Sure you think your community science project is the bee’s knees–you’re passionate about it! That’s why you got involved in the first place. But what about your friend, your neighbor or your legislator? To reach them, you’re going to have to communicate, and do it well.
We’ve been amazed at how creative and engaging our project teams can be when communicating about their work. For instance, check out this awesome story map the Missoula, Montana team created. We love how it walks you through their process and outcomes in an at-a-glance summary complete with rich visuals. For another example, the team in Belmont County, Ohio created a terrific 1-minute video on their project, as well as a series of Facebook Live webinars on air quality and health titled “Making the Invisible Visible: What you don’t see can hurt you.” The Cambridge, Massachusetts team also shows how a good presentation can go a long way.
Would you like to spice up your outreach—and amp up your impact?
AGU’s SciComm Toolkits are a great place to start. Take a journey through their paths to engagement to see what resources are most relevant to you. We particularly recommend these tools:
- Message Worksheet – distill your message for any audience!
- Have a policy aim? Check out Crafting Your Message and Ask for Policymakers
- Is your work more technical? You need Essential Tips and Tools for Communicating Your Science
AGU’s Virtual Learning Hub is another font of wisdom. Considering social media but wary of trolls? Online Engagement: Intro to Social Media for Scientists has some great advice.
Here’s a roundup of other helpful odds and ends:
- Jargon and how to avoid it
- How to create great images
- Workshop: Identifying your audience and crafting a message that sticks (a webinar specifically for community science teams!)
- Want to go analog? Scenes could be a fun tool to tell your story with hands-on art.
- Find opportunities to elevate your viewpoint at The OpEd Project, an organization focused on accelerating the ideas and impacts of underrepresented voices
Finally, AGU’s Plainspoken Scientist blog has some excellent reflections on the power of data-driven storytelling, translating science for policymaking and supporting scientists who communicate. There’s even science-inspired poetry and handicrafts. The sky’s the limit!
