Formative Evaluation of Nanotechnology Segments on New England Cable News “Sci-Tech Today”

Sci•Tech Today is a brief televised science news program designed to enhance public understanding of current science, engineering and technology. The 3-5 minute segments are researched and presented by Museum of Science staff and mediated by a news anchor of New England Cable News (NECN). The segments are cablecast live from the Museum of Science’s Gordon Current Science & Technology stage and NECN's Needham, Massachusetts studios. Twice a month, the segments feature nanoscale science and engineering research. These segments are produced with support from (1) the Center for High-Rate Nanomanufacturing, which is funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF) and the Massachusetts Technology Collaborative, and headquartered at Northeastern University and at the University of Massachusetts, Lowell, and (2) the NSF-funded Nanoscale Science and Engineering Center headquartered at Harvard University. NECN’s Nielsen ratings estimate that each Sci•Tech Today segment, with repeat broadcasts, reaches approximately 28,000 adult viewers in Boston and the surrounding five-state New England region. To help guide the production of the Sci•Tech Today segments, Multimedia Research implemented a formative evaluation whose general goal was to obtain feedback about appeal, clarity and format features of nano-topic Sci•Tech Today segments with focus group participants representative of the NECN broadcast audience.