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A simple online quiz allowed the participants of the World Conference of Science Journalists to identify preconceived ideas that can influence their work.
The World Conference of Science Journalists (Lausanne, July 1-5) offered a unique opportunity to present the QUEST project to the international science journalism world and to meet with some outstanding representatives of this crucial sector.
To quote Olivier Dessibourg, President of the WCSJ Organizing Committee, “quality independent science journalism in the worldwide media is vital, and (…) it needs to be supported and nurtured”. Among the many discussions, sessions, plenaries and outstanding keynotes that guided the reflections on quality, our QuestYourself web app – designed by Ca’ Foscari University of Venice – focused precisely on the topic and distinguished itself.
Why? First of all because our QuestYourself booth was strategically located in the Start-up Street Market, a special area in the basement of the beautiful SwissTech Convention Center. Second, and most importantly, because QuestYourself is a game, an interactive quiz that surveys journalists. Constrained by a time limit and (un)confident about their knowledge of current science topics, more than 50 journalists and communicators approached the game with curiosity and open-mindedness. Climate Change, Artificial Intelligence, and Vaccines – case studies for the QUEST project – were the three topics addressed by the game.
We are deliberately withholding a lot of the specifics of the tool at this point, as it will continue to be part of the research work of QUEST. But what we can already say is that this simple and short game certainly entered the luggage of the many Conference participants traveling back home.
Thanks to Fabiana Zollo.
