In today's advertising and pop culture, words like "chemical", "synthetic" and "artificial" are synonyms for harmful, toxic and carcinogenic, while words like "natural" and "organic" imply a product is wholesome and good for the environment. This widespread misconception colors public perceptions of chemistry and its role in the modern world. Chemophobia may not be as direct a threat to our future as, say, climate change denialism or the Israeli-Palestinian crisis, but it clouds public understanding of real and very important issues we face (e.g., how to boost agricultural productivity) and plays into the hands of quacks and cranks. How can bloggers and the media effectively combat chemophobia? How much chemistry does the public need to know to be well-informed and make good decisions, and what's the most effective avenue for disseminating that kind of information? Proposed session hashtag: #chemophobia
Questions:
How important is it to confront misuse of the term 'chemical' vs general fearmongering?
What're good tips for writing about chemophobia without preaching to the choir?
How can bloggers have a clear message as they confront diverse chemophobes (anti-vax, anti-GMO, etc)?
In discussions of altmetrics and citation metrics, we usually think in terms of "here and now" and are looking from the angle of the active researcher who needs to find and curate recent and incoming information, get measures of one's own impact etc. But the ability to identify long-term patterns, e.g., multiple spikes in citations (or mentions in books, articles, blog posts) over years and decades is the stuff of dreams for historians and other social scientists. This is what they do for a PhD - spending years in libraries (sometimes having to travel halfway around the world to other libraries), just to indentify such patterns. Now they can get this done in days (or minutes) and instantly move on to what they really should be doing - analysing and intrepreting these patterns. This session would explore the ways historians and anthropologists of science can use these tools so they can get the most out of them.
Questions:
- How have you used altmetrics in history or social science?
- What tools do you find most useful for analyzing altmetrics?
- What barriers exist when applying altmetrics in #histsci or sociology of science?
Scientists, journalists, and communicators working outside of the United States and the UK face fundamentally different problems from those living within well-served media landscapes. For example: Canada has few science magazines, a couple television shows, and a handful of radio programmes aimed at a general science audience (with the exception of the French-speaking Quebec, which has a dynamic science writing community). Government funded research grants do not require outreach or education. And, government scientists have been all but barred from talking to journalists. In Canada and other countries with sparse science communication infrastructures, the dominant issues revolve not around journalists vs bloggers, or scientists vs press releases vs the media, but instead focus on what can be done to make science communication exist at all, in any form. This session will explore how scientists, educators, and media people can promote scientific discussions and scientific interest in regions that lack established venues.
Questions:
- With no budget and no established venues, how would you share science in your community?
- With no magazines or science cafés to provide an audience, what other groups in your community might want to learn some science?
- What can scientists, journalists, writers and educators do to push media outlets for more and better science coverage?
- What might your local general news outlet expect of you if you approach or talk with them about science topics?
This session will focus on improving science engagement and education through the innovative use of games! Video games have become the largest entertainment industry in the world, but they don't just stop at entertainment any more. Video games, and game design, are all about engagement, and creating experiences that teach skills as well as knowledge. From games working to improve education and science learning, to "smart gamification" for science, and how to make science games fun, this discussion will dive into the rapidly growing potential of games!
After spending years with your online life separate from your professional life, it can be quite disconcerting when the two start to overlap. From alarming hallway conversations to angry phone calls, having your colleagues read your blog (especially if they themselves are not social media users) can lead to unexpected interactions. These can either be positive (“Some Nature editor said you were the most famous ocean writer on the internet!”) or negative (“When do you have time to do science?”). This session will discuss the ramifications of scientist-blogger success, particularly for early-career scientists.
Questions: - Should your online life be separate from your professional life?
- If your online life is separate, how do you keep it that way?
- How do you deal with skeptical colleagues who stumble across your online work?
- Is there such a thing as too much visibility?
- Overall, do you experience more positive or negative interactions from your social media use?
- Do interactions change with career stage?
