COSY

In dem Beitrag werden einige Probleme angesprochen, die sich für die TA von "emerging technologies" ergeben. Erstens werden mit dem Anspruch, aus vergangenen Fehlern zu lernen, oft Maßnahmen zur Konfliktvermeidung gemeint, damit „nicht dasselbe passiert wie bei der Gentechnik“, u.a. die Initiierung einer öffentlichen Debatte. Welche Rolle spielt TA dabei? Zweitens ist der Kontext, in dem Technologien entwickelt werden, von PR-Strategien durchsetzt, die eine entsprechende Analyse erfordern. Welche Rolle spielt Kommunikation für TA – als Gegenstand und Mittel? Drittens gerät TA im Fall von emerging technologies von der Rolle des Beobachters in die eines Players, der (mit)definieren muss, wovon die Rede ist. Was bedeutet das für das Selbstverständnis von TA?

Non-scientific factors such as general attitudes, media coverage and political support influence the public image of a scientific-technological field – but how does a new field find its image? To shed light on relevant processes, COSY did investigations in three areas: public attitude formation, media reporting and program funding. As an example we chose the emerging field of Synthetic Biology (SB), being considered a “hot topic”. Having received increased media attention recently, it provides a living communication experiment: prone to elicit attitudes, they are not yet determined. To find out how lay people cope with challenging insights from SB using their everyday knowledge, we performed an experiment shaped after the flow of information as it actually occurs: scientists wrote press releases on their work, Austrian journalists made newspaper articles thereof and focus groups of lay people summarised and discussed them. Journalists and scientists were then confronted with the outcome. The results show that popularisation and framing start early; for example, press releases tended to omit technical terms and emphasised benefits. Journalists considered applications to be most important for the reader and thought their main task was to present balanced information on risks and benefits. In the focus groups, attention shifted further to risks and ethical issues, and concerns and hopes were similar to those over genetic engineering years ago. While most participants felt better informed after the discussions, attitudes to SB polarised along pre-existing opinions on biotechnology. In addition, many attendants thought that what SB promises had already been achieved – which means that science only catches up with long-standing projections. Groups dominated by female participant raised the “playing god” metaphor more often. However, in serial reproduction experiments (“Chinese whispers”) morally tainted issues, even “creating artificial life”, disappeared quicker compared to benefit and risk issues. Media coverage usually counts as the most important factor in shaping a technology’s image. In German-language media (2004-2009), SB was a side issue despite its recent prominence, mostly confined to science sections and online portals. Here as well, the focus shifted to concrete applications over time, with a strong emphasis on benefits. In 2007 and 2008, the person of Craig Venter dominated coverage. While he got presented with both fascination and repulsion, the technology as such was associated with more positive effects than risks. In contrast, scientists in interviews more often emphasised potential risks. Media coverage also showed a strong gender bias towards male actors, role models and gendered connotations of SB artefacts. Funding may be seen as a result of officially acknowledging the importance of a new field. While SB was a major issue in the US, both R&D and SB-related ELSA funding varied considerably in several European countries in the past. The UK successfully integrated all forms of research, while other countries suffered from different funding problems or a lack of dedicated scientific SB or ELSA communities. Taken together, we were able to show that lay people do not consider SB to be entirely novel, and that interest may be higher in pragmatic aspects than in moral issues. This corresponds to the emphasis on applications and benefits in media coverage. However, it might also contribute to sustaining the hype some protagonists are busy to create. Policy finally does not yet seem to have found a consistent way of dealing with SB, at least in Europe.