The task of scientists - and experts in general - is not just research and publication in specialized journals, which, with a bit of exaggeration, reach only their acquaintances from various conferences. It is also broadening the horizons of the public, which pays scientists from their taxes and thus enables them what every mortal wants - to make a living from work that he enjoys. However, distribution the results, and especially the interpretation of a specific issue, is not at all easy to share in an accessible form, especially if the expert is captivated by the concepts of his field. In connection with this task, the Faculty of Forestry and Wood Sciences of the CULS started this school year "Popularization of Science", which aims to humanize the publications of its alma mater.
The work in the editorial office proceeds as follows. Every month we download the freshest works under which our faculty is signed. The editors of the popularization section will choose a topic that suits them and that can be popularized at all (clarification of the methodology for calculating the elasticity of plywood and similar purely technical contributions will not be among them, for example). Editors then prepare a short and readable compilation from the professional article, which does not necessarily cover the entire content of the original manuscript, but rather key interpretations and surprising findings that may be useful for practice. However, it should not be primarily a matter of "cheap" shock to the reader, but rather an attempt to give him the opportunity to orient himself in terrain unknown to him, and thus to mediate a "insight" that he would be deprived of without the necessary simplification. The author of the original work also has the opportunity to comment on the result so as not to distort its conclusions. On that occasion, he will send the editors photos characterizing the research, which are necessary to make the paper more attractive. This is followed by a torturous period for editors, during which they have to redesign their contribution until the editor-in-chief is satisfied with it. Only then can it be posted on the FLD website and provided to the Rector's Office for further use. Some topics will then make it to the university website, or even beyond the imaginary scope of the CULS's activities to various popularization websites and magazine pages.
In order for a scientist to earn recognition outside their community, and thus increase the prestige of their entire state, they must at least occasionally use a language that they can understand outside the university grounds. The support or at least the sympathy of this part of society for the scientific community is also necessary from a purely practical point of view - in the management of public funds. It must not happen that no one is interested in science except scientists. Then only those projects that secure an economic return in the short term could receive the green light. Fortunately, the motive for research is seldom a direct financial gain, but rather a shift in human knowledge, the appreciation of which is slow but permanent.
Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk: About the popularization of science
The year is 1898 and the future first president of Czechoslovakia, the then professor at the University of Prague, lectures the cycle "How to work?" Both to the public and within the framework of Practical Philosophy. It also includes the article "On the popularization of science". According to T. G. Masaryk, only an educated society is competent to decide about itself, i.e. to "manage its own affairs".
Today we have our own state, but the need to deepen education in society persists. So how to do it !?
"The main thing is: To make the topics appropriate, practical and, if theoretical, to suit the audience. It is essential to know the audience. The theme must be sewn for the audience. It is necessary to know those who are lectured. That is why in London and England in general, students who lecture to workers live with them in working-class neighbourhoods.
Even in those popular lectures, there must be a system. It is evil when there is no system, when popularization means such “creaming”: to hear interesting things, novelties, peculiarities. This only expands the superficiality, and it is harmful. Even in popular lectures, the one who listens must learn to think, to get used to it; and if he does not consider every word, he must feel that thinking is work. Everyone has to decide what to popularize. There are fields that eo ipso are quite popular. Geography, history can be presented so that everyone can hear it. There are fields where it is difficult, then there are fields where it is impossible at all: higher mathematics, Newton's law. Even if someone can present it popularly, it will always be something approximate. Therefore, popularizing science is a much bigger problem than most people think. Only those who stand at the level of science can popularize. Who is not ready himself yet, how could he popularize?”
It would be like saying: no creaming and let the thinking hurt nicely, so that we do not end up with the fact that students often live in dormitories in worse conditions than London workers in the late 19th century.
Masaryk, T. G. (1947): How to work? Lectures from 1898. Press and publishing cooperative of Czechoslovak legionaries in Prague. Eighth edition. 82 p.
Popularization in the world
The popularization of science is one of the oldest programs in UNESCO, which has been supporting this discipline for more than 60 years.
One of the means by which universities in the world compete for the best students is the quality popularization of science, and therefore of their results.
The longest broadcast radio program about science is Meteor on Czech Radio 2 (50 years).
There is also a competition in the popularization of science. Every year, the world finals of the FameLab competition measure scientists in England, where they have to present in a funny, understandable and professionally correct way in 3 minutes what the research they are involved in is concerned with.
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Prepared by: Jiří Lehejček