Blogging/New Media
nisbetmc | June 27, 2008
On TV, Neil deGrasse Tyson uses narrative to dramatize the importance of basic research.
Last week in San Diego, I participated on a panel at the BIO 2008 meetings that focused on the communication challenges facing the biotech industry. Organized by Richard Gallagher, editor of The Scientist magazine, a major topic of discussion were the challenges that industry faces in communicating the value of basic research. In fact, this was also a major topic at the Cal Tech seminar that I ran on Tuesday.
When the public thinks about "science," they generally think in terms of either medical advances…
nisbetmc | May 5, 2008
This week's On the Media spotlights Rushmore Drive, the new search engine marketed to African Americans (audio above). As the program describes, the search engine uses a unique algorithm to find those sites that are most heavily trafficked by blacks and to return them at the top of the search results. From host Bob Garfield's interview with CEO Johnny Taylor:
JOHNNY TAYLOR: The algorithm, it's one of the few places where the black community becomes the majority for purposes of producing results. In all of the mainstream search engines, the majority's behavior is what detects how the results…
nisbetmc | March 26, 2008Caitlin Wall, one of the students in my Political Communication seminar this semester, has embarked on a very successful job as an international affairs blogger for Foreign Policy magazine. Caitlin's latest blog post is sure to interest Framing Science readers. She analyzes the challenge to Al Gore put forth by climate skeptic J. Scott Armstrong. A Wharton School Business professor, Armstrong wants Gore to take him up on his $10,000 wager that he can forecast climate change more accurately than the climate modeling experts.
Fresh off a recent class lecture on the strategy used by…
nisbetmc | January 3, 2008As I have traveled across the country over the past year giving talks on new directions in science communication, one of my recommendations to science institutions and organizations has been to launch blogs and podcasts as important strategic communication tools for engaging with audiences and stakeholders.
There are a number of challenges a science organization faces when launching a blog. The first is staff time. In order to do a blog properly, you need to have a skilled staff person dedicated to the site at least half time, preferably full time. Moreover, to do a blog well, this staff…
nisbetmc | November 27, 2007This fall in the sophomore-level course I teach on "Communication and Society," we spent several weeks examining the many ways that individuals and groups are using the internet to alter the nature of community, civic engagement, and social relationships.
For college students who grew up online, it's easy to take for granted the virtual society we live in, seldom pausing to consider how it might be different from more traditional forms of community life. Therefore, one of the goals of the course was to encourage students to think systematically and rigorously about the many changes…
nisbetmc | November 27, 2007
This fall in the sophomore-level course I teach on "Communication and Society," we spent several weeks examining the many ways that individuals and groups are using the internet to alter the nature of community, civic engagement, and social relationships.
For college students who grew up online, it's easy to take for granted the virtual society we live in, seldom pausing to consider how it might be different from more traditional forms of community life. Therefore, one of the goals of the course was to encourage students to think systematically and rigorously about the many changes…
nisbetmc | August 9, 2007
I'm back in DC after spending the previous two weeks in San Francisco as an Osher Fellow at The Exploratorium. It was my second visit this year to the world's greatest science center. Each time I go out there I tell my friends that I feel like Tom Friedman in The World is Flat, trading ideas with really smart and innovative people. (I'm not the only one to offer high praise for The Explo, check out this rave from Jennifer Oullette at Cocktail Physics.)
During my two weeks, I held several brown bag lunch discussions with staff on topics including science and the media; the effective use of…
nisbetmc | August 9, 2007
I guess I shouldn't be surprised that the best selling books of the past decade have been converted into a video game for kids and young adults. That's right, available in October, is Left Behind: Eternal Forces. Max Blumenthal has a post on the game and its use as part of a planned Evangelical crusade in Iraq. CNN filed the report above. (Hat tip to Ed Brayton.)
nisbetmc | August 7, 2007On Sunday, the LA Times ran two major feature articles on the emerging influence and power of documentary film. One article contrasted the works of Michael Moore and Ken Burns. The other feature explores the meaning of objectivity across the many emerging documentary genres.
For anyone who has seen the Speaking Science 2.0 talk, you know that I emphasize in the conclusions the emerging importance of film as a public engagement tool. It's currently an active part of my research program, and expect a lot more to come on the topic here at Framing Science. For the time being, check out the…
nisbetmc | August 6, 2007The Corporation for Public Broadcasting has launched an ambitious new public outreach campaign that echoes many of the strategies I think science organizations and institutions can use to strengthen their public ties. The campaign recognizes that while public broadcasting has a mission to inform, the institution's perceived image and value often turns on social connections. Moreover, any national campaign needs an equally strong local component.
