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Terms like ‘big data’, ‘data science’, and ‘data visualisation’ have become buzzwords in recent years and are increasingly intertwined with journalism. Data visualisation may further blur the lines between science communication and graphic design. Our study is situated in these overlaps to compare the design of data visualisations in science news stories across four online news media platforms in South Africa and the United States. Our study contributes to an understanding of how well-considered data visualisations are tools for effective storytelling, and offers practical recommendations for using data visualisation in science communication efforts.

Misleading graphs can give readers a distorted view of the underlying data. We want to know how to most effectively correct misleading graphs and if it matters whether a correction uses the full-design of the original or a clean design with all embellishment and colors removed. We focus on vocationally educated young adults, a group that is vulnerable to misinformation and has so far been underrepresented in research. We use a mixed-method approach with a qualitative think-aloud task (n = 10, data collected in April 2023) and a quantitative survey (n = 130, data collected between July and October 2023). The think-aloud task showed that vocational students use a combination of calculating and estimating to process graphs, which contradicts existing literature, and that their perception is heavily influenced by context. The survey showed that graph corrections work in reducing misleading effects and also have a learning effect such that students are less misled by new misleading graphs of the same type. There was no difference between full-design and clean design corrections. These results imply that vocationally educated young adults can benefit from seeing corrections of misleading graphs.

About the Authors: Veronika Cheplygina Affiliation: Department of Biomedical Engineering, Eindhoven University of Technology, Eindhoven, The Netherlands Felienne Hermans * E-mail: felienne@gmail.com Affiliations Leiden Institute of Advanced Computer Science, Leiden University, Leiden, The Netherlands, Software Engineering Research Group, Delft University of Technology, Delft, The Netherlands ORCID logo http://orcid.org/0000-0003-0722-0156 Casper Albers Affiliation: Heymans Institute for Psychological Research, University of Groningen, Groningen, The Netherlands ORCID logo http://orcid.org/0000-0002-9213-6743 Natalia Bielczyk Affiliation: Stichting Solaris Onderzoek en Ontwikkeling, Nijmegen, the Netherlands ORCID logo http://orcid.org/0000-0003-1604-9143 Ionica Smeets Affiliation: Science Communication and Society, Institute of Biology, Leiden University, Leiden, The Netherlands ORCID logo http://orcid.org/0000-0003-1743-9493 Introduction Twitter is one of the most popular social media platforms, with over 320 million active users as of February 2019. By default, regular Twitter messages are visible to the whole world, including (via search engines such as Google) people who do not have a Twitter account. * Hashtag (#)—used to make it easier to find tweets with a common theme by defining ad hoc keywords, for instance tweets about a conference (#ICA19) or career talks (#PhDChat). * List—a list of Twitter users that can be public (followed by anyone) or private. Senior researchers openly share ideas through Twitter and this can lead to the development of new concepts which often move on to become fully-fledged research projects. For ECRs, starting Twitter activity may be hard. [...]we recommend joining a peer group, together with members of your local research group, together with other collaborators or friends in the research community.

This study examines the communication of astrobiology and the Search for Life Elsewhere (SLE) in academic papers, press releases, and news articles over three decades. Through a quantitative content analysis, it investigates the prevalence of speculations and promises/expectations in these sources, aiming to understand how research results are portrayed and their potential impact on public perception and future research directions. Findings reveal that speculations and promises/expectations are more frequent in news articles and press releases compared to academic papers. Speculations about conditions for life and the existence of life beyond Earth are common, particularly in news articles covering exoplanet research, while promises of life detection are rare. Press releases tend to emphasize the significance of research findings and the progress of the field. Speculations and promises/expectations in news articles often occur without attribution to scientists and in quotes of authors of the studies, and slightly less so in quotes of outside experts. The study highlights the complex dynamics of science communication in astrobiology, where speculations and promises can generate public excitement and influence research funding, but also risk misrepresenting scientific uncertainty and creating unrealistic expectations. It underscores the need for responsible communication practices that acknowledge the speculative dimension of the field while fostering public engagement and informed decision-making.

