New Web, Training Resources to Help Scientists Communicate
Whether talking about climate change research or fruit fly genetics, scientists face many opportunities to share their knowledge and research with public audiences--in lectures, media interviews, school visits and public presentations--but communication skills are rarely part of their traditional training. Now a new Web site and series of regional training workshops, launched at the AAAS Annual Meeting on 15 February by the AAAS Center for Public Engagement with Science and Technology, in partnership with the National Science Foundation, respond to this need in science communications with a wide variety of resources. Scientists, journalists, public information officers and other meeting participants heard about the issue, and the new resources, in a special workshop held earlier today.
The session, which introduced the new Web site resources and announced upcoming regional workshops in San Jose, California, and Raleigh, North Carolina, featured Larry Bell, Sr., vice president of the Boston Museum of Science; Scott Doney, senior scientist at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution; and Washington Post environment reporter Juliet Eilperin. The new Web site is called Communicating Science: Tools for Scientists and Engineers, and features such online resources as webinars, how-to tips for media interviews, strategies for identifying public outreach opportunities, and more.
"Our goal is to encourage, support and provide tools to scientists and engineers who communicate with the public and the news media," said AAAS Public Engagement Manager Tiffany Lohwater, who moderated the panel. The website and training workshops have been designed to help them improve their communication skills and discover broader outreach opportunities, she noted. "Since the public funds a majority of scientific research, it's important to communicate well," Lohwater said, noting that an increasing number of public agencies and scientific leaders agree.
Reporter Eilperin went a step further, telling the standing-room-only crowd, "If you've ever received a dime of taxpayer funds...I feel there's a public accountability." She recommended that scientists take the time to forge long-term relationships with reporters for a "greater payoff" for both reporter and scientist.
Doney observed that scientists "tend to delegate [learning how to communicate] to the last thing you do--but it's one of the most important things you can do in your career." He noted that his own training and increased interaction with journalists has changed the direction of his research, with more of an eye toward issues that have a direct impact on the public.
Following the panel, Lohwater demonstrated the website's new features, which include interviews with top science reporters, including NPR's Talk of the Nation: Science Friday host Ira Flatow, whose show is broadcasting live today from the AAAS Annual Meeting, and New York Times environment reporter Andrew Revkin, who will speak on a Saturday panel called "Global Warming Heats Up: How the Media Covers Climate Change."
