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Interestingly, the ban on glossy output seems to stretch also to the web. The latest issue of the EPSRC's Impact magazine exists on paper, but not on the website. I guess it is easier to hide paper. In any case, web is overdone. How do you hand out web pages at conferences and exhibitions? (The very fine Royal Society summer show at the Southbank is stuffed with paper replicated on the web.) Until we all walk around with tablet PCs, paper is still a better read on the train, toilet or in bed. Paper alone is inadequate. Web alone is elitist and fails to acknowledge how people really work. You don't happen upon web stuff. You seek it out. So serendipity goes out the window. But let's get back to the topic: anyone felt the impact of Research Council cuts? MK From: psci-com: on public engagement with science [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Hilary Sutcliffe Sent: 02 July 2010 12:54 To: [log in to unmask] Subject: Re: [PSCI-COM] Research Councils told to pull the plug on glossies Actually it seems pretty sensible to me, I think as very few people read the glossies, most who would do this would read it on the web anyway, not sure we should be too worried. But only if the focus shifts to online and direct engagement approaches and doesn't disappear altogether. Recent Geoeng dialogue had a very poor online component, the synbio one had none and a lovely glossy on the results which arrived this morning a week after I read it online and will never open. Obviously I also think there should be funding for impartial engagement with the public on controversial issues such as our website www.nanoandme.org which will no doubt not get its funding now! Best regards Hilary Hilary Sutcliffe Director MATTER 7 Adam Street London WC2H 6AA Tel: +44 (0)207 520 9086 Mob: 07799 625064 Twitter: http://twitter.com/hilarysutcliffe Email: [log in to unmask] Blog: http://www.matterforall.org/blog/ Website www.matterforall.org On 2 Jul 2010, at 12:46, Michael Kenward wrote: Do any PESTs here work with the Research Councils? Noticed any changes since the general election? Chatting to a senior "civil servant" from one Research Council earlier this week at a Royal Society bash - lots of nice English sparkling - I gather than the government crackdown on spending has halted all those glossy publications that attempt to explain to the taxpayers just what has happened to their money, and to tell them about the results of all that research. We have been through this before, when a DGRC could not see the point of telling the world about research. While my first thought was that this would further diminish the work available for science writers, I wondered if this government edict would also wash over into other public activities. Another RC person, and one much nearer the chalkface in public stuff, confirms that "non-departmental 'arms-length bodies' (including the research councils) have a freeze on spending on marketing, advertising and consultancy for the foreseeable future". Do they interpret Public Engagement as marketing? I wouldn't, but I don't have much faith in the ministerial team's ability to spot the subtle differences. Let's hope it is a short lived phenomenon, and that it does not spread too far into the world of PEST. If it does, then we can kiss goodbye to many years of the hard work that went into tearing down the barriers between researchers and the public. _______________________________ Michael Kenward OBE Have words will travel ********************************************************************** 1. 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