Apologies for taking so long to write this next blog post. Things have been busy in the lab for me the last few months, but now I'm back to writing my blog and hopefully teaching those who are interested something new on this gloomy, rainy Thursday 😦 So, in my last blog post I introduced [...]
SCICOMM SUNDAY #18 🗣
Your weekly tips & tricks for improving your science communication!
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This week I want to talk to you about...
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USING ACCESSIBLE LANGUAGE & BE INCLUSIVE 🥰🥰
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In Edition #11, I shared with you a scicomm 101 starter toolkit 🛠for those looking to get into scicomm or ways they could look into improving. For the next few editions I thought I would go a little more in depth.
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Scicomm is about bringing the love of science to anyone and everyone. And that means EVERYONE! Science is often seen as an elitist pursuit, so we need to break down those barriers as more perspectives and experiences will help to advance scientific knowledge & research more!
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So in the name of being accessible & inclusive, I thought I would share a list of things to think to think about when doing your science communication or organising an engagement event:
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💬 Avoid using jargon to describe your science
📱Add alt text descriptions to social media posts
📄 Add image/video/gif descriptions on social media posts
🎨 Consider what colours you are using in print and on slides
♿ Find ways to make your venue accessible for all
💻 Provide screen readers or magnifiers for events that may require it
👕 Provide shirts of all sizes for volunteers
👫🏽 Make sure your events represent all genders, races, religions, backgrounds and scientific roles
🗣 Consider whether you need translators including sign language interpreters
👶🏻 Make sure there are areas for mothers to feed potentially
🎥 Add captions to your videos and also closed captions on live videos
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What other tips would you add to this list to make your scicomm more inclusive and accessible? Let's make a comprehensive list for all!
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What other scicomm tips do you want to see here on Scicomm Sunday?
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Edition 18, over and out!
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Today marks ONE YEAR as a scicomm officer! 🎉🎉
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Time really does fly when you're having fun! But seriously I dont know where the time has gone!
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When I started I was fresh outta passing my PhD viva 🎓 and super excited but also really anxious about the career decision I had made. Was I going to be a complete imposter in this job? 😢
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Fast forward 365 days, I cant really believe what I've achieved, experienced and accomplished in this role already 🤗. The work I have been able to do around community engagement has been humbling. The research 🔬I have gotten to write about and share has been inspiring. And the people I have met from all my opportunities have been unforgettable. And that's not even scratching the surface.
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I'm grateful 🙏🏼 for all the opportunities I've had and the skills 🎥 I've picked up and I'm looking forward to the lessons I have left to learn as I start this next chapter 📚.
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So here's to the first workiversary in scicomm! Here's to many more years of learning, educating, striving, creating, analysing, planning and geeking 🤓. But for now... CAKE! 🧁
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SCICOMM SUNDAY #17 🗣
Your weekly tips & tricks for improving your science communication!
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This week I want to talk to you about...
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FLEXING YOUR STORYTELLING SKILLS
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In Edition #11, I shared with you a scicomm 101 starter toolkit 🛠for those looking to get into scicomm or ways they could look into improving. For the next few editions I thought I would go a little more in depth.
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Now you are probably thinking, what on earth does a story have to do with science. Well, when it comes to scicomm, we want to get our message across about the latest research or some fun facts to inspire the next generation. We are much more likely to remember some information if it is in a story that we can remember key things.
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So I thought I would share a few things to start thinking about when it comes to your science stories:
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PLOT - its got to go somewhere. How has it changed from when you start the story. This could be how you got the data from your experiment when giving a talk, or you could explore how a protein manages to do its job at an engagement event
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CHARACTERS - who are the key players in your story? Is it scientists or is it proteins & cells. Dont be afraid to give them personalities to make your story more memorable
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SETTING - letting your audience know where this is going on can give them a preconception about your story. That can help with a big reveal at the end..
