2nd Slide Set for the seminar on SciComm within the Theoretical Seismology Seminar at LMU (WS21/22)

1. SCIENCE COMMUNICATION II

2. AUDIENCES

3. WHO IS MEANT BY THE PUBLIC

4. HEADS, HEARTS
AND GUTS!
Head: objective, fact driven,
monotone, logic and analytic
Heart: believe and conviction,
emotional
Guts: humor and instinct,
inconsistent, intuition, spontaneous
Even lower organs: chaos, illogical
behavior, universal driving force

5. HEADS, HEARTS
AND GUTS!
Head: objective, fact driven,
monotone, logic and analytic
Heart: believe and conviction,
emotional
Guts: humor and instinct,
inconsistent, intuition, spontaneous
Even lower organs: chaos, illogical
behavior, universal driving force
Scientists, most Politicians
+ Interested audiences,
+ Critical audiences
+ Kids and young adults
+ almost everyone

6. ADDRESSING THE
GUTS - SEXY SCIENCE
What is needed?
¡ News values transferred to
science communication
¡ Reach beyond the neutral
scientific communication habit
¡ The need to become more
emotional
¡ Do we have to become
advocates?
¡ Do we need to provoke, too?

7. CONCEPTS IN
COMMUNICATION
¡ The 3M-Concept: Meaning, Moving,
Memorable
¡ Framing, Priming
¡ Storytelling
¡ Agenda Building, Agenda Setting
¡ Echo chamber and filter bubbles
¡ NEW – JUST IN: Fake news and Debunking

8. CONCEPTS IN
COMMUNICATION
¡ The 3M-Concept: Meaning, Moving,
Memorable
¡ Framing, Priming
¡ Storytelling
¡ Agenda Building, Agenda Setting
¡ Echo chamber and filter bubbles
¡ NEW – JUST IN: Fake news and Debunking

9. ENCODING /
DECODING
(STUART HALL, 1973)
To communicate conten (irritations), coding has to be taken into
account.
¡ Coding has to be adjusted to the media used
¡ Encoding has to anticipate decoding
Problem: If encoding follows the operationalization of one‘s owe
sub-system, this will lead to misinterpretation and mis-decoding
due to diverging oberationalizaion within the ‚other‘ sub-system!
Perceptual
Context
Academia
Perceptual
Context
Interacting
sub-system
Non-medial code
medial code
encoding decoding

10. WORD’S
COUNT
Wilems et al (2020)

11. WHAT WE SAY
AND WHAT
YOU HEAR

12. STORYTELLING
People forget facts – but
they remember stories!
Joseph Campbell

13. STORYTELLING – AN EXAMPLE
The Zombie -Preparedness Kit
CDC – Center for Disease Control thought, that a Zombie-
disaster-preparedness -Kit is the same as a Natural Disaster
preparedness Kit!
¡ One Post on a researcher’s blog: “People thinking about
Zombie Disaster preparedness Kit” on May 18, 2011
¡ Evening of May 18th – more than 30.000 views, server
crashed, Fox News: Hack or Hoax?
¡ Friday: NYT and other major publications are on the story –
talking about preparedness kits!

14. STORYTELLING – AN EXAMPLE FOR SEXY SCIENCE

15. THE NEXT LEVEL
CDC took the Zombie Campaign
onto another level:
https://www.cdc.gov/cpr/docum
ents/ zombie_gn_final.pdf

16. STORYTELLING I – ELEVATOR PITCH APPROACH
1. Set your subject
2. give it a twist/ build up
curiosity
3. explore and build up tension
4. release the tension/ give
options
R i ght t rough Tur key t he re i s a bounda r y
bet we e n t wo c r usta l pl ate s - Eu rop e a n d A s i a .
A l on g t h i s b ou n d a r y, m a ny Ea r t h q u a ke s
oc c ur re d i n t he l a st de ca de s – but not i n
Ista nbul . S e i s m ol ogi st s fe a r, t h at t h e re m i ght
be a gre at one r i ght be ne at h Ista nbul i n t he
nex t coupl e of ye a rs , but t hey a re not a bl e to
pre di c t exa c t l y whe n a nd whe re . To m i ni m i ze
t he i m pa c t of a gre at S ha ke - up we deve l op new
com m uni cat i on a nd e ducat i on m e a s ure s to
ra i s e t h e awa re n e s s of t h e p e op l e of Ista n b u l
to be re a dy for t he Q ua ke to com e .

