Internet and its social media have connected people, communicated ideas, made people aware of issues, events and advancement. You might think that social media are for teenagers and youngsters, but undoubtedly, they bring options in climate change and water issue awareness as well as solution possibilities among the professionals. However, do they really build communities of practice, help knowledge management and transfer and can they truly improve water management? Can they help bridge the communication gap between research, policy and industry? How do they facilitate communication to non-scientists and the wider public?Internet and its social media have connected people, communicated ideas, made people aware of issues, events and advancement. You might think that social media are for teenagers and youngsters, but undoubtedly, they bring options in climate change and water issue awareness as well as solution possibilities among the professionals. However, do they really build communities of practice, help knowledge management and transfer and can they truly improve water management? Can they help bridge the communication gap between research, policy and industry? How do they facilitate communication to non-scientists and the wider public? The presentation will discuss the possibilities and glitches based on the presenters’ experience gathered from two EU-funded projects and the WISE-RTD Water Knowledge Portal as well as other social media. The presenter hopes to highlight social media’s upsides and downsides and how they can provide a strong communication channel to scientists, policy makers and implementers, water professionals and the public.

1. How Social Media
may advance
Water Management
Xenia Theodotou Schneider
1

2. Presentation Outline
1. Social
Media
2. Experience
3. Findings
and
Take Home
Message
2

3. Part 1
Social Media
3

4. AR5 Debate
§ UN IPCC Assessment Report
on Climate Debate
§ “climate change UN report on
blogs” alone gave over 190 M
results
Jonathan Hayward/Canadian Press
4

5. 5

6. Oxford Dictionary: Websites and applications that enable
users to create and share content or to participate in social
networking.
6

7. Oxford Dictionary: Websites and applications that enable
users to create and share content or to participate in social
networking.
7

8. Social Media
§ a new way of
getting
information allowing 24/7 and
on the fly access from anywhere
§ provide easily access to
information
§ allow knowledge exchange and
creation
§ permit us to network, to find
people with like interests
§ to create awareness, opinions to
flow, debates to heat up and
allow faster changes
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9. Social Media
§ a new way of
getting
information allowing 24/7 and
on the fly access from anywhere
§ provide easily access to
57% of Americans admit
that talk more to people
online than in real life.
information
§ allow knowledge exchange and
creation
§ permit us to network, to find
people with like interests
§ to create awareness, opinions to
flow, debates to heat up and
allow faster changes
9

10. Social Media Mapping
Content
Sharing and using valued content
is the glue for Social Media
Engagement.
Conversations through blogging
More conversations, less
promotion, easier monitoring on
issues, awareness.
Provide insight that match
target’s needs.
Fast response is required.
Identify needs and influencers.
Connections and Cooperation
Networking, action and
collaboration for solving issues.
Community
Learning takes place among
peers and discussion on real
issues take place.
Target influencers who
can spread your message.
Exchange of ideas, advice
and experiences.
10

11. Are you talking to me?
Who is the audience?
Supporters
Press
Citizens
Other
Scientists
And
Water
Professionals
Policy Makers
and
Policy
Implementers
Opinion
Elites
11

12. Age Matters as Well
Internet and
Social Media
Adaptability
Millennial
(18-29)
Generation X
(30-45)
BabyBoomer
(46-64)
Silent
(65+)
Internet Use
90%
87%
79%
40%
Internet away
from home
62%
48%
35%
11%
Video of
themselves
20%
6%
2%
1%
Social Media
75%
50%
30%
-
Created social
networking profile
75%
50%
30%
6%
Texting Behaviour
88%
77%
51%
Ref: MILLENNIALS: A Portrait of Generation Next Confident. Connected. Open to Change. Report from www.pewsocialtrends.org, 2010
12

13. Age Matters as Well
Millennials is the first “always
connected” generation.
Steeped in digital technology
and social media.
They must be reached for
improving future Water
Management.
Ref: MILLENNIALS: A Portrait of Generation Next Confident. Connected. Open to Change. Report from www.pewsocialtrends.org, 2010
13

14. Part 2
Experience
14

15. My own experience
§ SPI-Water EU Project
§ STEP-WISE EU Project
Collected, canalised and
disseminated research
results and experiences
from EU-funded projects
towards scientists, policy
and other water interested
parties.
15

16. WISE-­‐RTD
Water
Knowledge
Portal
16

17. Creating a Water Knowledge Portal
LIFE funded Projects have
harvested experiences all
over Europe and beyond
EU funded Projects have
generated new knowledge
and results since FP3 and
FP4
Policy related projects have
generated experiences
WISE-RTD
Water
Knowledg
e Portal
17

18. Different
Groups
have
Diverse
Needs
Policy-maker:
• Research Results
• Research Experiences
• Policy Experiences
• Case Studies and
Lessons learnt
Researcher:
• Research Results
• Relevant Policies
• Policy Experiences
• Case Studies and
Lessons learnt
Consultant:
• Research results
• Policies
• Relevant Research
• Case Studies and
Lessons learnt
Speak Different “Languages” and have Different Priorities
18
18

