Miguel Martínez & Elena Cuesta, 2009, Scientific Mediation, in Wiebe E. Bijker & Luciano D’Andrea (eds.) Handbook on the socialisation of scienctific and technological research, River Press: Rome, 129-147.
The concept of “scientific mediation” refers to the social relationships that scientists establish with their social environment. Therefore, scientific mediation can be viewed as a specific dimension of science – the one that is related to the social ties linking scientists with (mostly) non-scientists, such as students, suppliers, funding agencies, managers, enterprises, and the like. Social ties, social mechanisms of bringing together scientists and (mostly) non-scientists into a social relationship, and the process of connection scientists with people from their environment, are the object of scientific mediation. Due to the fact that these relationships can be problematic, knowledge about scientific mediation can be used to provide solutions or alternative ways of behaviour. (...)
