Ch. 13 — Genetics and Society • 263 
• Science C'enters and similar projects spe- 
cifically designed to present science infor- 
mation in an appealing fashion. 
• New magazines that offei' science informa- 
tion to the lay I'eader— another indication 
of inci'easing interest in science. 
• Tele\ ision [)rograms dealing w ith science 
and technologic. K.\am[)les are the two PBS 
series, \()\ \ and Cosmos, and the BBC' 
series, Connections. (dfS has also hegiin a 
new series called The Universe. 
• I ele\ ision progi'ams dealing with social 
issues and \ alue conflicts. Pai'ticulai’ly in- 
teresting is the concept behind The Basters. 
In this half-hour j)rime time show , the net- 
work pro\ itles the fii'st half of the show, 
w hich is a dramatization of a family in con- 
flict o\ ei' a social or ethical issue. I'he sec- 
ond half of the show consists either of a dis- 
cussit)n about what has been seen or of 
comments from people w ho call in. 
One interesting possibility would he to com- 
bine a series of Ba.\ter-ty[)e episodes on genetic 
issues w ith audience reaction using the (J,UBE 
s\'stem, a tw o-w ay cable telex ision system in 
C'olumhus, Ohio (now e.xpanding to other cities). 
In this sx stem, telex ision x iexx ers are prox ided 
xxith a simple dex ice that enables them to 
ansxx er questions asked ox er the telex ision. A 
computer tabulates the responses, xxhich can 
either be used by the studio or immediately 
transmitted back to the audience. QUBE permits 
its x iexxers to do comparison shopping in dis- 
count stores, take college courses at home, and 
prox ide opinion to elected officials. It could be 
effectixely combined xx ith a program like The 
Ba\ters, to study social issues. If sexeral such 
programs on genetics xx ere shoxx n to QUBE sub- 
scribers, audience learning and interest could 
be measured. 
Any efforts to increase public understanding 
should, of course, be combined xx ith carefully 
designed exaluation studies so that the effec- 
tix eness of the program can be assessed. 
OPTIONS: 
A. Programs could be developed to increase 
public understanding of science and the rela- 
tionships between science, technology, and 
society. 
Public understanding of science in today’s 
xxorld is essential, and there is concern about 
the adequacy of the public’s knowledge. 
B. Programs could be established to monitor the 
level of public understanding of genetics and 
of science in general and to determine whether 
public concern with decisionmaking in science 
and technology is increasing. 
Selecting this option xvould indicate that 
there is need tor additional information, and 
that Congress is interested in involving the pub- 
lic in dex eloping science policy. 
C. The copyright laws could be amended to per- 
mit schools to videotape television programs 
for educational purposes. 
Under current copyright law^ videotaping 
telex'ision programs as they are being broadcast 
may infringe the rights of the program’s owner, 
generally its producer. The legal status of such 
tapes is presently the subject of litigation. As a 
matter of policy, the Public Broadcasting Serv- 
ice negotiates, xvith the producers of the pro- 
grams that it broadcasts, a limited right for 
schools to tape the program for educational 
uses. This permits a school to keep the tape for a 
given period of time, most often one week, after 
xvhich it must be erased. Otherwise, a school 
must rent or purchase a copy of the videotape 
from the oxvner. 
In favor of this option, it should be noted that 
many of the programs are made at least in part 
xvith public funds. Removing the copyright con- 
straint on schools would make these programs 
more available for another public good, educa- 
tion. On the other hand, this option could have 
significant economic consequences to the copy- 
right oxvner, w'hose market is often limited to 
educational institutions. An ad hoc committee of 
producers, educators, broadcasters, and talent 
unions is attempting to develop guidelines in 
this area. 