19. How WISE-RTD connects diverse information
19

20. How WISE-RTD connects diverse information
20

21. How WISE-RTD connects diverse information
21

22. Connects
the
Dots
for
You
Project Title
Project Summary
in simple English
Project Flyer
Other Related
Info in WISERTD
Link to Project’s
Home Page
Other Info from
the Project
22

23. Policy Point of View
23

24. Connects Research and Policy for improved decisions
WISE-RTD intelligently links:
§
§
§
§
248 policy projects
3285 policies
880 policy guidance documents
739 policy experiences
§
§
§
§
§
682 research projects
720 research experiences
342 research guidance documents
227 research tools
6 technology tools
24

25. Social
Media
helps
us
connect
the
dots
Image by Joachim Stroh
25

26. Social
Media
helps
us
connect
the
dots
§ To
achieve
soluDons
for
Water,
informaDon
and
knowledge
sharing
must
be:
S Connected
and
Transparent
S Community-­‐based
and
S User-­‐generated
content
§ We
are
aiming
that,
through
WISE-­‐
RTD
by:
S Showing
ConnecDons
S Increasing
Transparency
S Providing
Content
across
Boundaries
Image by Joachim Stroh
26

27. WISE-RTD Water Knowledge Portal
WISE-RTD aims
to facilitate
Bridging the
Communication
& Knowledge
gap between
Science, Policy
and Industry.
27

28. on the Social Media Map
Content
Sharing and using valued content
is the glue for Social Media
Engagement.
Conversations through blogging
More conversations, less
promotion, easier monitoring on
issues, awareness.
Provide insight that match
target’s needs.
Fast response is required.
Identify needs and influencers.
Connections and Cooperation
Networking, action and
collaboration for solving issues.
Community
Learning takes place among
peers and discussion on real
issues take place.
Target influencers who
can spread your message.
Exchange of ideas, advice
and experiences.
28

29. Water management
must be popularised
to be effective.
29

30. provides
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39. Part 3
Findings and
Take Home
Message
39

40. The Findings: “Us”
§
Share
§
§
Free and open access
Dedicated communication strategy
§
§
§
Challenging to get people involved
Results were shared through different media online
Connect
§
Dedicated communication strategy
§
§
Challenging to get people involved
Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn
§
§
§
Proven challenging
Skepticism
Unlock
§
§
§
Make information easily accessible
Researchers and Policy are equally using the site
eLearning attracted a lot of users to stay
40

41. The Findings: “Us”
§
Share
§
§
Asia
Dedicated communication strategy
§
Africa
Americas
Free and open access
§
§
Results were shared through different media online
Connect
§
Australia
Challenging to get people involved
Dedicated communication strategy
§
§
EU
Challenging to get people involved
Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn
§
§
Non-EU
§
Proven challenging
Skepticism
Unlock
§
§
§
Make information easily accessible
Researchers and Policy are equally using the site
eLearning attracted a lot of users to stay
41

42. The Findings: “The others”
§ Projects do not maintain their websites
§ Projects lock findings in protected website
sections
§ Most projects lack proper dissemination
strategy and wide communication of their
results
§ Publications are only for the few
§ Few projects create policy briefs
§ Project events and conferences are beyond the
reach of a wide water interested audience
42

43. Findings: “What They told Us”
§
Communicate what has been already achieved by science in
solving water issues and what these mean for the quality of life.
§
Use existing communities and web-portals. Don’t isolate
yourself.
§
Don’t talk only about results but about the benefits.
§
Show the benefits to society and stakeholders through new
media, simple videos / animations to spread the results widely.
§
Adapt the messages to the different stakeholders
§
Include professional communicators in projects. Recognise the
knowledge brokers / translators / facilitators.
§
Ring-fence funds for post-project dissemination activities.
43

44. Take-Home Message
§ Recognise that social media can benefit the
water research, policy and management.
§ Dissemination Strategy dedicated to the social
media is necessary.
§ Talk about the benefits not only about results.
§ Show the difference and the value through
different media and get awareness.
44

45. Why consider Social Media in Water Management?
Traditional Media
Using Social Media
§ Traditional online searching
§ can also provide you with
§ Time consuming.
§ harness your network to inform you
intelligently-filtered information that
helps to stimulate new questions.
provide answers only to the
questions you ask.
about issues and developments you
may not be aware of.
§ Filtering necessary but difficult.
§ You have to do the linking
§ May provide alternative strategies
and approaches to questions based
on collective experience.
§ One to Many Approach
§ Many to many approach
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46. Why consider Social Media in Water Management?
We do science, but we don't widely inform
about our experience and we don’t use the
science in our doing.
That's like finding a cure for cancer but not
telling anyone.
46

47. Take-Home Message
Unlock
Connect
47
Share

48. THANK
YOU
FOR
YOUR
ATTENTION
so that our children can enjoy the same resources
and beauty that we have for generations.
48