Anderson Ashley A, Brossard Dominique, Scheufele Dietram A
Department of Life Sciences Communication, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 1545 Observatory Dr., Madison, WI 53706 USA.
J Nanopart Res. 2010 May;12(4):1083-1094. doi: 10.1007/s11051-010-9860-2. Epub 2010 Feb 7.
The shift toward online communication in all realms, from print newspapers to broadcast television, has implications for how the general public consumes information about nanotechnology. The goal of this study is threefold: to investigate who is using online sources for information and news about science and nanotechnology, to examine what the general public is searching for online with regards to nanotechnology, and to analyze what they find in online content of nanotechnology. Using survey data, we find those who report the Internet as their primary source of science and technology news are diverse in age, more knowledgeable about science and nanotechnology, highly educated, male, and more diverse racially than users of other media. In a comparison of demographic data on actual visits by online users to general news and science Web sites, science sites attracted more male, non-white users from the Western region of the United States than news sites did. News sites, on the other hand, attracted those with a slightly higher level of education. Our analysis of published estimates of keyword searches on nanotechnology reveals people are turning to the Internet to search for keyword searches related to the future, health, and applications of nanotechnology. A content analysis of online content reveals health content dominates overall. Comparisons of content in different types of sites-blogs, government, and general sites-are conducted. ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: The online version of this article (doi:10.1007/s11051-010-9860-2) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.
从纸质报纸到广播电视，所有领域都在向在线交流转变，这对普通公众获取纳米技术信息的方式产生了影响。本研究的目标有三个：调查谁在使用在线资源获取有关科学和纳米技术的信息与新闻，研究普通公众在网上搜索有关纳米技术的内容，以及分析他们在纳米技术在线内容中发现了什么。利用调查数据，我们发现那些将互联网作为其科技新闻主要来源的人在年龄上各不相同，比其他媒体用户对科学和纳米技术更了解，受教育程度高，男性居多，而且在种族上更加多样化。在对在线用户实际访问一般新闻和科学网站的人口统计数据进行比较时，科学网站吸引的男性、非白人用户比新闻网站更多，这些非白人用户来自美国西部地区。另一方面，新闻网站吸引的是受教育程度略高的人群。我们对已发表的纳米技术关键词搜索估计的分析表明，人们正在转向互联网搜索与纳米技术的未来、健康及应用相关的关键词。对在线内容的内容分析表明，健康内容在总体上占主导地位。我们还对不同类型网站（博客、政府网站和一般网站）的内容进行了比较。电子补充材料：本文的在线版本（doi:10.1007/s11051-010-9860-2）包含补充材料，授权用户可获取。
