Talking Dogs and Galileian Blogs
I like
cheese
Chad Orzel
Social Media for Communicating Science
http://scienceblogs.com/principles/
2
x p  

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/ebola-panic-in-us-spreading-much-faster-
than-disease/

http://www.business2community.com/world-news/map-offers-new-
perspective-ebola-crisis-africa-01056783

http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/to-your-
health/wp/2015/02/09/measles-outbreak-spreads-to-three-more-states-121-
people-now-affected/

http://www.forbes.com/sites/tarahaelle/2015/03/16/yes-low-immunization-
rates-are-responsible-for-the-measles-outbreak-study-suggests/

http://www.slate.com/blogs/future_tense/2015/02/26/inhofe_throws_a_snowball_on_
senate_floor_to_disprove_global_warming_video.html

http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2014/10/03/3575849/not-a-scientist/

Everyone who denies man-made climate change has the same
stirring message: “We don’t know what the f*$k we’re talking
about.” -- Stephen Colbert, November 2014

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/03
/03/francis-colliins-nih-
funding_n_6795900.html
http://www.ibtimes.com/us-budget-cuts-lead-new-
foundation-seek-private-donors-basic-science-
funding-1848592

Who Should We Blame?
Who caused the disconnect between science and general public?
Politicians?
Tempting, but no…
Religion?
Lots of religious scientists
Teachers?
Doing the best they can…
My claim:
WE HAVE FAILED AT OUR JOBS AS SCIENTISTS

Look

Think

Test

Tell

What Is Science?
Science is a process for learning about the world:
1) Look at the world
2) Make up a theory
3) Test your theory
4) Tell everyone about it
Find some interesting phenomenon to explain
Develop a model to explain the phenomenon
Design experiments, make observations to test model
Publication, dissemination, replication
Where
Things
Break
Down

1045 Total Citations

7632 Total Citations

Newtonian Publication
Most famous work:
Philosophiae Naturalis
Principia Mathematica
(published 1687)
Written in Latin, highly technical, highly mathematical
Deliberately difficult, “to avoid being baited by little smatterers
in mathematicks”
(Hat-tip: Robert Krulwich, WNYC RadioLab)
Isaac Newton (1642-1726)

http://msquacksphysics.weebly.com/uploads/1/0/9/7/10974238/3850046.jpg

<2,200 Students <13,000 Students

Twitter
>3,000 Followers
<2,200 Students

<13,000 Students
>13,900 Followers

Galileian Publication
Most famous work:
Dialogue Concerning the
Two Chief World Systems
(published 1632)
Written in vernacular, dialogue between three characters
Witty, accessible, highly readable, and persuasive
Widely read and influential
Galileo Galilei(1564-1642)

Results
Outcomes of different publication models:
Lesson of History:
Newtonian Publication Is Better For Your Career
Newton
Galileo:
Master of the Mint
The Inquisition

http://www.slate.com/articles/health_and_science/science/2014/10/i_m_not_a_scientist_
excuse_politicians_don_t_need_to_be_experts_to_make.html

http://www.theguardian.com/science/occams-
corner/2015/jan/09/demoralisation-in-the-ranks-of-researchers

So You Want to Be Galileo…
How do you go about communicating science to the general public?
No single, foolproof method
Have to find what works for you
Similar to asking “How do you write a bestselling novel?”
As many strategies as there are popularizers
Can suggest some general tools and approaches
NOTE: Not about “dumbing down” or condescending to audience
Ways to make real science appealing to non-scientists

Social Media: Pro
Advantages:
1) Easy to do, huge audience
 Just sign up, start using
 Millions of daily users

Social Media: Pro
Advantages:
1) Easy to do, huge audience
2) Social media are social
 Reach people in ways
more formal channels don’t
 Provide community for
communicators

Social Media: Con
Disadvantages:
1) Easy to do, huge audience
 Trolls, cranks, racist
relatives
 Controversial issues can
lead to ugly situations

Social Media: Con
Disadvantages:
1) Easy to do, huge audience
 Impossible to predict
what will catch on
2) Social media are social
 Requires engagement
and networking for success

