Social Media on EARTH Magazine

Comment: Making social media work for scientists

Fri, 12 Oct 2018 11:09:44 -0400

Scientists at the Norwegian Polar Institute (NPI) in Norway run a science outreach initiative using the handle @oceanseaicenpi. These photos were used in posts from their Instagram (www.instagram.com/oceanseaicenpi), Twitter (twitter.com/oceanseaicenpi) and Facebook (www.facebook.com/oceanseaicenpi) platforms. Credit: clockwise from top left: Elina Nystedt (NPI), Paul A. Dodd (NPI), Jon Aars (NPI), Sebastian Gerland (NPI), Anja Rösel (NPI), CopernicusEU/Mikhail Itkin (NPI), Peter Leopold (NPI), Nick Cobbing (National Geographic), Amelie Meyer (NPI).

Whether true or not, scientists are famous for not being great public communicators, yet communication is a key aspect of our work. Traditional science communication involves sharing findings with colleagues through published articles in peer-reviewed journals and presenting work at conferences. Scientists are encouraged to communicate using this well-defined framework and are rewarded for doing so; in fact, our career progress is often assessed using such publication records. Meanwhile, communication with wider audiences might entail visits with schoolchildren or perhaps talking to journalists for stories in a magazine like this one. But sharing findings with and promoting science to the public is a less-defined task, and often one with few incentives and little support. That communicating with wider audiences isn’t encouraged is unfortunate considering many of us are funded by the public to research and answer questions relevant to society. We should clearly communicate our findings to the public, especially regarding complex topics such as climate change.

Geomedia: On the Web: Dinologue: A dino blog

Mon, 08 Jun 2015 08:42:49 -0400

Science writer and amateur paleontologist Brian Switek has launched a new dinosaur website, Dinologue. Credit: Tracey Switek.

Wherever you want to go, the Internet can take you there. Space? No problem. The bottom of the ocean? Sure. Now, you can add another stop to the itinerary: the Mesozoic. A new website, Dinologue.com, aims to transport visitors back to the time of the dinosaurs.

Crowdfunding spotlight

Mon, 30 Jun 2014 13:52:56 -0400

Science writers at Columbia University used Kickstarter funding to create a calendar of glamour shots of Columbia scientists, including Lisa Goddard and Kátia Fernandes of the International Research Institute for Climate and Society and Richard Seager and Jason Smerdon of Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory. Credit: all: Charlie Naebeck.

NAME: Rebecca Fowler & Francesco Fiondella, science writers at Columbia University

Crowdfunding science: A new piece of the research grant puzzle

Mon, 30 Jun 2014 13:19:23 -0400

Credit: Kathleen Cantner, AGI

As a leading researcher in the field of atmospheric science, University of Washington scientist Dan Jaffe had never had trouble securing funding for his work on airborne pollutants. Over the past 20 years, he has been awarded more than $7 million dollars in grants from multiple government agencies, from NOAA and NASA, to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the National Science Foundation (NSF). That all changed when he wanted to study the effects of increased coal-train travel through his home state of Washington.

Scripps launches Twitter carbon dioxide-meter

Fri, 17 May 2013 16:27:52 -0400

Back in January 2013, it became clear to Ralph Keeling, a scientist at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography who studies carbon dioxide, that sometime in the not-too-distant future, the concentration of this potent greenhouse gas in Earth’s atmosphere would creep above 400 parts per million (ppm) for the first time in human history.

Science and the social media

Fri, 20 Jan 2012 03:51:09 -0500

How blogs, Twitter and other social media tools are changing conversations about scientific research

Blogs, Twitter, Facebook and other social media tools are undeniably changing the way that people communicate and share information. A small but increasing number of scientists are starting to use these tools to talk about science: writing blog posts about their work, papers they have read and the activities in their laboratories, or using Twitter to collect and share stories and resources with like-minded colleagues. These outlets, which were initially used mainly for scientific outreach, are also gradually becoming venues for conversations with other scientists — conversations that have until now been confined to the conference halls and coffee rooms of academia. Despite what you might think, this is a good thing for science.

Geomedia: Twitter gives heads-up to users and officials about earthquakes

Thu, 05 Jan 2012 06:41:58 -0500

Twitter stirs up a wide range of reactions — it’s hailed as a vital social networking service by some, despised as the ultimate waste of time by others. But the popular online message board does possess one characteristic that is universally undeniable: speed.