There’s a good lesson. Now you know about the deadlines that communicators often face.
That was a good exercise on the part of your teacher. But never feel that you should take their assignments at face value.
Think of yourself as the “science editor” at BBC Radio 4. An arts graduate (sigh) news editor comes up with a dumb idea about a science piece that they read in the Daily Mail. (I am not making this up.) It is the science editor’s job to keep that sort of rubbish off the airwaves.
It doesn't do to say to said news editor, “Your idea is garbage”. What you do is to turn it around and present them with a version that you wouldn’t cringe at when you turned the dial. (Do radios still have dials?)
Of course, even if you had gone to “an expert” with the original story, they should have, possibly even did, point out the issues that the nit pickers here have raised.
The original idea was a good one. Look at books published and see if you can spot any gender issues. My own anecdotal evidence is that the gender balance in science writing is, or was, much better than it is in science itself. When I was in a position to influence that balance, it hovered somewhere around the 50:50 level, albeit it skewed in the seniority stakes. As in, men more senior than women, possibly because the men were older.
So, if writing books reflected that balance, there should have been a similar parity. That the books prize did not reflect that would certainly be news, were it the case. Which brings us back to the original point about evidence.
The one thing not to do was to emulate the BBC 4 Today programme’s truly execrable interview with Zaha Hadid when she was the first woman to be sole winner of the Stirling Prize. Somehow the dim witted (female) interviewer managed to get the facts all wrong and banged on about everything but her architecture and her achievements in a male dominated domain.
“Anger as Zaha grilled on BBC Today Programme | News | Architects Journal”
http://www.architectsjournal.co.uk/news/anger-as-zaha-grilled-on-bbc-today-programme/8689413.article
MK
From: psci-com: on public engagement with science [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Vijay Shankar
Sent: 11 October 2015 00:18
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: [PSCI-COM] Anyone to comment about sexism in science today for a podcast?
Dear Dr Hollis, Mr Kenward, and Mr Garratt,
Thanks a lot for your earnest replies. Sorry for getting back to you late. Nevertheless, I must agree that your suggestions are valuable. It was a spot assignment for us from our teacher and we had to do a quick production of the podcast - finding the stories/sources, interviewing them, recording, editing, and submitting for review - within one-and-a-half working days. We were doing it for the first time and had to rush up a few things. Each of us had to pick a story idea, and my selection was this. I didn't go into the nuance much as I thought science book prizes fall under the big umbrella of "sexism in science". I didn't have much time to do an extensive research as Mr Kenward has suggested. But it is definitely thought-provoking and I'm most certainly going to discuss this with our teacher, perhaps to produce a dedicated episode on this issue.
Meanwhile, as soon as our teacher reviews the entire episode with many other stories, I'll be happy to share the link/file here for you all to give feedback. I'm also sure that your ideas will be greatly considered by our whole class for the forthcoming episodes!
Vijay Shankar Balakrishnan, PhD
Student, MA Science Journalism,
City University, London, UK.
On 10 October 2015 at 13:00, Andrew Garratt <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
MK makes good observations. While I strongly feel there is a real issue here there could be a risk of falling foul of Simpson's Paradox ...
I'm happy to stand corrected though!
Training and consultancy in better communications with
and
On 10 October 2015 at 11:48, Michael Kenward <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
Before drawing conclusions from a simple headcount of the book prize over the years, first try to get an idea of the percentage of science books written by women.
Then look at the nomination process for the prizes and ask how many women authors were entered. (It isn't simply down to authors to enter their books.)
Then analyse the short lists over the 30 years or so since the first book prize.
Of course, the answers you get might themselves prove interesting.
MK
From: psci-com: on public engagement with science [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Vijay Shankar
Sent: 08 October 2015 13:59
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: [PSCI-COM] Anyone to comment about sexism in science today for a podcast?
I'm a science journalism student at City University, London. Our class is going to make a podcast about sexism in science. My story is about Gaia Vince, a science writer who is the first woman to win the Royal Society's Winton Prize for her book. And my story is also based on the Guardian article linked here.
Could I reach any of you by phone, say in another 20-30 min, from our studio? I'm sorry for this short notice. I tried reaching different sources. None were available.
My questions would be basically:
1. Why only few women win science book prizes?
2. What to do about this?
3. Any other comments regarding this!
Thanks in advance. Eager to hear from you.
Best,
Vijay
Vijay Shankar Balakrishnan, PhD
Student, MA Science Journalism,
City University, London, UK.
**********************************************************************
Commands - send an email (any subject) to [log in to unmask] with one of the following messages (ignoring text in brackets)
• set psci-com nomail (to stop receiving messages while on holiday) • set psci-com mail (to resume getting messages) • signoff psci-com (to leave the list) • Subscribe here https://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/cgi-bin/webadmin?A0=psci-com
Contact list owner at [log in to unmask] Small print and JISCMail acceptable use policy https://sites.google.com/site/pscicomjiscmail/the-small-print
**********************************************************************
**********************************************************************
Commands - send an email (any subject) to [log in to unmask] with one of the following messages (ignoring text in brackets)
• set psci-com nomail (to stop receiving messages while on holiday) • set psci-com mail (to resume getting messages) • signoff psci-com (to leave the list) • Subscribe here https://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/cgi-bin/webadmin?A0=psci-com
Contact list owner at [log in to unmask] Small print and JISCMail acceptable use policy https://sites.google.com/site/pscicomjiscmail/the-small-print
**********************************************************************
**********************************************************************
Commands - send an email (any subject) to [log in to unmask] with one of the following messages (ignoring text in brackets)
• set psci-com nomail (to stop receiving messages while on holiday) • set psci-com mail (to resume getting messages) • signoff psci-com (to leave the list) • Subscribe here https://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/cgi-bin/webadmin?A0=psci-com
Contact list owner at [log in to unmask] Small print and JISCMail acceptable use policy https://sites.google.com/site/pscicomjiscmail/the-small-print
**********************************************************************
**********************************************************************
Commands - send an email (any subject) to [log in to unmask] with one of the following messages (ignoring text in brackets)
• set psci-com nomail (to stop receiving messages while on holiday) • set psci-com mail (to resume getting messages) • signoff psci-com (to leave the list) • Subscribe here https://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/cgi-bin/webadmin?A0=psci-com
Contact list owner at [log in to unmask] Small print and JISCMail acceptable use policy https://sites.google.com/site/pscicomjiscmail/the-small-print
**********************************************************************