Disseminating Research News in HCI: Perceived Hazards, How-To's, and Opportunities for Innovation

TL;DR

This paper explores the challenges and opportunities in disseminating HCI research through mass media, identifying hazards, strategies, and technological innovations to improve public understanding.

Contribution

It provides a grounded theory analysis of researchers' perceptions of miscommunication hazards and proposes strategies and innovations for better science news dissemination.

Findings

Miscommunication can occur at four points in the Media Production Pipeline.

Researchers perceive hazards that can distort public understanding.

Strategies for effective dissemination include technological and procedural innovations.

Abstract

Mass media afford researchers critical opportunities to disseminate research findings and trends to the general public. Yet researchers also perceive that their work can be miscommunicated in mass media, thus generating unintended understandings of HCI research by the general public. We conduct a Grounded Theory analysis of interviews with 12 HCI researchers and find that miscommunication can occur at four origins along the socio-technical infrastructure known as the Media Production Pipeline (MPP) for science news. Results yield researchers' perceived hazards of disseminating their work through mass media, as well as strategies for fostering effective communication of research. We conclude with implications for augmenting or innovating new MPP technologies.