Potencialidades metafóricas do exoesqueleto: comunicação pública da ciência no pontapé inicial da Copa do Mundo de 2014, a partir da página do neurocientista Miguel Nicolelis no Facebook

Abstract

The research proposes to reflect about the public communication of science by the narrative bias, from the demonstration of BRA-Santos Dumont I exoskeleton at the opening ceremony of the 2014 World Cup. Through the bridge established between science and communication from the perspective of Paul Ricoeurs (2011) intercultural translation, we seek to realize the strategies adopted by the Brazilian neuroscientist Miguel Nicolelis to announce the demonstration on his Facebook page before and after the event. A set of texts about the topic published between January 1st 2014 and June 12nd June 2015 will be considered. The main goal is to comprehend how Nicolelis deals with the criteria and perspectives of public communication of science as a strategy to announce the research results and advances. Our methodological path to understanding the object passes through elements derived mainly from directions that emerge in the texts themselves from the issues discussed in the theoretical framework. They are: metaphor, intercultural translation and mediatization. We understand that the way how narratives are constructed, the choice of words and vocabulary that gives intelligibility reveal the strategies adopted by the neuroscientist. Thus, the cultural aspects of scientific activity, especially metaphors, play an important role in our analysis, from the perspective of what we called in the title of "metaphoric potentiality of the exoskeleton". The considerations about the corpus, based on the readings made, allowed us to conclude that Nicolelis publications reveals controversies and ambiguities in strategies of the exoskeleton's dissemination. Moreover, supported by intercultural translation, we realized ethical, political, economic aspects and power games involved in the relations of Nicolelis triggered by the demonstration. All this has enabled us to launch new looks on the public communication of science, moving away, thereby, of the traditional approaches of science communication processes.