Sometimes there are complex and personal family dynamics in play here that are none of my business and I won’t pretend to understand them. But sometimes this is because grad students aren’t taught how to explain their work (and why it matters) to people who aren’t scientists. - ThreadSky

whysharksmatter.bsky.social • 82 days ago

Sometimes there are complex and personal family dynamics in play here that are none of my business and I won’t pretend to understand them.

But sometimes this is because grad students aren’t taught how to explain their work (and why it matters) to people who aren’t scientists.

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whysharksmatter.bsky.social•82 days ago

I was taught in grad school that scientists should have 3 versions of talks about their work ready: a 30 second “elevator pitch,” a 12 minute conference length talk, and a 40 minute seminar length talk.

I think we should also have a short version aimed at non-scientists.

pocketsforsnacks.bsky.social•81 days ago

literally going through the software architecture versions of this.

I have the version for my own team and peer teams, a semi condensed version for my boss, and then a super tight version for the execs

pocketsforsnacks.bsky.social•81 days ago

really was struggling to summarize the "why?" for the later until I realized that I should leave that off for follow-up questions

wordsandknives.bsky.social•82 days ago

100% As an editor and the spouse of a publishing immunologist, I believe the whole scientific community would be doing a public service by writing papers in a more “plain speaking” style. Not just for lay folk, but each other as well. Wordy ≠ quality.

estrempler.bsky.social•81 days ago

As a writer who reads a lot of academic books and papers I feel like one of the biggest challenges is that the best researchers and analysts are not always the best writers and teachers. I think that’s where good editors and co-writers could come in to make interesting work accessible?

jessicarobot.bsky.social•82 days ago

The amazing astrophysicist Jackie Faherty at #AMNH said in a talk there that “science shouldn’t stop with the scientists.” I quote this in my classes all the time and assign SciComm projects a lot. Science is for everyone, so we all deserve access. Also science is cool!

obsidianfinger.neocities.org•80 days ago

📌

justonecarew.bsky.social•82 days ago

This is a great thread, thank you!

goseeartlaura.bsky.social•81 days ago

We absolutely MUST have short versions for nonscientists. Who funds research? Tax payers. They deserve to know why and how it benefits them/society. Extra critical as public trust in science decreases.

notyourmel.bsky.social•81 days ago

Also, wealthy people looking for charitable giving opportunities. I watched a research institute get a lot of money from a property developer because they knew how to talk to non-scientists.

whysharksmatter.bsky.social•82 days ago

I’ve trained over 1,000 early career scientists on 5 continents how to explain their work to the public, and I’d like to share with you some brief tips (noting that I offer full workshops on this and am available for hire for Spring 2025 trainings).

rogercre.bsky.social•80 days ago

Please, do you have a tip for communicating uncertainty to a public audience?

whysharksmatter.bsky.social•82 days ago

1) Jargon is bad. Most complex scientific concepts can be explained (close enough anyway) via clever analogy or using vocabulary that everyone knows. And this is not “dumbing it down,” your audience isn’t dumb, they’re just not spending years learning a narrow topic.

sunbirch.bsky.social•82 days ago

📌

chimaera.bsky.social•82 days ago

(Back To School Nights got painful because the teachers & admin all used Edu-Speak and it Did. Not. Work. Says I, who worked in higher ed. Not impressed by pedagogical gibberish.)

coastalpaleo.bsky.social•81 days ago

working with amateur fossil collectors in the deep south and on the west coast - 100%.

many paleontologists I've met aren't even interested in speaking to these people or the public (which is a shame because if you're nice to people, sometimes they give you fossils)

whysharksmatter.bsky.social•82 days ago

“Never underestimate your audience’s intelligence, always underestimate their vocabulary” is a rule I teach in my workshops.

And part of this is tone. Don’t act like your audience (family or not) is stupid for not knowing 15-syllable science words.

vivienm.bsky.social•80 days ago

Exactly!

feemus.bsky.social•81 days ago

I have been both a university professor and an editor of a scholarly journal, and I have never seen a such a distillation of what I have thought about for years. Thank you!

whysharksmatter.bsky.social•82 days ago

I’ve had fishermen in my research tell me that they’ve been fishing for 30 years and I’m the first scientist they’ve ever met who doesn’t make them feel stupid, or doesn’t act like I think they’re stupid. This is a mix of vocabulary choice, analogy, and tone.

brendajay.bsky.social•81 days ago

Perhaps you treat people as equals unless they prove otherwise. Always the best way to be 😊.

whysharksmatter.bsky.social•82 days ago

2) Nuances and caveats. This really matters for scientific writing, don’t overstep what your results really mean etc. We often have a whole section in our papers for limitations and alternative explanations and caveats.

mccheapo.bsky.social•6 days ago

I like this Ascham quote:

“He that will write well in any tongue, must follow this counsel of Aristotle, to speak as the common people do, to think as wise men do: and so should every man understand him, and the judgment of wise men allow him.”

magistraetmater.bsky.social•81 days ago

One thing I tried once was using XKCD's Up-Goer Five text editor https://splasho.com/upgoer5/ to explain my own research.
https://magistraetmater.wordpress.com/2013/09/30/my-research-in-medieval-history-in-simple-terms-16477891/. Maybe we need a expanded version of that editor with the most common 100,000/20,000 words as a practical tool.

holdenl.bsky.social•82 days ago

If you can't explain it jargon-free, you probably don't fully understand it yourself.

kaytsukel.bsky.social•81 days ago

YES!

I would also say that it's important to be able to just have a conversation about your work with a journalist -- many universities now want to see your work in the press.

kittyvons.bsky.social•81 days ago

My niece was a naturalist & sent her non science ppl emails every so often. I used those to help teach my young kids science. So she would talk about her research & then we would do a deep dive into something she was studying (got funding for). Made it more exciting.

gingerchef.bsky.social•80 days ago

I wrote my dissertation w my dad as my audience in my head. High school education, autodidact, smart; tradesman his whole life. It helped me find and get rid of jargon, especially jargon I was using because I was still working out my argument. Made for a better dissertation. Thanks, Dad; miss you.

sbrewerbirds.bsky.social•81 days ago

Brilliant.

hasselia.bsky.social•81 days ago

Interesting. I'm an autistic student in their bachelors, learning @ an agricultural uni. Learning effective sci comm is important for dealing with (sometimes arrogant ○th gen pioneer descended) farmers, so it's something their emphasising. But I think even the uni staff struggle with this sometimes.

docbrown01.bsky.social•81 days ago

Interesting! Since I'm not a scientist, but still fond of science, I try to attend to some "general population" talks.
In France I've listened a lot of talks on the format "my thesis in 180 seconds", even on public radio, is that a thing outside my country?

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