Tim
This is an interesting initiative, and I wish you well with it.
That said, your introduction raises a number of questions in my mind. For one thing you are building a website – a WordPress-based blog – the intention of which is to allow scientists to communicate directly with the public. This has been done before on numerous occasions, and it's doubtful whether such sites can on their own, with the help of Google, attract any more than a trickle of visitors. Blogs are, like, so noughties.
Having evaluated a number of research proposals that include as their public outreach commitment a "web portal" and no more, and then seen such initiatives rapidly sink without trace, I have no faith in the "If we build it they will come…" strategy of science communication.
Good luck if you feel that communicating directly with the public through a website is your best course of action, but I have to ask why you are taking this approach. Websites are these days essential communication channels, but the successful ones tend to be those backed by corporate interests which implement them as part of a multi-channel communications strategy.
The internet is a vast place saturated with information, and this makes it difficult for information consumers to sort the wheat from the chaff. A common response to such information overload is to retreat into a safe corner of the net, and only venture out of this enclave in short, sharp bursts. Everyone these days seems to be obsessed with Twitter, and attempting to convince the world how wonderful they are via FaceBook. Links to ShareSci and the like from social media sites may bring some visitors, but they could so easily be transient. How are you going to keep those visitors and build an online community?
If you want scientists at St Andrews and elsewhere to interact with the public, dynamically or otherwise, you cannot avoid the mediation of journalistic media. Of course you lose control of the message, but then you have no right to control it in the first place, and the world is a richer place for open, diverse and critical analyses, however flawed they may be.
Francis
On 28 Mar 12, at 23:41, Tim Oliver wrote:
> We are science students from the University of St Andrews who are developing a science media portal called ShareSci. ShareSci aims to initiate a dynamic interaction between scientists and the public, by allowing scientists to directly communicate with them. We want to work with scientists interested in science public communication to help shape ShareSci to meet the needs of scientists. We would greatly appreciate any input regarding ShareSci.
----snip----
--
Dr Francis Sedgemore
journalist and science writer
www.sedgemore.com
**********************************************************************
Further information about the psci-com discussion list, including list archive, can be found at the list web site: http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/lists/psci-com.html
You may also change your settings and subscribe/unsubscribe to psci-com from the web site.
Psci-com is part of the National Academic Mailing List Service, known as 'JISCMail'.
It adheres to the JISCMail Acceptable Use Policy: http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/policyandsecurity/acceptableuse.html
and to the JISCMail guidelines for etiquette: http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/policyandsecurity/etiquette.html
Email commands:
1. To suspend yourself from the list, whilst on leave, for example,
send an email to mailto:[log in to unmask] with the following message:
set psci-com nomail -- [include hyphens]
2. To resume email from the list, send an email to [log in to unmask] with the message:
set psci-com mail -- [include hyphens]
3. To leave psci-com, send an email to [log in to unmask] with the message:
leave psci-com -- [include hyphens]
Please allow up to 24 hours for these commands to activate.
Remember that you will need to send commands using the same email address that you used to register on psci-com.
To contact the Psci-com list owner, please send an email to: [log in to unmask]
**********************************************************************
|