Humor em comunicação de ciência: microrganismos aos quadradinhos

Abstract

Nowadays, science communication to society is a hot topic. The improvement of scientific culture of the general public is mandatory for a responsible citizenship. Consequently, it concerns politicians and decision makers and is on the top of the agendas. However, some constrains must be overcome, the language being one of them. As a matter of fact, scientific language can be very unintelligible for those who are not familiar with scientific lexica. The bridge between science and art in the broadest sense, two forms of intellectual production largely dependent on human creativity, can be a very promising strategy to engage the public and spread the "message". Additionally, if the message is passed along together with an assertive, coherent and strong visual support, then we are over halfway towards our purpose. Moreover, intelligent and reasonable humor is a precious tool, either as an icebreaker, or as an empathic trigger with an audience. Animated sequential art in the form of comics can accomplish the goals mentioned previously. In this presentation we illustrate our work using this tool for teaching/learning and scientific discourse support, in the scope of microbiology (a subject strongly tied to many prejudices and misconceptions among general public). Our intervention ranges from the conception and producing of the cartoons till their public presentation in web pages and science fairs.