Tips for scientific communication

1. Introductory text: The Starting Point
As a scientist who is trying to communicate his or her ideas to the public, you need to bear in mind three important questions:
• WHAT message do you want to leave behind in the minds of your audience?
• HOW are you going to get this message across in an effective manner?
• WHICH elements do you need to incorporate in your presentation?
The history of scientific communication
Communicating with the public is not a new phenomenon in the scientific field. In fact, it’s even older than the term scientist itself, which was coined by William Whewell in 1833. Before then, scientists were called natural philosophers, and they were often deeply engaged in the popularisation of science.
Take a look at the stories about Humphrey Davy, Michael Faraday and Brian Cox below.
Humphry Davy, the Celebrity Chemist
On 25 April 1801, Davy delivered his first public lecture at the Royal Institution. His excitement over recent advances in electricity made for a clear choice in subject: Davy’s demonstration was on the power of galvanism, or electricity produced by chemical means, to cause movement in the amputated legs of frogs and to catalyse the isolation of metals from aqueous acids. The lecture was a tremendous success. Davy’s flair for the theatrical, coupled with his scientific advances, brought him accolades. Despite a rustic education, radical political associations, and appearances of social climbing, Davy was well regarded at the Royal Society: he was elected a fellow in 1803 and one of two secretaries in 1807.
By June 1808 Davy was 29 years old, handsome, well-connected, and acknowledged by his peers and most of fashionable society as brilliant. His notoriety as an abuser of nitrous oxide who held onto his coarse country ways only added to his élan.
Later that same year, two days shy of his 30th birthday, Humphry Davy gave his third Bakerian award lecture in the main theater of the Royal Society. In this lecture Davy announced his discovery of yet another element by the decomposition of boric acid: boron. (That same year boron was also independently isolated by the French chemists Joseph Louis Gay-Lussac and Louis Jacques Thénard.)
After 1808 Davy’s celebrity and notoriety only increased. Davy’s lectures were ever better attended, and he gave five Bakerian award lectures at the Royal Society from 1806 to 1810 and a sixth toward the end of his life in 1826.
Source: http://www.chemheritage.org

2. Michael Faraday, founder of the Royal Institution Christmas Lectures
The Chemical History of a Candle was the title of a series of six lectures on the chemistry and physics of flames, given by Michael Faraday at the Royal Institution. This series was the origin of the Christmas lectures for young people that are still given there every year and bear his name!
The lecture described the different zones of combustion in the candle flame, and the presence of carbon particles in the luminescent zone. Quite a few demonstrations accompanied the lectures, for example the production and examination of the properties of Hydrogen, Oxygen, Nitrogen and Carbon dioxide gases. Faraday emphasized the DIY- character of the demonstrations. He even thought that the experiments were fit to be performed may be performed by kids at home.
Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Chemical_History_of_a_Candle
Brian Cox, a contemporary Michael Faraday
Some lectures even make it to the screen! The Science of Doctor Who for example, is a televised lecture by physicist Brian Cox. It discusses the nature of space and time as related to the science fiction series Doctor Who. Cox covers topics including the nature of black holes, time dilation, time as a dimension in which to travel and the possibilities of alien life.
Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Science_of_Doctor_Who

3. Questions you should ask yourself before you start working on your presentation
• Why do you want to communicate?
Did someone ask you to tell them about your research? (a journalist, an organizer of lectures, a funding agency, the director of your lab, your parents,…)
• What do you want to communicate?
Do you want/need to talk about a specific topic, which enables you to give the audience ‘every bit of you’?
e.g.: you are a palaeontologist specialized in human fossils and you’re asked to talk about everything you know about the Neanderthaler.
OR is your talk just a small part of a specific event?
e.g.: there’s a broad conference about ancient DNA, in which you limit your story to the genetic findings in Neanderthaler fossils.
• What are you hoping to achieve?
The aim of your communication effort can range from pure self-interest (you need to get funding) to pure altruism (inspire children).
The British Science Association has produced a list of reasons (ordered by decreasing altruism):
- to make the world a better place;
- to enhance social cohesion and democratic participation;
- to be ethical, accountable and transparent;
- to create a more efficient, dynamic and sustainable economy;
- to develop skills and inspire learning (in others, but could include yourself);
- to win support for science;
- to increase the quality and impact of your research;
- to enhance your career.
Once you have understood the key aim for your project, the next consideration is to define the objectives required to achieve your aim. This is the stage where you will begin to decide the type of event or activity and the audience(s) that you are hoping to reach.

4. • How do you make your objective a good one?
A good objective is a SMART objective.
S Your objective should be Specific. Ideally it should also be Simple and Straightforward to achieve.
M Your objective should be Measurable. You should be able to Measure if you have met your objective. It should also be Manageable.
A Your objective should be Achievable within your timeframe, resources and budget. It should also be Appropriate for achieving your overall aim(s).
R Your objective should be Relevant enabling you to meet the overall aim. It should also be Realistic. It should not be too ambitious: it should be achievable.
T Your objective should have a Timescale that will allow you to achieve your objective. It should also be Tangible or able to be evaluated.
Example:
Aim: To inform your local community about Charles Darwin and his theory of evolution by natural selection using microbes as illustrative examples.
Objective 1: To develop a series of resources that will provide information about Darwin and his theory that will appeal to a variety of audiences.
Measures: The number of resources developed: which resources attract which audiences? Which resources are not appealing to audiences?
Evaluation tools: Observational research, interviews with participants and colleagues.
Objective 2: To provide opportunities for students to participate in science communication events and develop skills in science communication activities.
Measures: The number of students that took part in the activity, the number of students that felt they had developed new skills. Also: understanding the different skills developed by the students.
Evaluation tools: Focus group with students, interview with students, self-reflective diaries completed by students.
Objective 3: To increase knowledge about Darwin and the theory of evolution in different audiences.
Measures: Views of audiences that took part in the activity, views and observations of the event organiser, percentage of the audience that actually learnt something new.
Evaluation tools: Questionnaires before and after event, focus group with students, interview with students, self-reflective diaries completed by students, questionnaire after event, exit interviews with audience members.

5. Govert Schilling, a Dutch astronomer and popular-science writer:
When I started writing and publishing about astronomy, I thought every single aspect was interesting! I worked for a newspaper at the time and wanted to put everything in the paper. So I asked the editor if I could write a piece on planetoids – because I thought that the newspaper lacked stories about these specific celestial bodies. The editor asked me why this particular subject deserved a place in the paper. Just then I realised that I had never actually thought about this. And that’s when I started to really develop my career as a science writer.
With 80 percent of the news that I read on ‘scientific telex’ websites, I shrug my shoulders, because I now know that readers won’t bother.
A subject can be very interesting from a scientific point of view, but if you first bombard a public of laymen with a lot of background knowledge before they can understand why the topic could be interesting to them, you’ve already lost all your readers. In many scientific fields, new developments can help scientific research a tiny step further– but those tiny steps are not always as fascinating for the outside world.
Translated excerpt from:
SMEETS, Ionica. Het exacte verhaal. Wetenschapscommunicatie voor beta’s. Amsterdam: Uitgeverij Nieuwezijds, 2014. Print.