Constructing the public in public perceptions research: A case study of forest genomics

Area of Science:

• Science and Technology Studies
• Public Engagement with Science
• Genomics

Background:

• Scientific and technological initiatives face increasing demands for public engagement.
• Previous research identified expert views of publics (e.g., uninformed, disengaged, risk, co-producers).
• A systematic exploration of how these expert views emerge, interact, and evolve is lacking.

Purpose of the Study:

• To introduce a typology of imagined publics.
• To analyze how publics are constructed within forest genomics.
• To understand the coexistence and interaction of different expert views on the public.

Main Methods:

• Development of a typology of imagined publics.
• Analysis of public perception construction in forest genomics.
• Examination of how deficit and co-productive views interact.

Main Results:

• Deficit views of the public have not been superseded by co-production models.
• Deficit and co-productive approaches to publics coexist and overlap.
• These overlapping views shape the characterization of publics and the study of public perceptions.

Conclusions:

• Research on public perceptions of novel technologies requires deepening and expansion.
• Calls for more diverse and complex methodological approaches.
• Future research should account for relational dynamics over time in public engagement studies.