Super cool! I've always wondered about communications within science...I went to uni for comms and the general gist was, we were supposed to be in demand in any industry. I would think this is especially true for something like science that has lots of jargon and needs concepts to be boiled down. Do they have specific communicators within the science community? My experience is people are either good at doing (i.e. engineering) or articulating (i.e. communications), but not both. What is that saying from Steve Jobs? “That’s been one of my mantras – focus and simplicity. Simple can be harder than complex.”
I'll probably write a whole post about this! PhD programs focus so much on lab time, and I got zero formal training in scientific writing, let alone writing for a non-science audience. I learned from my advisor, plus I just like writing and was a better writer than most. Scientists often think the data speak for themselves, which is true, but you also need a convincing story around why anyone should care, and academics can come across very condescendingly sometimes. Then, you mix media in there, who can sometimes be the culprit of how results get misinterpreted (or at least exaggerated). IMO many of the best science writers have at least a college science degree. It's the translating for a general audience that's tough.
I think this is a great idea. Science has had a comms problem for a while now and the more people trying to solve that, the better!
This is fantastic Erin! And so important given the current state of affairs!!
Super cool! I've always wondered about communications within science...I went to uni for comms and the general gist was, we were supposed to be in demand in any industry. I would think this is especially true for something like science that has lots of jargon and needs concepts to be boiled down. Do they have specific communicators within the science community? My experience is people are either good at doing (i.e. engineering) or articulating (i.e. communications), but not both. What is that saying from Steve Jobs? “That’s been one of my mantras – focus and simplicity. Simple can be harder than complex.”
I'll probably write a whole post about this! PhD programs focus so much on lab time, and I got zero formal training in scientific writing, let alone writing for a non-science audience. I learned from my advisor, plus I just like writing and was a better writer than most. Scientists often think the data speak for themselves, which is true, but you also need a convincing story around why anyone should care, and academics can come across very condescendingly sometimes. Then, you mix media in there, who can sometimes be the culprit of how results get misinterpreted (or at least exaggerated). IMO many of the best science writers have at least a college science degree. It's the translating for a general audience that's tough.
I look forward to reading your posts !
SO appreciate your translating science and medicine for the rest of us. Your perspective is needed.