SCIENCE COMMUNICATION AND INFORMATION IN REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT: THE OBSERVADR/COVID-19 PROJECT

Abstract

The purpose of this article is to reflect on scientific communication and dissemination in the context of Regional Development, with particular attention to the digital format and taking into consideration the COVID-19 pandemic. This article presents an excerpt of a survey currently being carried out by the Graduate Program in Regional Development of the University of Santa Cruz Sul. The ObservaDR/Covid-19 research project studies the progress of the pandemic in a region of Rio Grande do Sul and provides data, information and socio-spatial analysis regarding the COVID-19 expansion to public and private administrators and the society in general. Scientific communication and dissemination make up a fundamental portion of this investigation, given the speed of the response that the research aims to give to society through its results. Based on the analysis of the digital communication contents and figures of the ObservaDR/Covid-19 project, we aim to highlight the quality and quantity of the contents being created, emphasizing regional communication focused on transparency, clarity, and presence through the use of digital communication for scientific dissemination. Among the main results, it was evidenced that in the context of the pandemic there is greater consumption of territorialized digital information, especially in places with universities and research centers, something which contributes to the access and sharing of regional scientific information and is an important process to stop the spread of COVID-19 in the regional territories.