Strengthening Science Communication

1. Strengthening Science Communication Professional Workshop Series at the National University of Mongolia • Workshop #4 • “Don’t Chase Information – Make it Come to You!”

2. From Last Time • How did Zotero go? • Picking a topic for your Science Presentation • Who has picked one? • Past/Current/Future Research Topic • Journal Article • You will need one for today’s activity • Presentation Details: • 10 minutes in length • Presentation days: 29 March + 5 Apr • In English (can’t give you feedback otherwise)

3. Your Science Talk! • Please fill in your name and topic on the Presentation_signup.doc in the ‘SciCom’ being passed around. • Presentation Schedule: • END OF TODAY: Topic Selected • TWO WEEKS FROM TODAY (15 Mar): Draft of slides uploaded to Dropbox • VERY IMPORTANT! This is how you will get feedback from me before you present.

4. The Top 5 Tips • 5. PRACTICE! PRACTICE! • 4. Keep within time limits! • 3. Makeit readable! 2. RESIST CLUTTER! • 1. TELL A STORY! • Making draft slides – and getting feedback on them - is a very important way of practicing!

5. Your Science Talk! • Please fill in your name and topic on the Presentation_signup.doc in the ‘SciCom’ being passed around. • Presentation Schedule: • END OF TODAY: Topic Selected • TWO WEEKS FROM TODAY (15 Mar): Draft of slides uploaded to Dropbox • VERY IMPORTANT! This is how you will get feedback from me before you present.

6. From Last Time • University is closed next Thursday (Women’s Day): • I was thinking: • I will have “office hours” next Tues • (2.30pm – 4pm) • (Enkhjargal/Tungaa – this sound okay?) • Want to get feedback on your slides? Discuss your topic? Want one-on-one help accessing any of the tools we’ve learned so far (or will learn today)? This would be the time to come.

7. Strengthening Science Communication Professional Workshop Series at the National University of Mongolia • Workshop #4 • “Don’t Chase Information – Make it Come to You!”

8. Discussion Questions • How do you learn about the latest in science? • What sources do you use?

9. Two types of sources • General sources • Newspapers, magazines, blogs, etc. • Peer-reviewed literature • What defines peer-reviewed literature?

10. Two types of sources • Peer-reviewed literature • Main way that science has been conducted in the last ~250 years • Not just an abstract or even a paper for a conference (could be, depending on the process they use to evaluate the work)

11. Go to video http://www.lib.ncsu.edu/tutorials/pr/

12. Peer Review in practice Go to Example

13. Two types of sources • General sources • Newspapers, magazines, blogs, etc. • Peer-reviewed literature • Journal articles, published conference proceedings

14. General Sources • (Written for non-scientists, but still great ways to find out what’s going on ) • But here’s the thing: there’s actually almost TOO many…. How to sort this information without getting overwhelmed? • My favorites: • NYTimes.com Science section • http://www.wired.com/ • http://www.nationalgeographic.com/

15. Organizing sources • Google Reader • Subscribe to all of those online magazines • Also good for journals, blogs • Anyone already use it?

16. Google Reader • Let’s do it now! • (1) Get a google account if you don’t have one. (gmail.com) • (2) Go to reader.google.com. Add some sites. (Quick, check up here to see how you do it). Work in groups if you don’t have your own computer. • (3) Next 10 minutes: find 3 good science blogs/magazines to add to your google reader. We’ll go around the room to see what you came up with at the end of the 10 min.

17. Google Reader – Your sites • List of science news sources you came up with: • - University of Oxford • - elinux.org • - 4gnetworks.com • - howstuffworks.com • - news.verizonwireless.com • - amazon.com • - bad astronomer (through discover) • - bbc.uk/nature • - nasawatch.com

18. Organizing your sources • Believe it or not: Facebook! • “Like” stuff that will appear in your regular feed:

19. Organizing your sources • Believe it or not: Facebook! • Create a custom List (different than a group!): • I created an example “Science Feed” for class – add your examples! • (You will need to friend me or one of the people already in it)

20. Organizing sources • Google Alerts http://www.google.com/alerts • Alert you when a search term finds new results online • (example: show my inbox) • Caution: be careful of picking too general of terms. Example: don’t put in “air pollution” – too vague! Put in “air pollution” + “ulaanbaatar”

21. Organizing sources • Google Alerts http://www.google.com/alerts • Let’s give it a try…. • In the next 10 min, pick three phrases you want to set up a google alert for, for your presentation topic. We will share them in the next 10 min.

22. What about Peer-reviewed sources? • Web of Science!! (NUM just got, few schools around the world have, and is EXCELLENT resource!) • Great way to stay up on peer-reviewed literature. • Let’s explore….

23. What about Peer-reviewed sources? • Web of Science!! (NUM just got, few schools around the world have, and is EXCELLENT resource!) • In the next 10 min, find ONE article relevant to your presentation topic. • Google: Web of Science

24. What about Peer-reviewed sources? • Two types of journals: • Closed Access • Most journals • Journal makes its money from subscriptions (the universities) • Open Access • Growing in popularity • $ by submitters

25. Examples of Open Access Journals • Plos.org • http://www.doaj.org/ • (directory of open access journals) • Worth googling around for ones in your field.

26. Next Time • March 8: No class (Women’s Day) • March 6: Office hours – come by and ask questions, get one-on-one attention: 2:30pm – 4pm (this room) • March 15: Draft of slides should be complete so they can be peer-reviewed by me and other workshop-mates.