Ö

What is the relation between the humanities and society? How is this relation established by practices of science communication? Practices of comparing are so pervasive that they are often no longer consciously perceived. The same applies to the field of scientific communication, insofar as practices of comparing also occur in this connection. The objective of sub-project Ö is to scrutinise such practices within science communication. This is achieved with a view to the communities of practice, their institutions and media, as these are based on precisely such practices of comparing. In order to make the implicit practices of comparing visible, it is necessary to dismantle traditional understandings of communities of practice, their spaces and institutions.

Thus, the objective is to entangle the humanities and the (non-academic) public together in active transfer spaces and to encourage self-reflection. Here, actors from academia and the public converge and, where possible or necessary, renegotiate their relationship: boundaries are sounded out, stereotypical divisions are reviewed and new connections are forged. These transfer spaces thus become spaces of comparing. The four transfer spaces are as follows:

(1) Bielefelder StadtBahn (Bielefeld tram)
(2) Exhibition „miteinander gegenüber“, Kunsthalle Bielefeld
(3) Social Media
(4) Humanities Laboratory for Pupils

The activities of the transfer spaces will then be reflected in terms of the practices of comparing inherent in science communication in a Changing Academy. Comprising actors from the most diverse fields of communication (science, business, culture, politics), the Changing Academy regards itself as a space of interaction and transfer. Here, the public communication strategies adopted by the various institutions are presented and evaluated from different perspectives with respect to the underlying practices of comparing.