Abstract:

[Objective] This paper is to describe the Chinese Academy of Sciences’ (CAS) journey toward the informatization of science communication and to analyze the development stages, principal achievements, and the challenges. [Methods] By reviewing the historical background, key milestones, and major outcomes, this study traces the evolution of CAS’s informatization of science communication. It examines how technologies—including the Internet, mobile Internet, big data, and artificial intelligence—have affected science communication, and how CAS has adapted to and harnessed these technologies to spur innovative development. [Results] CAS has succesively advanced science communication across four technological eras: in the Internet era it built networked platforms that efficiently integrated and disseminated popular-science resources; during the mobile-Internet era it formed a multifaceted new-media matrix that enabled diversified, highly targeted outreach; in the big-data era it applied data-analytics techniques to sharpen the precision of dissemination; and in the current artificial-intelligence era it is experimenting with AI-generated-content (AIGC) technologies to drive new, innovative applications in science communication. [Conclusions] CAS has achieved notable success in informatizing science communication, making an important contribution to enhancing public scientific literacy and strengthening science-society interaction. Looking ahead, as AI technology continues to evolve, CAS will keep exploring new technologies to drive innovation and will build a science-communication system that is more intelligent, more precise, and more efficient.

Key words: science communication, informatization, popular science operation, China Popular Science Expo