I wanted to capture some of the preparation I took for a short talk. The first iteration of this post was a series of notes and links that I thought would be useful to the audience if they wanted some further reading. The talk went something like this.

Talk on Public Engagement

Public engagement is about telling stories about you and your work. There are many excellent people who are exploring storytelling and what it means in today’s digital age. They’re good enough to avoid phrases like “digital age” and provide meaningful insight into how people are enjoying themselves, learning new things and talking to each other. It’s not just the internet either, there is much supposed old media that is still enjoyed and produced, and the skills, talents and crafts employed in creating them hold more value than ever.

Whether researchers have an obligation to talk to about their work I’m unsure. When they do however, it’s sometimes because audiences are crucial to the success of their project. There has always been a requirement to record the work and publish, but in order to engage with the public you need think about the best way to capture and communicate your ideas, theories and concepts.

Why capture anything?

Science works because you have a theory or an idea, a hypothesis that you want to explore. You gather evidence, you present findings and you either prove or disprove your theory. Sometimes this means a step forward, sometimes it doesn’t. Sometimes evidence that quashes a hypothesis is a step forward. The evidence tells the story, nothing else should matter, but it does. Again, whether that’s reasonable or not I can’t say, I’m being honest if I admit to telling stories about scientists that isn’t always about the science.

One of the ways I’m trying to make amends is encouraging the research community to take control and gain a better understanding of storytelling, media production and audience interaction. It’s the only way to ensure accuracy, clarity and integrity in the long term.

In this talk we discussed different ways to engage with audiences and who they might be. This next section reflects the experience of creating media, telling stories and getting feedback. There are some ideas, suggestions and links to people who know far more than me and say it better.

Meeting our audiences?

It’s important to identify your audience so that you can think about the voice you use, although I’ve always encouraged people to be clear and accessible even with audiences that are very familiar with the area, including peers and colleagues.

• research community
• key stakeholders
• general public
• enthusiasts/crazies
• peers/your mum.

At a recent conference Prof. Stephen Heppell let us know that the average number of people who will read your thesis is 1.8, so he inferred that’s your supervisor and someone who couldn’t be bothered to read the whole thing.

The recent addition of an impact measure in research grant applications has led to a rise in public engagement projects. Some researchers are becoming much more creative in their approach to public engagement and curating projects that are designed to engage and endure, provide up to date news and live interaction, important connections and serendipitous evidence, legacy and artifact.

It’s important to keep an eye on trends, for instance thinking about the importance of creating mobile first content; content that is sharable and syndicates across your channels. It’s also important to engage in face to face and social interactions and think about old media and whether that still has some relevance to you. Remember, digital first doesn’t mean digital only.

Connect

One recent trend is the use of newsletters and mailouts, email is still a great way to get your news in front of people, response rates are still better in the evenings and early mornings, Mondays are still a good day. However, it’s important to manage address lists, and tools like MailChimp or Sendy are good at doing this. I like using Eventbrite to manage events but there’s a great deal to be said for Twitter and Facebook which you can use to generate interest.

Content Creation

There’s an art to not to keeping things to yourself. There are many ways to deliver content and each has their champion on the web. Take photos, write articles, make films, draw and sketch, design and publish data, tweet, like and favourite, comment and applaud, produce audio podcast, present models and run simulations, broadcast through live streaming, perform, talk and demonstrate, make things, print objects, do stuff.

Make shareable content

Stories are told from person to person, so content should be open and accessible, if you reproduce content from elsewhere then you should credit and thank them, if you create content yourself, then you should publish under a creative commons license. I personally believe that you should publish work under a licence that allows people to distribute, remix, tweak, and build upon your work.

The mode of information is the same, but the mode of distribution has changed. We don’t have all the answers, but CC lets me choose my flavor and helps me take advantage of the things working against me.
Jonathan Worth

Important considerations

• Be interesting — This isn’t as easy as it sounds. Real oddballs think it’s normal when they do the things they do, doesn’t everyone write songs about an explorer in search of a lost welsh speaking tribe of native americans?
• Be quick on the draw — use your smart phone to take photos, capture sound and images, film and capture ideas. As I write this I’m thinking I need to call on your common sense, it’s great having a camera with you at all times, but it’s not great if it means that you can’t switch off from email and twitter every now and then. The wonderful Doug Belshaw takes a digital detox from time to time, powers down for holiday and play.
• Find your community, find out where they hang out and go and introduce yourself. I like twitter for this, common groups and chats are written into my profile. (that’s not my hand…)

• be honest.

Note

use a url shortener goo.gl ow.ly tinyurl

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1WjD15haHWp1QfwS4Hx8otuvLKrtGPASm9Np675iWqNw/pub
or
https://goo.gl/d5QBxI
http://ow.ly/PJvDU

Channels

Video
Youtube
Vimeo
Vine
Periscope

Make good decisions.

Professionals make good decisions, as soon as they hold a camera to their eye they start to make decisions which ensure they capture the shot they want. It’s the difference between them and us, but it’s ok, we can learn to make better decisions. Here are some examples:

• Choose a suitable location — find somewhere uncluttered, relevant, and interesting.
• Consider the lighting — use natural light, use the light behind you, make sure it’s even or create your mood intentionally.
• Be quiet — always use headphones to monitor and listen to your audio, it’s amazing what you’ll hear. It’s ok to shoot in a noisy location if the context is right (they might have to shout a bit), but if a background sound is distracting or painful, then move, go and find somewhere better.
• Review your footage, check that you got what you wanted to get, be polite and show your contributor.
• Rehearse and prepare, use questions, don’t simply record lectures, instead try to make films. It’s common that a lecturer wants to read out something they’ve written, a paper or a talk, but why not demonstrate and illustrate your ideas, let’s go to the lab, head out on a field trip, create intimacy and interest.

Conclusion

Currently the content we’re creating to support Public Engagement is some of the most rewarding and successful. I often boast that I have a fantastic job, seeking out and meeting some of the most fascinating and interesting people there are. I’m able to mine a deep seam of projects, from stem cell research, transport, medicine, sociology, natural sciences, chemistry, audiology — the list is growing.

My challenge to researchers is to create content that speaks to audiences, that informs the education agenda at the University, that connects to communities locally and nationally. We often think that different voices are needed when sometimes a clear, crisp and confident tone can be heard by many people. I would encourage and implore creativity in terms of public engagement, to form projects that stand the test of time, that leave people informed, educated and entertained. You’ll find that great connections with partners, people, artists, schools and friends can lead to projects that stretch and challenge — you, your project and your plans. It should be rewarding and fulfilling for everyone involved.