Looking for the next step after the March for Science? We want to help.
Join the Massive Science Consortium, a group for scientist-communicators who want to have an impact.
My cofounders Nadja Oertelt, Allan Lasser and I started Massive last year with a simple goal: to help make science more accessible to everyone. We’re lifelong lovers of science with backgrounds in research, media and product development who came together over a shared belief that the traditional ways of bringing science to the public are falling short.
Most science journalism focuses on the results, rather than the process, and often blows studies out of proportion or jumps to false conclusions. Professional science communication, though well intentioned, rarely reaches beyond the scientific community.
Last weekend’s worldwide March for Science was awe-inspiring proof of both the desire and the need for better, more direct science outreach. We want to do our part to make sure the momentum from the March turns into lasting change. But we know it’s hard for many time-strapped students and scientists just to get started with outreach, much less build and maintain a real, engaged audience. That’s why we’ve developed a program to make it easy for you to take that next step.
We’re calling it the Massive Science Consortium. It’s the first group of its kind, combining hands-on training in writing about science with a cutting-edge digital media outlet. We encourage anyone working in science who wants more outreach opportunities to apply.
Once you’re accepted, you’ll get free access to the training program we’ve been developing with scientists around the country. It’s a practical, brass-tacks program designed to help you write about scientific concepts for general audiences. It includes instruction in identifying stories, writing exercises, multiple rounds of editing, 1:1 feedback from professional editors and before-and-after surveys to gauge effectiveness.
Once you’ve completed training, we’ll publish your initial work on our site, and you’ll be able to pitch future articles or take assignments. We’ll pay you for articles we publish and continually help you improve and develop new skills. The only requirement to stay active is that you publish or edit something roughly once a month.
That’s just the beginning. Over time we’ll be adding more benefits, like training in editing, audience development and multimedia, partnerships with other media outlets and communication programs, and special events for members.
Oh, and because we want to prove our impact, we’ll be working with social scientists to study and validate the effects of both our training and our publishing.
Learn more and apply to join the Consortium here.
If you have any questions, please reach out on Twitter (@massivesci) or via email.