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PROBLEM - a story has to have a dilemma. It has ups & downs to find a solution & its these journeys that we cling to with stories. It is what will make your story memorable
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EMOTIONS - we are always more likely to remember something if we feel something, so make your audience feel something - happy, sad, angry, anything with what you're sharing
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PERSPECTIVE - does your story change if it is told from a different angle? Does that enhance your story? Play around with this
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Think about some of your favourite stories & think about these things when it comes to that story! Now apply that to your science. Share your characters, emotions & so on in the comments below.
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What other scicomm tips do you want to see here on Scicomm Sunday?
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Edition 17, over and out!
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#ILookLikeAScientist 👩🏽🔬
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I am a Molecular Biologist 🧬 by background with a PhD in stem cell biology. But have hung up my pipette to pursue a career in science communication 🎥. So while I dont work in a lab anymore, I am still a scientist.
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I also am a wife, a sister, a daughter & a friend 💕. I love to lounge in comfy sweats and get glammed up 💄for events. I love watching sport and being a part of a team 🏏🏑, and I love getting creative writing blogs 💻, making videos 🎥 and taking photos 📸as I travel around the world 🌍.
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Brains 🧠 and beauty 💄 are not mutually exclusive. There is not one mould you have to fit into to be a scientist. Because I've said it before and I'll day it again...
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Being a scientist is not just one thing!!
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This post is inspired by the campaign going on over on Twitter that @stemthusiast inspired me to continue over on IG.
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If you're a scientist, share what you do too and what a scientist looks like so we can change the face of science together!
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💪🏻
What is your word for 2020? 🌟
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2019 was ADVENTURE 🏕
But in 2020, I'm ready to BUILD! 🧱
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Only 8 days into the new 20s, but I already know that this year I need to build. Last year was full of adventures and trying new things out, but now it's time to BUILD on that foundation.
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I have *nearly* year of scicomm 🗣 under my belt now and I need to focus on BUILDing the next steps of my career.
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I want to BUILD 🧱 the Soph talks science brand even more 🤞🏻
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I want to BUILD 🧱 on new skills, new relationships and new knowledge that I need in order to do all that but also for things in my personal life and for my own wellbeing ☺️. And there is a bridge or two that I would love to rebuild too 🤞🏻
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I have my goals set, and I'm ready to do this. Even if I am a little confused and anxious about how to get there. But I'm excited for 2020 🤗. All I need now is to get myself a hard hat ready for all this building 😂😂
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What's your word of the year? Drop it in the comments below 👇🏻👇🏽👇🏿
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Thanks to @girlpowerillustrations for this amazing portrait too.
FIRST DAY BACK ☑
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I was actually excited to head back to work today and start my second year in scicomm getting my teeth into some new projects and challenge myself some more.
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BUT can you guess what my first task of the year is? 🤔
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I'm kicking of this scicomm year doing a huge analysis and evaluation 📈📉📊 of all our digital media 📱💻🎥📸 from 2019.
That means going through every single tweet 🐦 from our Twitter for a whole year as part of it! So just a small job eh?
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So why am I doing this? 🤔
I've been trying out a few different things this year and we want to see what has worked 👍🏻and what hasn't worked 👎🏻 and more importantly why❓❓. Knowing why people are engaging with a particular type of content we share will prompt us to make more of it in the hope that we can continue to grow the reputation of the institute, our research🧬, our researchers 👩🏼🔬👨🏿🔬and our engagement activities too!
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There are a range of things we also want to evaluate to make sure we are representing the diversity of our institute effectively too.
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So all in all it's going to take a little while, but I'm excited to see the answers and whether the past year of efforts have been effective. Do you guys want me to take you through what we evaluated and why when it's done??
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Who would've thought that a career in scicomm would involve spreadsheets, graphs 📊 and number crunching eh?? So excuse me while I have my head stuck in my laptop 💻 and phone 📱 for the next few days.
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What was your first task or experiment back after the Christmas break? Have you done a social media analysis before? What did you look for?
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