Login

Volume 9Issue 22026

Articles

  • Aug 17, 2026 pt Article

    Identity as Capital: Who Speaks About Science on Brazilian YouTube?

    by Daniel de Abreu Damasceno Junior orcid logo , Amanda Medeiros , Luisa Massarani orcid logo

    In the context of the widespread reach of platforms such as YouTube, we study how identity-related issues shape the relationship between content creators and audiences, contributing to either the expansion or limitation of engagement with science-related videos published on Brazilian YouTube. To this end, we examine the argument that gender, race, and age are key factors structuring the dynamics of visibility, recognition, power, and the circulation of meaning. Our corpus consisted of 134 videos published on Brazilian YouTube. The findings show that identity functions as a mechanism of inclusion and exclusion in occupying positions of influence on platforms such as YouTube.

    Volume 9Issue 22026

  • Sep 21, 2026 pt Article

    How can digital media be studied in times of information deluge? The TUCANO methodological protocol applied to documentary research on online news

    by Victor Felipe Mendanha de Lima orcid logo , Frederico Marianetti Soriani orcid logo

    This article presents TUCANO (an acronym derived from the Portuguese for: Unified Techniques for the Categorization and Analysis of Online News), a hybrid methodological protocol for the analysis of online news corpora in Portuguese. Developed to address a challenge posed by non-probability sampling in Social Sciences, TUCANO seeks to delimit, organize, and explore sets of news articles without losing the interpretive depth of qualitative analysis. The protocol combines Natural Language Processing (NLP) techniques, such as tokenization, vectorization, and co-occurrence analysis, with a theoretical rationale oriented toward corpus construction and thematic subsampling. Its workflow is organized into six stages, ranging from the formulation of the guiding question to the definition of well-grounded subsets for qualitative analysis. Its applicability is demonstrated through a study on media coverage of the use of plastic straws and their impacts on marine life. With a lightweight, transparent, and accessible computational infrastructure, TUCANO enhances qualitative analysis and expands the critical use of computational tools in the Applied Social Sciences.

    Volume 9Issue 22026

  • Sep 30, 2026 pt Article

    Public Universities from the Perspective of Residents of São Carlos (SP): A Brazilian Study

    by Dr Daniel Matheus Silva orcid logo , Dr Franciani Cássia Sentanin orcid logo , Dr Kenia N. Parra orcid logo , Ana Cláudia Kasseboehmer orcid logo

    This study analyzed the perceptions of residents of São Carlos, São Paulo, Brazil, regarding the city’s public universities. A total of 454 participants took part in the study, including local community residents and students from public and private high schools. The quantitative investigation was based on a previous qualitative study and addressed five dimensions: comparison between public and private higher education institutions, learning environment, benefits to the city, the university as a social right, and idealized views of the university. The results indicated predominantly positive perceptions of public universities, but also revealed differences among the groups investigated and gaps in their understanding of the universities’ teaching, research, and extension functions. The findings highlight the need to strengthen communication and engagement between universities and society in order to foster a more comprehensive understanding of the social role of public higher education institutions.

     
     

    Volume 9Issue 22026

    • Practice Insights

  • Aug 05, 2026 es Practice Insight

    Recycling detectives: an intergenerational play experience at Universum, the Science Museum

    by Ingrid Guadalupe Hernández-Gómez , Ms Cristina Hernández-Martínez , Dr Norma Angélica Corado-Nava , Ms María Emilia Beyer-Ruíz

    Recycling detectives is an intergenerational educational activity offered by the children’s area at Universum, the Science Museum of the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM), designed to teach children and their families about the recycling process for Tetra Pak® containers. This text describes the pedagogical criteria that guided its design and presents the results of a formative evaluation based on direct observation to analyze interactions, emotions, and knowledge gained during the experience. The findings show that play, as a legitimate form of learning, facilitates intergenerational cooperation, stimulates emotions, and promotes environmental thinking from an early age.

    Volume 9Issue 22026

  • Sep 09, 2026 es Practice Insight

    Recess: Science Workshops. A Science Communication Experience with Populations in Vulnerable Situations at a Public University

    by Dr María del Socorro Aguilar Cucurachi orcid logo , Prof. Roxana Zermeño Rivas , Prof. Katya Zamora Cuevas

    Recess: Science Workshops is a science communication program at a public university in Mexico that has organized, since 2023, in-person interdisciplinary workshops for girls, boys, and adolescents in situations of social vulnerability, residing in or attending group homes and special care centers in the metropolitan area of Xalapa, particularly in Banderilla, Coatepec, and Xalapa. Over four cycles (2023–2026), more than thirty university departments, science communication collectives, and external institutions collaborated to offer educational experiences in the natural sciences, social sciences, humanities, and the arts, adapted to diverse populations, including people with multiple disabilities. This article describes the program's design, implementation, and lessons learned from a reflective-practice perspective, identifying methodological, logistical, and institutional challenges, as well as lessons that may guide similar initiatives. It argues that science communication grounded in a human rights approach requires flexible methodologies, solid institutional alliances, sustained accompaniment, and a culture of critical evaluation.

    Volume 9Issue 22026

  • Apr 20, 2026 es Practice Insight

    Recreational science resources for addressing COVID-19.

    by Nereida Martínez-Báez , Amelia Rodríguez-Pinedo , Elizabeth Ruiz-García , Miguel Garcia-Guerrero orcid logo , Diogo Lopes-de Oliveira orcid logo

    Providing access to reliable and accessible information in the face of novel or uncertain scenarios is one of the greatest challenges for public communication of science. This becomes especially sensitive in the field of health, where decisions can literally have life-or-death consequences. Encouraging the public to move beyond confirmation bias and question their beliefs in order to base their opinions on scientific consensus is a major challenge. This article analyzes the process of conceptualizing, designing, and testing recreational science workshops created to address issues related to the COVID-19 pandemic, a disease that between March 2020 and August 2022 caused 590 million infections and 6.4 million deaths worldwide. The activities were tested with 211 students aged 8 to 12 in a primary school in Zacatecas, Mexico. Questionnaires were sent to all participants, and 117 responses were obtained. The results point to a greater understanding of and interest in topics related to the novel coronavirus, as well as contagion prevention, vaccines, and the problems associated with self-medication.

    Volume 9Issue 22026

    Also a part of:

    Issue: Volume 9Issue 12026

    • Essays

  • Oct 12, 2026 es Essay

    La relación entre educación, enseñanza, divulgación y comunicación de la ciencia: una mirada desde México

    by María del Carmen Sánchez-Mora orcid logo

    A partir de la revisión de la extensa literatura sobre el tema de la comunicación de la ciencia en México y en otros países, y de la experiencia profesional de los autores a partir de los años ochenta del siglo pasado, se hace un recuento de la historia de la profesión y de la influencia que en esta han tenido los desarrollos teóricos y prácticos de la actividad en el resto del mundo.

    Volume 9Issue 22026