Some streetart on a bridge in Dublin I have an essay in James Wilsdon and Rob Doubleday’s collection: “Future directions for scientific advice in Whitehall” (downloadable for free). It’s an invitation for the various greats and goods of science policy to not only use social media to promote their ideas but to “go below the … Continue reading »
Tagged with web …
Playing games with science
When you are angry, how do you respond? Do you (a) vent it there and then, (b) read, (c) work out (d) tell yourself there are way more important things to get annoyed about than a bloody Find Your Spirit Animal Facebook app from Greenpeace (which the above screen shot is from) and wonder off … Continue reading »
Science, a people thing
On friday, the European Commission released a teaser video for its new campaign to recruit young women into science. As their press release says, they were concerned that stereotypical images of science were putting girls off studying the subject and wanted to show science as “a girl thing”. Shall we just say they didn’t handle it very … Continue reading »
Being noisy about science
Here’s the podcast for an event on the sounds of science I chaired at Charles Darwin House last week. The inspiration for the event was mainly just that I like making a noise. I also like listening to podcasts and I quite like science too. Moreover, I think that the noises made by and about … Continue reading »
Context context context
Context context context. It’s what the mainstream media’s reporting on science always lacks, isn’t it? It’s the oft-repeated line ‘I think you’ll find it’s a bit more complicated than that’ which media critics such as myself can grump about from the cosiness of their ivory tower. Context context context: Easy to say, but hard to provide? Context … Continue reading »
Towards a multigenerational debate about science
Last week, I was supposed to be one of the speakers at the World Conference of Science Journalists, part of a session on reaching younger audiences. For various reasons (some including ambulances…) I didn’t actually get to give my talk. This post is a linked-up version of what I would have said. The images are … Continue reading »
Avoiding the magic fact machine
It was Universities Week last week – a campaign to highlight the impact of higher education institutions on UK individuals, communities, culture and businesses. One of the projects rolled out for the event was the web-based ‘FactShare Generator‘. If you happen to like car-crash science communication, go and have a play. Otherwise, I don’t want to dwell … Continue reading »
Why Don’t You? A review of ‘Making is Connecting’
I’ve mentioned David Gauntlett’s new book, Making is Connecting, a few times recently: on my work blog, my knitting one, and on the Guardian’s Notes and Theories. It’s an interesting book worth talking about. It’s about the social meanings of creativity and 21st century maker cultures, be these makers of blogs, woolly cardigans, cupcakes, podcasts … Continue reading »
Imagining the communities of online science
As a researcher of science writing and science writers, I’m interested in the ideas science bloggers have about the communities they are part of. Bloggers being a reflexive lot, I have a growing collection of posts which discuss some of the issues involved here. Still, I want to go beyond the limited perspective provided by … Continue reading »
Handcrafting political discourse
I visited Ottawa last weekend, for the Extending Expertise conference. Walking around the center of town on Sunday morning, I spotted this flyer for the Green Party. Ottawa, May 1st 2011 I thought it was interesting not only because it referenced a Twitter hashtag, but that it left space to add a short message on … Continue reading »