17. STORYTELLING I
1. Set your subject
2. give it a twist/ build up
curiosity
3. explore and build up tension
4. release the tension/ give
options
R i ght t rough Tur key t he re i s a bounda r y
bet we e n t wo c r usta l pl ate s - Eu rop e a n d A s i a .
A l on g t h i s b ou n d a r y, m a ny Ea r t h q u a ke s
oc c ur re d i n t he l a st de ca de s – but not i n
Ista nbul . S e i s m ol ogi st s fe a r, t h at t h e re m i ght
be a gre at one r i ght be ne at h Ista nbul i n t he
nex t coupl e of ye a rs , but t hey a re not a bl e to
pre di c t exa c t l y whe n a nd whe re . To m i ni m i ze
t he i m pa c t of a gre at S ha ke - up we deve l op new
com m uni cat i on a nd e ducat i on m e a s ure s to
ra i s e t h e awa re n e s s of t h e p e op l e of Ista n b u l
to be re a dy for t he Q ua ke to com e .

18. STORYTELLING I
1. Set your subject
2. give it a twist/ build up
curiosity
3. explore and build up tension
4. release the tension/ give
options
R i ght t rough Tur key t he re i s a bounda r y
bet we e n t wo c r usta l pl ate s - Eu rop e a n d A s i a .
A l on g t h i s b ou n d a r y, m a ny Ea r t h q u a ke s
oc c ur re d i n t he l a st de ca de s – but not i n
Ista nbul . S e i s m ol ogi st s fe a r, t hat t he re m i ght
be a gre at one r i ght be ne at h Ista nbul i n t he
nex t coupl e of ye a rs , but t hey a re not a bl e to
pre di c t exa c t l y whe n a nd whe re . To m i ni m i ze
t he i m pa c t of a gre at S ha ke - up we deve l op new
com m uni cat i on a nd e ducat i on m e a s ure s to
ra i s e t h e awa re n e s s of t h e p e op l e of Ista n b u l
to be re a dy for t he Q ua ke to com e .

19. STORYTELLING I
1. Set your subject
2. give it a twist/ build up
curiosity
3. explore and build up tension
4. release the tension/ give
options
R i ght t rough Tur key t he re i s a bounda r y
bet we e n t wo c r usta l pl ate s - Eu rop e a n d A s i a .
A l on g t h i s b ou n d a r y, m a ny Ea r t h q u a ke s
oc c ur re d i n t he l a st de ca de s – but not i n
Ista nbul . S e i s m ol ogi st s fe a r, t hat t he re m i ght
be a gre at one r i ght be ne at h Ista nbul i n t he
nex t coupl e of ye a rs , but t hey a re not a bl e to
pre di c t exa c t l y whe n a nd whe re . To m i ni m i ze
t he i m pa c t of a gre at S ha ke - up we deve l op new
com m uni cat i on a nd e ducat i on m e a s ure s to
ra i s e t h e awa re n e s s of t h e p e op l e of Ista n b u l
to be re a dy for t he Q ua ke to com e .

20. STORYTELLING: TRY THE LOGLINE
Coming from a world where … Earthquakes happen
a … Geologist
is doing … Educational programs for school kids
but when … the school collapses because of a fire following an EQ
she is learning that … there are ways of early warning
in time to … shut down gas lines and transportation lines
so she is able to … safe lives in case of future events.

21. LOGLINE – YOUR TURN
Use the logline
Take any issue, fact, concept from the Earth
Sciences and turn it into a story.
Don’t be afraid, if your story sound like a
Hollywood Blockbuster – the logline is the
most commonly used concept for screen
writers.
Take 30 Minutes to write your logline-story.
Logline
Coming from a world where …
a …
is doing …
but when …
he/she is learning from …
that …
in time to …
so he/she is able to …

22. ENVIRONMENTAL
CONCERN – THREE
DIMENSIONS
Air Pollution can be seen as:
¡ Egoistic – I don‘t want to
breath polluted air
¡ Altruistic – Air pollution is
harmful for all humans
¡ Biospheric – Polluted Air
stresses plants and animals
as well as the full biosphere
Schulz, 2002

23. ETUAPTMUMK (TWO-EYED SEEING)
¡ taking (inter)cultural context into account
¡ taking different concepts of nature and of the
position of man vs. nature into account
(kincentric ecology)
Contextual Model of Intercultural Communication
(CMIC; Neuliep, 2006)
Examples:
¡ Mātauranga (Māori, Aotearoa)

