To disseminate (from Latin disseminare "scattering seeds"), in the field of communication, is to broadcast a message to the public without direct feedback from the audience.
With dissemination, only half of this communication model theory is applied. The information is sent out and received, but no reply is given. The message carrier sends out information, not to one individual, but many in a broadcasting system. An example of this transmission of information is in fields of advertising, public announcements and speeches. Another way to look at dissemination is that of which it derives from the Latin roots, the scattering of seeds. These seeds are metaphors for voice or words: to spread voice, words, and opinion to an audience.
In a scientific context, dissemination is defined as making projects results available to the scientific community, policy makers and industry – using scientific language prioritizing accuracy. In terms of content, it covers the results of the research project, happens only when results are available and targets a specialist audience in order to enable take-up and use of results. Dissemination of research findings is becoming more important for scientists, since journals start to encourage them to invest extra effort in reaching wider audiences.
Furthermore, John Durham Peters explains that "broadcasting information to an open ended destination is a feature of all speech. The metaphor of dissemination directs our attention to those vast continents of signification that are not directly interactive." Dissemination basically sends information to an audience, without direct contact to the receiver, and without a direct response or clarification method that a conversation or dialogue would have.
Dissemination plays a crucial role especially in public-funded research, where society, also representing taxpayers funding the research, is asking to see the results of the projects being published and shared with the scientific community. Therefore, public authorities ask organizations executing the research projects to develop and implement a dissemination plan that contributes to the publication of research activities and results. Thus, the funds invested in research flows back to society in terms of knowledge as the publications have to be openly accessible according to the grant agreement.
In policy development, mainstreaming is seen as going a step further than dissemination, in that it tries to embed change in policy and practice, rather than just publishing information.
|
|