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What is pillar content?
You have great stories to tell, and you want to share them. You start with your network, and everyone is enthusiastic about what you say. Now, you’re ready to share your stories with a larger audience. You decide to focus on your blog, and you want your readers to get all the value you’re set to provide them. What can you do to make your blog posts as visible as possible? You ask our friend Google for help, of course. But to get our friend to help you, you need to play with pillar content. It will convince Google that your site is worth sending searchers to, and you’ll build…
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How improv techniques will change the way you write
Below is a tell-tale description of a common style of scientific writing—used not only by philosophers and sociologists, but also by many scientists from all disciplines. In his book “Writing with power: techniques for mastering the writing process,” Peter Elbow tells us: “One thinks about modern academics, especially philosophers and sociologists. Their language is often voiceless and without power because it is so utterly cut off from experience and things. There is no sense of words carrying experiences, only of reflecting relationships between other words or between “concepts.” There is no sense of an actual self seeing a thing or having an experience… Sociology—by its very nature?—seems to be…
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Free writing: an essential component of your communication toolbox
“You can’t think yourself out of a writing block; you have to write yourself out of a thinking block.”― John Rogers Yes, but how? Enter free writing. You try it, you love it—it happens to about everyone. It’s one of the best tools you can have in your communication toolbox. It will keep your “inner censor” quiet and it will take you into a state of flow. How does it work? Write down whatever comes to your mind, quickly. Don’t worry about your thoughts, just write them down exactly as they come to you. Do it with no expectations and without judgment. It takes only a few minutes for free writing…
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What is transmedia storytelling?
Transmedia storytelling, also called multiplatform or enhanced storytelling, is characterized by the use of multiple media platforms—video games, graphic novels, music videos, mobile apps and so on—to tell a story across time in an expansive rather than repetitive way. In 2007, Henry Jenkins wrote: “Transmedia storytelling represents a process where integral elements of a fiction get dispersed systematically across multiple delivery channels for the purpose of creating a unified and coordinated entertainment experience. Ideally, each medium makes its own unique contribution to the unfolding of the story.” In other words, in transmedia storytelling each element serves as a piece of a giant puzzle, thus contributing to the narrative while at…
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How to make your presentation more engaging: puzzle or problem?
How do you, as scientist, invite and welcome non-scientists into your wonderland? By making your ideas accessible? Do you avoid jargon and bullet points? Yes, you should definitely make your ideas accessible, avoid jargon and bullet points, and use all the other tricks of the trade to present ideas clearly and convincingly. However, this is not—any more—enough. Let me explain: we’re all suffering from information overload, so what’s the point in presenting more and more information even if it is clear and convincing? In this information-filled landscape, you may find that engaging an audience is becoming harder and harder. I tell scientists to use a different approach—present a problem, not…
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“Pop culture scaffold” — What it is, and how it’s used in science communication
To understand the concept of pop culture scaffold, we’ll rely on Neil deGrasse Tyson—acclaimed astrophysicist, planetary scientist, TV personality, science educator and science communicator—who advocates the use of pop culture references to make scientific concepts graspable to audiences of non-scientists. Pop culture—or popular culture—is the set of practices, beliefs, and objects that embody the most broadly shared meanings of a social system. It includes media objects, entertainment and leisure, fashion and trends, and linguistic conventions, among other things. Popular culture is usually associated with either mass culture or folk culture, and differentiated from high culture and various institutional cultures (political culture, educational culture, legal culture, etc.). So think music, film,…
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What is TL;DR?
TL; DR (or tl:dr) = the only internet abbreviation, or acronym, that includes a semicolon (although you may find it in the no semicolon form, TLDR, tldr.) TL; DR = Too Long; Didn’t Read Fun fact = Merriam-Webster’s Dictionary accepted “TL;DR” as a word in 2018. Widely used in the comments section, especially on discussion websites like Reddit; it indicates that the piece (for example an article, blog post or email) is too long, and would require too much time to read. It’s also used at the beginning or the end of an article, blog post or email to nail down its main point or key message. Additional fun fact…
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What is narrative?
“Narrative” is a framework used to tell a story by connecting a series of events. Randy Olson offers a more compelling definition—narrative is the series of events that occur in the search of solutions to a problem. However, in these posts we’re talking science communication. So we can say that “narrative” is one of the buzzwords currently used by science communicators—but it’s a buzzword because its importance has been highlighted only during the past few years, so it’s used over and over again. The use of this buzzword has been useful, though. Now, everyone recognizes its power—we all know that a convincing narrative is needed to win over an audience.…
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Tempus and Hora
The story of Tempus and Hora has been told here and there in different contexts, for example to illustrate the value of planning for interruptions, or to explain that dynamic but stable systems are arranged in nearly decomposable hierarchies. It has also been used to highlight the concept of scientific reductionism—in other words, the reduction of complex phenomena into their most basic parts. Herbert Simon—who was awarded the 1978 Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences for his pioneering research into the decision-making process within economic organizations—liked to tell the story of Tempus and Hora. Indeed, the story appears in his landmark book “The sciences of the artificial.” It goes more or…
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The best speakers are those who give
Shift your perspective (or your mindset)—you’re there, in front of your audience, to give. Even better, you’re there to give, and you don’t want anything back. Forget your “take” mindset. Audiences respond differently to “takers” and “givers.” Why are you presenting your research? To show how much you have accomplished, or to help your fellow scientists succeed in their own research? To show your results to “advance the field”, or to advance others? To add to the list of your presentations, or to empower those in your audience so they can build their own list? To toot your own horn, or to help others shine? Once you’re clear about your…