|
Work with the media
Dr Carolina Ödman
Universe Awareness Programme, Leiden University, The Netherlands
Astronomy is a science with pop stars. Famous astronomers and scientists (Einstein, Hawking, Jocelyn Bell, etc.) have a presence to be reckoned with in pop culture. New media and social networking brings people closer together and the success of astronomers' blogs or twitter feeds sometimes has nothing to envy some celebrities' online presence. This does not mean that every astronomer should have a blog or a Facebook fan page, but it does demonstrate the interest in astronomy of the general public.
In fact, to young astronomers, I would say: It is not because they are related to you that your family wants to know what you are doing, it is also because it is a fascinating subject for everyone and you have one of the coolest jobs in the world.
The science is one thing, but the scientist who communicates it, the face and voice of a discovery is possibly equally important. Be human, be approachable, be relaxed. Being uncomfortable talking to journalists can be understood as an attitude that sends a message saying 'we are different from ordinary people'. People feel closer to the science when they feel close to the scientist who talks about it.
Take the time to engage journalists and science writers. Try to establish a collaborative relationship with them so that you are working together on getting each science story out to the public in its best form. Volunteer additional explanations when a piece of news is reported from elsewhere. Your openness will be highly appreciated and a huge asset for you.
Sometimes scientists are reluctant to deal with journalists because of the potential inaccuracies in the subsequent coverage. My message to the scientists is "Be tolerant".
The most important thing is not to be accurate but to transmit the idea. Incompleteness is not the same as misinformation and sometimes even a little approximation is perfectly tolerable if it does a better job of telling the astronomy news story.
Talk about one scientific concept at a time, not one subject at a time! Your role is to communicate so that people don't need to know everything on this topic to understand why your piece of astronomical research is newsworthy.
Work on metaphors or simplified explanations together with the journalist/media professional. This will avoid misunderstandings, misconceptions and both will be happier for finding a suitable description of the science. If you need three sentences to clarify something the journalist has misunderstood, they might be able to find the one word that expresses exactly what you mean. That is their area of expertise.
Believe it or not, engaging lay people in communicating science will make you a better communicator and teacher. You will have a better grasp of what people understand and it is sometimes a refreshing reminder that you were also like that before you acquired all that specialist education!
|
