This is not terribly relevant to the issue of peer reviewing, however since we are still in the early stages of this class I thought that this would be interesting. This article in the New York Times informs us that the FDA is interested in posting American inspectors overseas. They intend to have a more permanent presence in certain nations in order to regulate the food and drugs manufactured there. This strikes me as something that is going to need a significant amount of communication- perhaps some cross-cultural science communication will be crucial.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/25/business/25fda.html?ref=health
Saturday, January 26, 2008
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2 comments:
What would it mean to have "cross-cultural" communication, if Merton's norms tell us that science is supposed to be "universal"? (I'm not disagreeing with you -- just posing a question.)
Although Merton's norms claim that science is 'universal' this is a vast generalization. While it is true that there are certain things that mean the same thing from nation to nation, such as measurements and other scientific procedures, there still lies the problem of cross-cultural understanding. Science communication involves more than just data and methods. This shows how counter-norms can come into play. In order for the FDA to really be successful internationally there needs to be understanding, true understanding only comes from effective communication.
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