Perception Gap
by Rachel Briggs
Donald Rumsfeld might not know his known unknowns from his unknown unknowns but we've been trying to figure it out. We recently held a seminar - called Perception Gap - looking at how the perceptions ordinary people have of security threats affect government and corporate decision-making.
This is the first in a series of seminars looking at the challenges facing companies of doing business in the new global security environment. Keep an eye on the Demos website for information about future seminars and other new security-related work.
Rachel Briggs
I agree. Demos is doing good work on how best to engage the public in these types of debates at a much earlier stage in the process, looking specifically at the developments of nanotechnology. We have also published on changing parental attitudes to risks for children.
I'd be keen to do more in relation to public perceptions of security risks. Bill Durodie from Kings College has done some really excellent work on this - it's worth looking up some of his articles.
ian ian
I think this is part of a wider public confusion about risk in general which would bear examining - look at the MMR 'debate' for a recent example, but there are many others.