is penetrating more and more into society? If yes, then the transmission canal is solid and effective There is a general decrease of expressions related to climate and climate change. Is this a signal of the fading of climate climax after the burst of IPCC 2007 report? If yes, then the transmission canal seems to be selective. We seem to be more effective in transmitting short term information e.g., weather forecasts Research was done on Italian words here translated for communication problems

If yes, then the transmission canal is solid and effective There is a general decrease of expressions related to climate and climate change.

9 Disciplines (Number of pages 31 Jul 2011) World Wide Web Meteorology Astronomy Climatology Physics Mathematics Economics Archaeology Sociology Weather forecasts Google Altavista Million of pages Meteorology and climatology are less present on the web than other disciplines and even than weather forecasts Research was done on English words

100 150 200 250 300 Million of pages Meteorology and climatology are less present on the

10 Professionals (number of pages 31 Jul 2011) World Wide Web Meteorologist Astronomer Climatologist Physicist Mathematician Economist Archaeologist Sociologist Weather forecaster Google Altavista Million of pages Professionals of Meteorology (Weather forecasters) are present like other scientific professionals. Climatologist are the cinderellas... Research was done on English words

15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 Million of pages Professionals of Meteorology (Weather forecasters) are present

11 Pages disciplines/pages professionals World Wide Web Meteorology Astronomy Climatology Physics Mathematics Economics Archaeology Sociology Weather forecasts Google Altavista Ratio The ratio discipline vs professional is lower for meteorology and weather forecasts. Professionals are relatively more relevant than discipline for meteorology and weather forecasts Research was done on English words

ratio discipline vs professional is lower for meteorology and weather forecasts.

12 Pages disciplines/pages professionals World Wide Web Meteorology Astronomy Climatology Physics Mathematics Economics Archaeology Sociology Weather forecasts Google Altavista Ratio The ratio discipline vs professional is lower for meteorology and weather forecasts. Professionals are relatively more relevant than discipline for meteorology and weather forecasts Research was done on English words

13 World Wide Web How to interpret these findings Even on the web the transmission canal seems to be more effective and solid with the communication of the ready-to-be-spent information (weather instead climate) Meteorology (in particular operational meteorology) seem to be more oriented toward free-lancers than toward teams. It is hard to transmit a message when many people speak together Research was done on English words

Meteorology (in particular operational meteorology) seem to be more oriented toward free-lancers than

14 How to quantify the information value? Weather forecasts (ready-to-be-spent information) are almost always associated with horoscopes and, even worst, with stock exchange information (both on newspapers and television) The risk is that extremely valuable information (weather forecasts) might be considered as poor information and just a sort of entertainment Horoscope App Weather Forecasts App

and, even worst, with stock exchange information (both on newspapers and television) The risk is

15 Is there a communication problem? 1) There are no problems in the transmission canal. We can effectively transfer information into society using currently available media. 1.1) These information, in general, seem to be mainly ready-to-use, then they might have only a reduced educational impact on Society 1.2) There might be a risk of saturation. Too much information often become noise and this might reduce the impact of communication itself 2) Communication seem to be more oriented toward communicators than toward the information. 3) Short and sexy is surely an effective approach but it is dangerous, because it might bring the system to dismiss the short to keep only the sexy

16 Is there a communication problem? In some sense yes, even if differently from what might seem at the beginning What to do The fast and thin approach (Italo Calvino; American Lectures) 1) Reduce information to its essence, avoiding excesses 2) Supply information when Society is prone to receive it 3) Work in team, with a common target

to do The fast and thin approach (Italo Calvino; American Lectures) 1) Reduce

17 Thank you for your attention

Emergencies in the age of socials

Emergencies in the age of socials Dario B. Giaiotti and Fulvio Stel Regional Agency for Environmental Protection of Friuli Venezia Giulia (Italy) Center for Environmental Modeling ([email protected])