Insights
Why Public Scholarship = Thought Leadership
What many business people call “thought leadership content” is educational or informational content written for search. How-to-do something, or maybe what-other-people-in-my-space-think, based on a survey. The headline signals the intent: “7 Ways to Make Your X Better.”
There’s nothing wrong with this content.…
Read MoreFake Science, Bad Science or No Science?
My heart skipped a beat when I heard Stella Immanuel (she of “demon sperm” fame, whose claim to have successfully treated over 350 COVID-19 patients with hydroxychloroquine was retweeted last week by Donald Trump) call the numerous studies finding hydroxychloroquine ineffective “fake science.”…
Read MoreStop the Press (Releases)
One of the remarkable (and odd, and sad) things about research into science communications: how little some of the researchers seem to understand about the practice of communicating science and how media work.
For instance: Do messages arguing against climate action (you know, from big business or climate deniers) get too much play in the media?…
Read MorePapers & Expertise: Too Much & Never Enough
Lot of that combo going around, not least in science. Michael Eisen and Rob Tibshirani argued this week that the deluge of coronavirus-related preprints requires “American scientists and journalists to join forces to create a rapid-review service for preprints of broad public interest.…
Read MoreFauci Stays the Hero
Tony Fauci was not invited to today’s White House press briefing on COVID-19 — thereby further burnishing his status as scientist communication hero. The more Fauci isn’t allowed to speak (at least in venues where he can contradict other Trump officials), the more it positions him as a functional part of the resistance, regardless of what he actually says in the interviews he does.…
Read MoreAnnoying Questions #3: Fauci as Hero, Wokeness, Men & Conspiracy, Statue Pulling in 2090
I’m trying out something new for the Friday emails for the rest of this summer in the Northern Hemisphere. If you haven’t already, let me know what you think of it.
The Four Ways a Scientist Can Have a Conversation on Twitter
A great thread about how it’s important to be explicit — sentence by sentence — about which parts you are bringing to Twitter when.…
Read MoreMaking Op-Eds (Slightly) Easier
It usually takes a ton of investment (time, energy, patience) to get an op-ed published, and it’s a rare researcher who isn’t frustrated by the experience. Just to get going, you must:
- develop the idea;
- figure out a news hook if there isn’t an obvious one;
- figure out where you want to have it published (and can, realistically, have it published);
- find the contact information for the opinion editor at that outlet; and
- figure out whether they want the entire piece as a submission or just a pitch.
Annoying Questions #2: Nudges, Heterogeneity & Dog Kids
I’m trying out something new for the Friday emails for the rest of the Northern Hemisphere summer. Let me know what you think of it.
Why Might People Act on Research Findings?
I read the fundraising blog The Agitator religiously because there are a ton of lessons fundraising communications has to teach the practice of research marketing and communications.…
Read MoreHealthy Precaution, Not Scientific Caution
Two hundred thirty-nine scientists have signed an open letter to the World Health Organization, calling on the organization to recognize that aerosolized transmission of the virus that causes COVID-19 is a major vector of infection, along with large respiratory droplets and touching surfaces where the virus is active.…
Read MoreAnnoying Questions #1: Pandemics, Protests, Prizes & Peer Review
I’m trying out something new for the Friday emails for the rest of the Northern Hemisphere summer. Let me know what you think of it.
Do Women Leaders Really Do Pandemics Better?
Hilda Bastian reports in WIRED that we don’t have the evidence yet — and science “won’t solve gender bias with more bias.”…
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