Scientists and Social Media

I have been continuing to watch my Twitter feed for helpful content in the world of science writing. This assignment is exploring how scientists interact with social media; I have been retweeting things that are either good examples of science writing, or posts that speak to the importance of science communication. Following is a collection of five highlights from my Twitter feed from the past couple weeks, that I retweeted with the hashtag #UnitySciWri.

One article I found on my feed was shared by Cody Dey, an ecologist who I ended up following because he was mentioned in other science related tweets. His handle is @CodyJDey, and he has just over 500 followers. Cody Dey belongs to the Libre Ero Fellowship, and according to the description their blog: “Liber Ero Fellows are post-doctoral researchers who are working on an applied conservation research program that addresses issues of critical conservation importance to Canada. The topics span ecosystems, biomes, and subjects, but all focus on employing best-available evidence to conserve Canada’s biodiversity.” They use the blog to share relevant articles.

The post I shared was tweeted on February 28th by Cody Dey with the caption/ headline “Canada’s Arctic Policy Framework should include science, Indigenous knowledge and protect Arctic biodiversity #ArcticTogether” and links to Cody Dey’s own post on the fellowship’s WordPress blog. Dey explains that this post is a letter “submitted on February 27th, 2018 to the Arctic Policy Framework Review, spearheaded by the Ministry of Crown-Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs.”. The letter is a list of recommendations for arctic policy framework sent to the Canadian government from “researchers who work with Canada’s northern community”. In the letter, they outline two themes and four actions that they think would be helpful to protect the environment, as well as the interests of the native people. The goal of the letter is to influence Canadian policy to combine indigenous knowledge with science knowledge throughout arctic policy, as well as protect the environment and conserve Arctic biodiversity. I thought this letter was interesting because it is an example of science communication from researchers to the government. These researchers are trying to use science writing to influence public policy — so the writing has to be for a lay audience. I also thought it was an interesting connection to the story we read in class about the rural Alaskan communities and how they are responding to climate change.

Here is a link to my retweet of Cody Dey’s post: https://twitter.com/J_Devoid/status/969249076561801217

The next relevant article I found on my Twitter feed was shared by an account called Sharing Science: @AGU_SciComm (the AGU stands for American Geophysical Union) on March 1st. The caption of the tweet is: Uniting science and stories: Perspectives on the value of #storytelling for communicating science http://ow.ly/UGNE30iCCiT #sciengage #SciSharSci #scicomm, I like that the hashtags are similar to our own #UnitySciWri. Once again, the caption was the same as the article headline.

The article is from a website called Facets, which is used to share science stories. According to the article abstract: “A growing community of practice is showing that scientists can share their message in an engaging way using a strategy that most are already familiar with: storytelling.”, the authors also mention in the abstract that they host scientist communication training, and science storytelling at the International Marine Conservation Congress. At these seminars, they explore the importance of scientific communication, and share tips, techniques, and resources.

The rest of the article is an outline of what they cover in the seminars. This includes why it’s important for scientists to share their stories with lay audiences, how to shape your stories — discovery, rescue, mystery. Other tips including using vivid language and having better transitions. This article was basically a justification for the existence of class; people in the science community need to know how to communicate their research.

Here is a link to my retweet of Sharing Science: https://twitter.com/J_Devoid/status/969413514069774338

Another article I found was tweeted by the Audubon Society on March 3rd, with the caption: “All species are savable.” Read an expert’s take on how to prevent the next extinction: http://ow.ly/NXFT30iIONI #WorldWildlifeDay. When you follow the link to the Audubon Society’s website, you find that the expert they are talking about is the chief scientist at the Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust and scientific director of the Mauritian Wildlife Foundation; Carl Jones. After an introduction that establishes Jones’ credibility as a wildlife conservationist — he’s personally responsible for bringing nine species back from the brink of extinction! — the bulk of the article is a direct transcript of an interview with him.

In the interview, Jones explains how he goes about helping these species; such as feeding them, and nurturing their eggs. He also explains that this can be applied to more species that could be in danger in the future. I found this article to be very readable; Jones knows how to communicate. This had also reminded me of the interview practice we had in class the other day — here is an example of a practical application of interviewing.

Here is a link to my retweet of the Audubon Society: https://twitter.com/J_Devoid/status/970369192338841602

Another article I found was tweeted by New York Times Science (@NYTScience) with the caption: “A new seed company will develop vegetable varieties dreamed up by chefs”. The caption immediately made me want to check out the article because it reminded me of the first story we read in The Best American Science and Nature Writing about chefs manipulating their food, called “Altered Taste”. The tweet links to an article on the New York Times’ website called “Seeds Only a Plant Breeder Could Love, Until Now”. The article is all about how plant breeders that work for Row 7 Seed Company are manipulating seed genetics based on input from professional chefs. According to the founder of Row 7: “Part of the goal of the company is not only to increase the flavor of vegetables: It’s to look at how we, as chefs, can change the culture of eating”. This really reminded me of neurogastronomy mentioned in “Altered Taste”.

Here’s a link to my retweet of New York Times Science: https://twitter.com/J_Devoid/status/970468130966433792

My fifth shared story was tweeted by American Forests on March 4th, with the caption: 4 ways animals sense a world invisible to humans http://ow.ly/Ffbm30iID6O . The tweet links to an article with the same headline as the caption, on a website called treehugger.com which shares science news stories on a variety of topics.

As the headline suggests, the article talks about four unique ways that some animals sense the world around them; they process senses other than the five senses that humans have. The author, Melissa Breyer, gathered the information by consulting a biologist named Edward O. Wilson, and mentions that “when we look at the ways in which various animals use these natural stimuli to navigate and communicate, it’s really rather profound. We are surrounded by a whole world of sensations that are completely unknown to us.”. The four techniques that the article outlines are: echolocation, sensing magnetic fields — organisms from hamsters to rainbow trout -, pheromones, and sensing the electromagnetic spectrum (some animals can see more of the light spectrum than we can).

Here is a link to my retweet of American Forests: https://twitter.com/J_Devoid/status/970468327859654657