Presentation about ParticleBites.com efforts in the context of sustainability as part of the Sustainable HEP 2nd ed. workshop. https://indico.cern.ch/event/1160140/timetable/

1. @ f l i p . t a n e d o SUSTAINABLE HEP 2022
Year of ParticleBites
Flip Tanedo
6 September 2022
Sustainable HEP - 2nd edition
indico.cern.ch/event/1160140
Re-imagining a reader’s digest of high-energy physics for
community building in an ecosystem of remote collaboration

2. @ f l i p . t a n e d o SUSTAINABLE HEP 2022 10
Year Particle Bites
Yet another online seminar??
particlebites.com
2
• Who: early career grad student writers
• What: micro-community building for
professional socialization & science
communication training
• This talk: why it matters
Virtual meetings aren’t just for postdocs and senior
physicists.
Not this talk: platform for outreach.
Focus on micro-community of writers.

3. @ f l i p . t a n e d o SUSTAINABLE HEP 2022 10
particlebites.com/?p=9690 by Oz Amram
3
ParticleBites
What is a “hep-ph reader’s digest?”
• Outreach to “undergrads”
• Research literacy
comprehension, critique, comparison, context
• Science communication
esp. in era of virtual/asynchronous interactions
Inspired by Astrobites and ComSciCon.
Short summaries explaining results, a plot,
and references for pedagogical background.
astrobites.org, comscicon.org
Semi-dormant over pandemic, strategic restart
Main goals:

4. @ f l i p . t a n e d o SUSTAINABLE HEP 2022
Suggested reading: “Academic literacy and the nonnative speaker graduate student,” G.
Braine, Journal of English for Academic Purposes (2002), “Informal Socialization in Physics
Training” Hodari et al. (2203.11518, Snowmass white paper)
The value of a digest
• How do we socialize junior colleagues
into our professional community?
• How do students develop “belonging”?
• Can we support this
while reducing travel?
(carbon footprint)
And why present at Sustainable HEP?
• Outreach to “undergrads”
• Research literacy
• Science communication
not our focus today
This talk: community of
writers, not outreach
E.g. international summer schools,
conferences, workshops…

5. @ f l i p . t a n e d o SUSTAINABLE HEP 2022
Suggested reading: “Connecting High School Physics Experiences…,” Hazari et al. Journal of Research in
Science Teaching 47 8 (2010), “Developing physics identities,” Irvine and Sayre, Physics Today 69, 5, 46 (2016),
“Critical look at physics identity,” Hyater-Adams et al. Phys. Rev. Phys. Educ. Res. 14, 010132, “An Intersectional
Physics Identity Framework for Studying Physics Settings,” Johnson, CSSE, volume 19 (2020)
belief that one can “do physics,” &
belongs in the physics community
Adapted: Hazari et al. J. of Research in Science Teaching 47 no. 8, (2010)
Physics
Identity
Can I calculate a
scattering amplitude?
Am I a math-y person?
Is doing physics “acting
white”? Is it unusual for a
woman to be a physicist?
Physics Identity, n.
(self ef
fi
cacy, agency)
• Developed in early career socialization
• Framework to understand & improve
retention of minorities
• How can we create equal opportunities
for grad community-building?

6. @ f l i p . t a n e d o SUSTAINABLE HEP 2022 10
Why a writing community?
Validating underrepresented voices at an early stage
• Example: ComSciCon workshops are extended sci. comm. communities that highlight
many of the diverse slices of humanity that we hope to better represent in HEP
• How do we socialize early career graduate students in HEP?
comscicon.com/
fi
les/comscicon/
fi
les/comscicon13_report.pdf
6
• Not-yet-experts in dissertation, but experts
at some research aspects they can share
• Community to encourage, commiserate,
validate, professionally socialize
• Training includes professional science
communication with colleagues
• Can we port this to a virtual platform?

7. @ f l i p . t a n e d o SUSTAINABLE HEP 2022 10
Sustainable, post-pandemic early-career communities
Communication & community building are more important at an earlier stage
• Challenge: socialization typically requires travel, limited to senior students.
Want to reduce carbon footprint, reduce geographic limitation
• Opportunity: virtual community-building for early career grads
• A di
ff
erent kind of sustainability: it is easy to start something, but hard to
maintain it due to an accumulation of responsibilities.
7
(less travel) (screen/attention fatigue)

8. @ f l i p . t a n e d o SUSTAINABLE HEP 2022 10
Proposal: virtual early career community building
• Year of ParticleBites: experiments to enrich our
writing community for professional development
• Monthly meetings for writers
• ComSciCon masterclass on writing, speaking
• Meet ups with science journalists
• Q&A with physicists (few-on-one meetings)
8
The project is not the blog, but the curation of the blogger community
Harvard SPS “Chilloquia” on YouTube
Examples: Harvard Society of Physics Students
online “Chilloquium” series, the successful remote
seminars + virtual mini-meet ups of the past 2.5 years.

9. @ f l i p . t a n e d o SUSTAINABLE HEP 2022 10
The Goal: Foster This Community, Sustainably3
sustainable environmental impact: reduce travel and carbon footprint
sustainable equity: support “full participation” across demographics
sustainable e
ff
ort: screen fatigue, personal time commitment
sciencebites.org/
9
Goal: year of prototyping, experimentation for building the ParticleBites
writing community.
It may fail. If so, a post-mortem report on what we learned.

10. @ f l i p . t a n e d o SUSTAINABLE HEP 2022 10
We invite your participation!
Writers (or advisors of writers), virtual guests, social tinker-er
10
Reach out to us at
fl
ip.tanedo@ucr.edu,
ev66@cornell.edu, or particlebites@gmail.com
2045333
Supported in part by NSF CAREER Award 2045333
Web hosting from the AAS with thanks to astrobites
Julia Gonski, DPF
former writer
& co-organizer
Amara McCune
UCSB, writer
Eve Vavagiakis
Cornell, co-organizer
(& recently author)
We have mugs!
www.particlebites.com