As the online mag Current reports, the various print, broadcast and online components of the new campaign will revolve around a flexible concept, My…
nisbetmc | August 6, 2007Are you an information technology optimist or skeptic? Chances are, if you are a regular blog reader or poster, you fall in the former category. Yet ever feel like all that time you spend online might be displacing time spent in more meaningful face-to-face interactions? Are the social relationships forged via Web 2.0 and various mobile phone innovations really as quality as real world conversations? At American University, it's a question I ask my sophomore-level class on Communication & Society to research and debate every semester. (This past semester's debate is available here.)
On…
nisbetmc | July 19, 2007
Last week, analysts at Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty released a 70 page analysis of the strategies, tactics, and messages of the Sunni insurgent propaganda campaign. It's the most interesting thing I've read in some time. Check out the full report, summary below, and listen above to an interview with one of the authors on NPR's On the Media.
The book-length report, "Iraqi Insurgent Media: The War Of Images And Ideas" by RFE/RL regional analysts Daniel Kimmage and Kathleen Ridolfo, provides an in-depth analysis of the media efforts of Sunni insurgents, who are responsible for the…
nisbetmc | July 15, 2007
The Center for American Progress has released a valuable analysis of the factors that account for the huge ideological imbalance in political talk radio. Here's what they pinpoint as the driving forces:
Our conclusion is that the gap between conservative and progressive talk radio is the result of multiple structural problems in the U.S. regulatory system, particularly the complete breakdown of the public trustee concept of broadcast, the elimination of clear public interest requirements for broadcasting, and the relaxation of ownership rules including the requirement of local participation…
nisbetmc | May 25, 2007Facebook and similar social networking sites hold vast potential for reaching non-traditional audiences for science. As the NY Times reports today, Facebook has 25 million users and growing as the company plans bold new features and opens up its user base to almost anyone with an email account. Social networking sites are important new platforms for science communication since they facilitate two of the key strategies I have pushed in the past in reaching broader American audiences about science.
First, they have the potential to facilitate incidental exposure, in other words they can…
nisbetmc | May 18, 2007
Mary K. Miller of San Francisco's The Exporatorium has launched a new blog called The Accidental Scientist. The blog is focused on introducing readers to the ways in which scientists investigate and understand the natural world.
Mary is a science writer, producer, and Web cast host at The Exploratorium. She's also director of their Osher Fellows program, which brings scientists, academics, and others to The Exploratorium to collaborate on projects and share ideas. I had the chance to visit The Exploratorium as an Osher Fellow in the spring and I will be back out there for two weeks at the…
nisbetmc | April 24, 2007This spring in the sophomore-level course I teach on "Communication and Society," we spent several weeks examining the many ways that individuals and groups are using the internet to alter the nature of community, civic engagement, and social relationships. (See reading list.)
For many college students who grew up "online," it's easy to take for granted the "virtual" society we live in, seldom pausing to consider how it might be different from more traditional forms of community life.
Therefore, one of the goals of the course was to encourage students to think systematically and rigorously…
nisbetmc | April 24, 2007This semester in the sophomore-level course I teach on "Communication and Society," we spent several weeks examining the many ways that individuals and groups are using the internet to alter the nature of community, civic engagement, and social relationships. (Go here for reading list.)
For many college students, having grown up "online," it's easy to take for granted the "virtual" society we live in, seldom pausing to consider how it might be different from more traditional forms of community life.
Therefore, one of the goals of the course was to encourage students to think systematically…
nisbetmc | March 30, 2007
On April 10, the Poynter Institute is set to release it's latest "eye tracking" study of how readers navigate the printed and online news page. The preview of the key findings is fairly suprising. Watch the video about the study at the site, and listen to this NPR Marketplace story on the forthcoming study.
nisbetmc | March 22, 2007
The NY Daily News spotlights yesterday's post on the "Two Americas of Global Warming Perceptions" as among the Web's best.
nisbetmc | March 19, 2007
As I've previously written, expect 2008 to be defined as the YouTube election, as campaigns generate online and conversational buzz by placing innovative ads on the video sharing site, amplifying attention to the ads by way of free media publicity at the Drudge Report, online newspapers, and blogs (sites that can channel millions of readers directly to the ad.)
The latest in this trend is the high-concept anti-Clinton/pro-Obama "1984" spot. Released this weekend, the ad is linked to by the Drudge Report and major newspapers, and has been viewed at YouTube more than 500,000 times. The ad…