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2 December 2019
SciComm, policy, and outreach at AGU19!
♩It’s the most, wonderful tiiiiiiiime, of the year! ♫
20 November 2019
Having “The [Climate Change] Talk” with your family
Thanksgiving can be a time for food, football, and family. And sometimes…uncomfortable family chats, especially around science. We live in a nation where there are disconnects between understanding and acceptance of major scientific issues such as GMOs, evolution, vaccinations, and (especially relevant to AGU scientists) climate change.
15 November 2019
Introducing “Sci & Tell” – a…well…not really a podcast…
Shane M Hanlon AGU’s 2017 Fall Meeting, we partnered for Story Corps as part of AGU’s Centennial to record audio stories from scientists in the Story Corps model. From that seed, we kept the program going as the Narratives Project: The AGU Centennial is an opportunity to reflect on our past and welcome all the possibilities that the next century will bring. To capture where we’ve been and where we’re going, …
12 November 2019
Scicomm adventures in South Africa
Science communication is critical to inspiring future generations, which I only realised at the beginning of this year after attending the Famelab scicomm workshop at Wits. My involvement in Famelab and Science Slam was incredible.
11 November 2019
I had my doubts about Wikipedia…until an Edit-a-thon
I use Wikipedia. I feel like most folks on the internet have made their way to the website for one reason or another. It’s a treasure trove of information. Just the other day I found myself deep diving on 2018 earthquake that hit Alaska as it was the first (and only) one I’ve experienced. There was a lot of really science-y, technical language in the article. And I trusted it.
8 October 2019
Tell a science story at Fall Meeting!
By Shane M Hanlon In addition to my role at AGU I’m also a Senior Producer with the science storyteller organization The Story Collider where scientists and non-scientists alike tell true, personal stories about science. We’re delighted to partner with GoMRI (Gulf of Mexico Research Initiative) for a special live event at AGU in San Francisco on Thursday, 12 December. For this show, we are seeking true, personal stories connected …
27 September 2019
So, you wanna host a Twitter takeover (…of our account)?
Recently, a new word has entered my lexicon: rocur. I’ve actually had discussions with colleagues responsible for copy editing and marketing about using this word, mainly along the lines of, “that’s not a word.” This has made me realize I’ve migrated from one bubble of scientific research in conservation biology to another that’s focused on communication, policy, and social media.
19 September 2019
Storytelling basics: The story arc
By Shane M Hanlon All good stories have an arc.* A beginning, middle, end. The action goes up and down. The tension leads to twists and turns. So, what does the basic story arc look like? Well: This is an arc. Or, at this point, it’s a line. The beginning of the arc is the beginning of the story. Set the scene: where are we? Who are the characters? …
9 September 2019
Getting outside the comfort of the journalism classroom to encourage science
Newsrooms are giving more attention to climate change and writing about science, so preparing future journalists to cover difficult topics is essential.
3 September 2019
Guided Star Gazing
I am a classroom teacher and am also a member of a local astronomy club. We do lots of public events, but my favorite events are those I put on for my students and their families.
The Plainspoken Scientist is the science communication blog of AGU’s Sharing Science program. With this blog, we wish to encourage scientists to reach out to non-scientists and to do so with plainspoken discussion.
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