24. THE CLASH OF VALUE
SYSTEMS CREATES
TENSION
„In fact, many Hindus continue
to bath in or even drink the
Ganges regularly. Confident in
the healing powers of the
divine river, they believe
nothing could compromise the
purity of their goddess. For
them, Mother Ganges exists to
wash away the impurities and
pollution of earth and thus can
cleanse herself. Major cleanup
efforts are thus a waste of
money and effort.“
(Rhude & Moore, np)

25. CONTEXTUAL MODEL OF
COMMUNICATION
A and B are functional systems
of society.
Example: within
Communication A could be
Geo-Sciences,
B can be every other
functional system (even
Science itself – scholarly
communication)
Perceptual
Context
A
Perceptual
Context
B
Non-medial code
medial code
Cultural Context
Micro-Cultural Context
Environmental Context

26. CONTEXTUAL MODEL OF GEOETHICS
Functional Systems are characterized by individua operationalization and
contain individual ethical standards (values, beliefs, behaviors, incentives, etc.)
Cultural Proxy Operationalization
Science
Operationalization
Policy
Codierung True - False Dominant - inferior
Medium Truth Power (Hierarchy)
Program Theory Ideology
Funktion* Observation Leadership

27. TOOLS AND
CHANNELS

34. SOCIAL MEDIA
LANDSCAPE

35. BUT WHY?
SOCIAL MEDIA ADHOR
THE KNOWLEDGE
VACUUM
If Science Does Not Step In,
Someone Else Will Talk About
Science
DEBUNKING FALSE
FACTS AND PSEUDO-
SCIENCE
Point Out Misinterpretation And
Misconduct
MAKE SCIENCE A
HUMAN INTEREST
STORY
Be Authentic And Show The
People Behind The Science
SET A SPARK – CREATE
CURIOSITY
Address New And Surprising
Issues Your Audience Might
Never Heard About Before

36. BUT WHY?
EDUCATE
PROVIDE NEW INFORMATION
AND DETAILS ABOUT A TOPIC
EMPOWERMENT
ENABLE YOUR AUDIENCE TO
ACTIVELY PARTICIPATE IN
DECISION MAKING
CRITIQUE
PRONOUNCE MISLEADING
PROCESSES AND DECISIONS
BECAUSE
SCIENCE
MATTERS!

37. KNOW WHO
YOU ARE
¡ If you decide to use social media, think about your role and position.
¡ If you decide to be ”a professional”, ask your employer, if there is a
written code of conduct for social media. If you use social media as a
professional (not as a private person), you have to follow your
employer’s rules.
If you use Social Media as a private person, make it clear to your audience.

38. HOW TO TWITTER
¡ Think before you tweet!
¡ Get started – somehow
¡ Build your community
¡ Stay authentic
¡ Be aware of your responsibility
¡ Learn Self-care

39. HOW TO
YOUTUBE
¡ Be aware of technical and legal matters
(Light, Sound, Camera, Background, data
storage, edit and after-effects software,
copyright)
¡ Stay with your topic – be aware of user‘s
expectations
¡ How to make a YouTube video about science by
Greg Foot: https://youtu.be/UaQ6xWg7QUU

40. HOW TO
INSTAGRAM
Post Post constantly
Use Use hashtags to get included into topical
communities
Make Make a plan – stay within your key messages
Learn Learn Instagram logics and concepts

41. HOW TO PODCAST
Be Aware Of
Technical And
Legal Matters
(Sound, Data
Storage, Edit
Software, Copyright)
Prepare Well:
Time, Content,
Resources
Create A Script
And An Editorial
Calendar
(Redaktionsplan)
Create Your / Use
Soc. Media as
Multiplicator
Listen To Your
Audience
(Feedback)

42. „No topic is inherently boring or interesting.
There are only people who make them that way.“
Sam Ham, 1992

43. LMU SUPPORT FOR SOCIAL MEDIA
¡ https://lmustudentaffairs.wordpress.com/
¡ https://studentaffairs.lmu.edu/media/studentaffairs/osccr/documents/2021-22-Technology-and-Social-Media-
Policy.pdf

44. SCICOMM – AN EXIT
STRATEGY FROM ACADEMIA?
¡ no single solution – no formal qualification as Science
Communicator
¡ Basic skills: analytical thinking, project management,
writing skills, affinity to digital media, enjoy communication
¡Communication training is kind of autodidactic with Blogs
or semi-professional assistance of the press office, etc.
¡formal education via advanced training e.g. by
Wissenschaftskommunikation.de or Wissenschaft im Dialog