Nobody Has to Be Galileo
Advantages:
1) Easy to do, huge audience
2) Social media are social
Disadvantages:
1) Easy to do, huge audience
2) Social media are social
Important:
NOT FOR EVERYONE
Requires particular skills
right personality
Also:
TOTALLY OPTIONAL

Blogs
“Blog” (short for “web log”)
Regularly updated personal site
Short essays, pictures, links to
other pages of interest
“A Directory of Wonderful Things”
(tag line of Boing Boing, but could serve generally)
Best-known blogs deal with politics, gadgets, celebrity gossip
Also blogs about science…

Science Blogs
My own preferred channel…
Blogging since 2002, at
scienceblogs.com since
2006
Uncertain Principles
“Physics, Politics, Pop
Culture”
Built up regular audience
~2,000 views (good day)
HIGHLY variable

Science Blogs
http://scienceblogs.com/principles/
My own preferred channel…
Blogging since 2002, at
scienceblogs.com since
2006
Advantages:
Infinite space to deal
with complex topics,
issues
Disadvantages:
Can be hard to get
people to read long
posts

http://backreaction.blogspot.com/

http://www.preposterousuniverse.com/blog/

http://www.wired.com/author/rhettallain/

ScienceSeeker
http://scienceseeker.org/

Twitter
Short messages– 140-character limit
Advantages
Short, fast-moving –
“Live” experience
Very informal atmosphere,
conversational medium
Disadvantages
Short, fast-moving –
deliberately ephemeral
Very large, eclectic
audience

Science in 140 Characters
Twitter:
Popular with
journalists/
science writers
Fast-moving,
but can be very
useful
Live backchannel
for conferences,
breaking news

SciStuChat
Twitter education: chats
Example: #SciStuChat
Q&A with scientists on
Twitter, HS students
Organized by Adam
Taylor (Overton HS,
Nashville)
Connect students with
scientists in cheap,
easy way
Also: #ITeachPhysics
Prof. development

Dinosaurs and Baseball
New media, new communications opportunities…

Facebook
Facebook “Pages”
Advantages:
Enormous audience, easy
to use
Disadvantages:
Walled garden– hard to
see what people say
Newsfeed manipulation–
don’t know who you’re
reaching

Video
YouTube “Channels”
Advantages:
Video = kilowords
Disadvantages:
Doing video well
requires technical,
artistic skills
Fun to do, but
difficult, slow

Social Media for Science
Powerful tools, if interested
Choose channel that suits
your skills/talents
Connect with enormous
audience
Build constituency for
science
Stumble into further
amazing opportunities

What About the Dog?
Emmy, Queen of Niskayuna
January, 2007:
“Bunnies Made of Cheese”
Imaginary conversation
about QED
Dramatic Reading:
(CNET Buzz Podcast, ~2min)
The dog is standing at the window,
wagging her tail excitedly. I look
outside, and the back yard is empty.
"What are you looking at?" I ask.
"Bunnies made of cheese!," she says. I
look again, and the yard is still empty.

Many Worlds, Many Treats
I'm sitting at the computer typing, when
the dog bumps up against my legs. I look
down, and she's sniffing the floor around
my feet intently.
"What are you doing down there?“
"I'm looking for steak!" she says,
wagging her tail hopefully.
"I'm pretty certain that there's no steak
down there," I say. "I've never eaten steak
at the computer, and I've certainly never
dropped any on the floor.“
"You did in some universe," she says, still
sniffing.
May 2007:

Bunnies Made of Cheese: The Book
“Many Worlds, Many Treats” linked by Boing Boing, Digg
 more than 50,000 readers
Contacted by agent
 Book proposal, bought by Scribner
Popular audience book on quantum physics, mixing dog
conversations with explanations for humans
Published December 22, 2009
Extreme example, but illustrates general principle
Use blogs to promote science
produce new opportunities for outreach

What to Do?
State of the world demands better public
engagement
For communicators:
Social media provide tools to reach
mass audience
Easy to try, see what works for you
For others:
Recognize, support, reward
communication as essential
Let Galileo be Galileo