To raise biodiversity awareness effectively, communicators should be aware of knowledge levels in their audiences. Species identification skills have been used in the past as a measure of what people know about species, yet it is not known whether they serve as good indicators. To study the link between species identification and in-depth species knowledge, we presented an animal knowledge test to an online audience of over 7,000 Dutch adults, and used correlation and regression analyses to determine the extent to which species identification predicts in-depth knowledge about species’ origin, habitat, diet, and behavior. We found that in-depth knowledge was higher in those who correctly identified species as compared with those who did not correctly identify species, for all four types of in-depth knowledge. Moreover, as compared to alternative variables (work, age, gender, and educational level), species identification was by far the best predictor for in-depth knowledge about species. However, species identification levels were generally higher than levels of in-depth knowledge, and knowledge gaps and misconceptions were uncovered. The results confirm the value of species identification tests, but also highlight limitations and challenges that should be taken into account when establishing knowledge levels and communicating biodiversity.

Video played an important role in health communication throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. It was used to communicate pandemic information to the public, with a variety of formats, presenters, and topics. Evidence regarding the effectiveness of video features is available, while how individual characteristics of recipients influence communication comprehension is still limited. This study aimed to test 6 individual characteristics and assess their effect on the comprehension of pandemic video communication. Short health communication videos were presented to a large sample of subjects, receiving questionnaire responses from 1194 participants. Individual characteristics consisted of age, sex, living area, education level, income level, and belief in science. Communication comprehension consisted of both perceived and objective comprehension. The data were analyzed by multiple linear regression. Age had a negative effect on both perceived and objective comprehension-age was negatively associated with comprehension. There were sex differences, with higher perceived comprehension and lower objective comprehension among female than male individuals. Living in an urban or a rural area had no significant effect (all P>.05). The level of education and income had a positive effect on both subjective and objective comprehension. Finally, the belief in science had a positive effect on perceived comprehension (P<.001) but did not have a statistically significant effect on objective comprehension (P=.87). The main differences between those who think they understand pandemic communication and those who comprehend it better are sex (female individuals have a higher perception of having comprehended, while male individuals have higher levels of objective comprehension) and belief in science (higher belief in science leads to higher perceived comprehension, while it does not have any impact on objectively understanding the message conveyed).

Misleading graphs are a source of misinformation that worry many experts. Especially people with a low graph literacy are thought to be persuaded by graphs that misrepresent the underlying data. But we know little about how people interpret misleading graphs and how these graphs influence their opinions. In this study we focus on the effect of truncating the y-axis for a line chart which exaggerates an upgoing trend. In a randomized controlled trial, we showed participants either a normal or a misleading chart, and we did so in two different contexts. After they had seen the graphs, we asked participants their opinion on the trend and to give an estimation of the increase. Finally we measured their graph literacy. Our results show that context is the only significant factor in opinion-forming; the misleading graph and graph literacy had no effect. None of these factors had a significant impact on estimations for the increase. These results show that people might be less susceptible to misleading graphs than we thought and that context has more impact than a misleading y-axis.

Videos have been an important medium for providing health and risk communication to the public during the COVID-19 pandemic. Public health officials, health care professionals, and policy makers have used videos to communicate pandemic-related content to large parts of the population. Evidence regarding the outcomes of such communication, along with their determinants, is however limited. The aim of this study was to test the impact of nonvisual information factors of video communication on 4 outcomes: trust, comprehension, intentions, and behavior. Twelve short health communication videos related to pandemics were produced and shown to a large sample of participants, applying a randomized controlled between-subjects design. Three factors were included in the creation of the videos: the topic (exponential growth, handwashing, and burden of pandemics on the health care system), the source (expert and nonexpert), and a call to action (present or absent). Participants were randomly assigned to 1 video intervention, and 1194 valid replies were collected. The data were analyzed using factorial ANOVA. The 3 pandemic-related topics did not affect trust, comprehension, intentions, or behavior. Trust was positively influenced by an expert source (2.5%), whereas a nonexpert source instead had a positive effect on the proxy for behavior (5.7%) compared with the expert source. The inclusion of a call to action had a positive effect on both trust (4.1%) and comprehension (15%). Trust and comprehension in pandemic-related video communication can be enhanced by using expert sources and by including a call to action, irrespective of the topic being communicated. Intentions and behavior appear to be affected to a small extent by the 3 factors tested in this study. RR2-10.2196/34275.

Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) play a prominent role in today's society. At the same time, studies show that the gap in science performance between students from lower socioeconomic background and students from a more advantaged background is wide. Studies further show that role models can have a positive effect and the effect tutoring can have towards the attitudes towards subjects. In this pre-registered randomized controlled trial, we study in a real life setting the effect of tutoring on the STEM interest of Dutch primary school pupils from relatively lower socioeconomic neighborhoods ('tutees') by measuring the influence of the study background of 2nd to 4th study-year Dutch university students ('tutors') on the STEM interest of the tutees. A group of 104 tutees between 9 and 12 years old were tutored by 29 tutors. Nineteen tutors had a background in one of the STEM subjects, the others had a background in another (non-STEM) subject. Using the validated questionnaire STEM-LIT, we measured the interest of the tutees in STEM fields in a pre- and post-test and checked if the background of tutors affected the interest in STEM fields through statistical tests. While our results have found no significant differences in STEM interest between those two groups, our analysis does provide insights into the mechanisms relating to the interest in STEM fields among children from relatively lower socioeconomic neighbourhoods. Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) play an important role in society. However, there is a gap in choosing science-related directions between children with a lower social-economic background and those with a more advantaged background. Tutoring could change their attitudes towards STEM. In this study, we researched the effect of tutoring on the STEM interest of Dutch primary school children between 9 and 12 years old in a real-life setting. We measured the influence of the study background, STEM or non-STEM, of Dutch university students (the tutors), on the STEM interest of their tutees. With a survey before and after tutoring, we also measured the interest of the tutees in STEM. While this study didn't find significant differences in STEM interest between tutees tutored by a tutor with a STEM or non-STEM background, it does gives insights into the mechanisms behind interest in STEM among pupils from lower social-economic background.

The nonlinear nature of contagious diseases and the potential for exponential growth can be difficult to grasp for the general public. This has strong implications for public health communication, which needs to be both easily accessible and efficient. A pandemic is an extreme situation, and the accompanying strict societal measures are generally easier to accept if one understands the underlying reasoning behind them. Bringing about informed attitude change and achieving compliance to strict restrictions requires explanations of scientific concepts and terminologies that laypersons can understand. The aim of the project is to develop effective, evidence-based modes of video communication for translating complex, but important, health messages about pandemics to both the general population and decision makers. The study uses COVID-19 as a case to learn and prepare society for handling the ongoing and future pandemics, as well as to provide evidence-based tools for the science communication toolbox. The project applies a mixed methods design, combining qualitative methods (eg, interviews, observational studies, literature reviews) and quantitative methods (eg, randomized controlled trials [RCTs]). The project brings together researchers from a wide range of academic fields, as well as communication industry professionals. This study has received funding from the Trond Mohn Foundation through the Research Council of Norway's \"COVID-19 Emergency Call for Proposals\" March 2020. Recruitment and data collection for the exploratory first phase of the project ran from February 2021 to March 2021. Creative communication work started in May 2021, and the production of videos for use in the RCTs in the final phase of the project started in September 2021. The COVCOM project will take on several grand challenges within the field of communicating science and provide evidence-based tools to the science communication toolbox. A long-term goal of the project is to contribute to the creation of a more resilient health care system by developing communication responses tailormade for different audiences, preparing society for any future pandemic. DERR1-10.2196/34275.