Choices and Challenges

Poster presented on March 6-8, 2002 at the conference on Communicating the Future: Best Practices in Communication of Science and Technology to the Public, co-sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy Office of Science, and NIST. Poster topics were selected as "best practices" through a formal peer review by a committee of distinguished science writers, educators, and researchers.

Choices and Challenges: Exploring the Social and Ethical Dimensions of Science and Technology
Program conducted by: Center for Interdisciplinary Studies, Virginia Tech

By bringing the researcher together with the practitioner, the scientist into dialogue with the humanist, the citizen into conversation with the legislator, the Choices and Challenges forums serve as a unique laboratory for identifying, exploring, and addressing some of the most crucial and demanding human issues confronting modern society.

Abstract

Founded in 1985 at Virginia Tech, each forum is designed to determine the ethical and social issues created by advances in science, technology, and medicine and to examine the often highly complex components—historical, philosophical, societal, legal—in a balanced manner.

The twenty forums conducted since the start of the series have covered a wide range of topics in biology, medicine, psychology, chemistry, physics, and engineering. Each forum is tailored to the specific needs of the subject under consideration but there are three basic components:

tutorial sessions at the beginning of the program to provide necessary background information to participants;
a main session at which a panel of scholars and practitioners discuss, with each other and with the audience, the various issues raised; and,
closing sessions geared toward fostering individual decision-making and examining how citizens can contribute to policymaking.

Our typical audience includes scientists, clinicians, lawyers, theologians, educators, businesspersons, students, the press, and the general public. Attendance now exceeds 500 at each full-day forum. Professional societies for physicians, teachers, nurses, dietitians, and social workers have granted continuing education credits or in-service credits.

For more than a dozen years, the main session of each forum has been broadcast throughout the U.S. thereby bringing the forum to national audiences in either an interactive teleconference format or through the use of edited videotapes shown to community audiences and schools. More than 700 sites nationwide (with an estimated viewing audience of 25,000) have participated in this way.

The Choices and Challenges series has received national awards for its work. Most recently, we were selected to receive an Innovation Award by The Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship Foundation, which recognizes and supports departments and programs in the humanities that encourage graduate students to interact with the world outside the academy as part of their training.

Our upcoming forum, 'Food Frights' - scheduled for April 11, 2002 - explores food safety issues such as genetically modified foods and the risk of bioterrorism. We are currently seeking funding for our next forum, tentatively entitled 'Big Brother Technologies', scheduled for March 27, 2003.

By bringing the researcher together with the practitioner, the scientist into dialogue with the humanist, the citizen into conversation with the legislator, the Choices and Challenges forums serve as a unique living laboratory for identifying, exploring, and addressing some of the most crucial and demanding human issues confronting modern society

Common Forum Themes

How should limited and often costly scientific and technical resources be allocated?
In what ways are values being altered and what value conflicts are resulting from advances in science and technology?
Is it possible to balance the needs of society against our traditional belief in personal freedom and autonomy?
Who is empowered to make decisions when disagreements occur?

What We Have Learned

Each event is different - use the subject matter to guide your planning and design process;
Involve community members at all stages of planning, from topic selection to program design;
Invite speakers and discussion leaders with experience in developing links to the public so as to promote partnership over adversity in the discussions;
Include local as well as national discussants to encourage continued dialogue following the scheduled event via the establishment of a highly visible network of resource people;
Avoid stodgy and off-putting academic modes of presentation - allow no formal "papers" and insist that participants speak in normal language;
Recognize and respect the expertise and knowledge that members of the public bring to the discussion - use their real-world experience to gain valuable insight and help identify practical modes of action;
Use a variety of techniques to make available background materials - humanistic and scientific - so that all attendees feel comfortable participating in the discussions;
Build multiple opportunities and ways of participation into each event to facilitate discussion and promote cross-talk; and,
Use new technologies, but don't rely on them as a 'solution' to communication with the public.

Ongoing Dilemmas

Without a constant source of funding, all projects like this are in a tenuous position. Fundraising is a labor-intensive process. As with all large-scale projects based at a university, there is always the danger that it will interfere with research and teaching.
Follow-up remains the most difficult part of our project. Our newest approach is the production of web-based learning modules using video extracts of the forum's main session in combination with a variety of useful links, synchronous and asynchronous chats, and other module-based learning activities. Of course, efforts to promote continued discussion can conflict with time required for fund-raising.

Budget

The Choices and Challenges project's budget has varied on a forum-to-forum basis. No registration fee has ever been charged so as to encourage a broad spectrum of participation. The typical forum budget ranges from $40,000 to $50,000, with significant cost-sharing provided by the university.

Over the last 15 years, the project has received financial support from foundations such as: the Virginia Foundation for the Humanities and Public Policy, N.I.H., and N.E.H. Support has also been provided by various divisions, colleges, and departments at Virginia Tech.

Grant monies typically provide salary support for one half-time Research Associate; publicity; video/broadcast services; forum production costs; travel expenses; and a small honorarium for invited speakers.

Contacts

Doris T. Zallen, Ph.D., Director
Jane L. Lehr, M.S., Research Associate

Choices and Challenges Project
Virginia Tech
Mail Code: 0227
Blacksburg, VA 24061
Phone: (540) 231-6476 Fax: (540) 231-7013
email: choices@vt.edu

Website

http://www.cddc.vt.edu/choices

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Created: 7/92002
Last updated: 8/17/2002
Contact: inquiries@nist.gov