Communicating Mathematics: Who, how, where, when and, above all, why?!

According to the European Charter for Researchers «all researchers should ensure [...] that the results of their research are disseminated and exploited, e.g. communicated, transferred into other research settings or, if appropriate, commercialised ...». Therefore, it's part of the researchers' mission to raise the general public awareness with respect to science. This need is further emphasized by a survey of Eurobarometer 2010: society is strongly interested in science but, at the same time, is often scared by the risks connected with new technologies. Moreover, irrational attitudes towards science are prompted by a broad scientific illiteracy. The result is a remarkable distance between the community of scientists and the society at large. Mathematics, in this context, has a peculiarity: on one hand, it is seen as less ``dangerous'' than other sciences, as it is not directly related to current issues perceived as controversial and potentially risky (for example, Ogm or nuclear power). On the other hand, however, too often it is seen as a dry, cold discipline, very far from everyday life, with results determined by who knows millennia ago, and not susceptible of review. One more reason to communicate it. In a time when innovation, technological progress and, ultimately, the well-being of a society depend decisively on the mathematical culture that this society can express, the widespread ignorance of the basics of mathematics is politically, socially and culturally dangerous: raising the percentage of people who dominate at least its basics can be an important engine to accelerate the transition to an authentic ``knowledge society''.