Science Communication Seminars

Would you like to learn how to create a web page for your research? A webpage dedicated to your poster/paper can be a great tool to disseminate the results for the following reasons:

• Can be accessed by all the devices with internet
• Automatically adapts the content for the size of the display
• Videos, picture galleries, downloadable files can be added
• References and further readings can be added via linking words and buttons
• Can always be updated later on in case of changes

In this workshop you will learn and practice Adobe Spark Page software. At the end of the workshop you will have a page for your own poster/paper.

Contents:

1. Introduction to software, menus and functions
2. Transfer and adapt content from poster
3. Fine tuning and adding interactive features
4. Testing and sharing

Would you like to learn how to create an animated presentation such as the example above? Also, would you like to practice with the creation of an appealing explanation about your research for non-scientific audiences?

In this workshop you will learn and practice Adobe Spark Video software. At the end of the workshop you will have a video for your own presentation.

Contents:

1. Introduction to software, menus and functions
2. Prepare slides, select icons/photos/videos
3. How to narrate the slides and select background music
4. Export and tips for sharing

Most of the time we as researchers need (or don’t know that we need yet)a flexible canvas for various tasks. Some software that can be used for multiple things. For example, a project management and collaboration tool to be used with colleagues/interns/students. A wiki/documentation for an experimental protocol, submission procedure or transfer of know-how accumulated over the years. Lets learn to use this innovative tool which has a potential only limited to your imagination!

Contents:

1. What is Notion?
2. Where you can use it?
3. Some Examples
4. Live Demo: Eisenhower Matrix

Improvisational theatre, often called improvisation or improv, is the form of theatre, often comedy, in which most or all of what is performed is unplanned or unscripted: created spontaneously by the performers. In its purest form, the dialogue, action, story, and characters are created collaboratively by the players as the improvisation unfolds in present time, without use of an already prepared, written script.

Even though, we can ‘plan’ most aspects of our presentations in academia, many times we need to improvise to find solutions, answer questions or handle technical problems. When it comes to live streaming science, it is similar to a constant performance of improv theatre. One cannot ‘cut the mistakes’ from a live stream as it is happening at the moment. Whether it is a talk, teaching or hosting a guest (i.e. interview), having great improvisational agility is always helpful. In this workshop, you will learn the fundamentals of improv theatre and unleash your spontaneity with diverse and fun practices.

Contents:

1. What is “Theatre Sports”?
2. How to develop improv skills?
3. Psychology of being spontaneous
4. Games
   1. Wizard’s Hat
   2. Gibberish
   3. 4×4
   4. Objects
   5. Dubbing
   6. HeadsUp game with terms

Adjusting the level of complexity in your narrative is key for delivering an understandable and engaging talk/presentation/paper. We as scientists make these adjustments in terms of using different terms or selectively including information in our presentations and papers. For example, if you are submitting to a headache journal you would not start by defining what migraine is, since the reader base would already know something or two about migraines. In this lecture we will practice on adjusting the same information (one of your abstracts/assignments) for different target audiences with step-by-step increasing complexity. 

Contents:

1. Why adjust the complexity?
2. Letting go of the “the myth of perfect understanding”
3. Use of metaphors/analogies
4. Reverse engineering an example https://youtu.be/sweN8d4_MUg
5. Practice
   1. Grandma/Grandpa level (general public)
   2. High School student/Teen
   3. University Student
   4. PhD Student/Master Student
   5. Expert/Professor

Having appealing and easy to understand graphics is useful for all intents and purposes. Embedded into a scientific presentation, shared on social media, used in a graphical abstract (which many journals now require), an infographic summarising your literature review and more. Canva.com is a website/mobile app that has numerous templates for creating all kinds of graphics, and used by professional social media content creators. Lets learn to use this innovative tool which has a potential only limited to your imagination!

Contents:

1. Introduction to Canva’s user interface and functions
2. Adapting a template: presentation
3. Instagram post examples
4. Live Demo: creating an infographic from a review

Using videos and uploading them on YouTube (YT) is becoming more common among researchers for outreach/science communication purposes. However, as with all other cases “the medium is the message” in YouTube. In other words, the audience in YT may have different expectations in terms of video/sound production quality (lighting, recording, editing etc.), content (what the target audience are actually curious for), and format (animated, in person, studio, vlog etc.). This lecture provides fundamentals and basics for starting a science communication channel in YouTube.

Contents:

1. YouTube and its “rules”
2. Finding the gap – what will the channel be about?
3. Creating your channel
   1. Name, slogan and description
   2. Designing logo, channel art, thumbnail (design language, see Canva.com workshop)
   3. Keywords (google trends and keywoordtool.io)
4. Deciding on content formats
5. Recording/creating content (separate course available)
6. Publishing and promoting
7. Channel analytics and grow further

Recently, many scientists and university PR offices started using social media sites such as YouTube, not only to reach a broader audience but also to attract the attention of adolescents (largest user group). Typical YouTube recordings usually require above-average video recording equipment, video editing, and scripting capabilities. Most of the time, scientists cannot carry out this kind of professional video production alone, alongside their main job.

Fortunately, with the advent of live streaming the tide has turned for some scientists. Since live streaming does not require as much time as a video production of pre-recorded episodes, scientists can (after a once-off cumbersome set-up process) start and stop live broadcasting with just a button. This course provides fundamentals and basics in live streaming science communication content in Twitch and other platforms.

Contents:

1. Why live stream?
2. What is Twitch?
3. Unique dynamics of live streaming (also see improv course)
4. Some great examples
5. How and where to start?
6. Instagram and YouTube live streaming
7. How to make use of interactivity?
8. (optional) practical exercises

Building a self-sustaining science communication organization can be extremely difficult. From scratch, one needs to design an organizational scheme, lay down principles, decide target audience, recruit team members (volunteer or paid), build or make use of existing platforms for infrastructure of inner communication/collaboration/production and finally share the content with the public. Besides, management and continuation of the platform and teams can be all time consuming without an efficient structure. All in all, building a SciComm organization requires know-how. In this course you will learn some of this know-how. 

Contents:

1. Why form an organization?
2. What are your principles, why do you need them?
3. Who is your target audience?
4. Tips on recruitment and team building
5. Tips on collaboration and intra-communication
6. Tips on affordable technological infrastructure
7. How to onboard and train the team members?
8. Tips on efficient management
9. Reaching a self-sustaining organization
10. Questions

Building a self-sustaining science communication organization can be extremely difficult. From scratch, one needs to design an organizational scheme, lay down principles, decide target audience, recruit team members (volunteer or paid), build or make use of existing platforms for infrastructure of inner communication/collaboration/production and finally share the content with the public. Besides, management and continuation of the platform and teams can be all time consuming without an efficient structure. All in all, building a SciComm organization requires know-how. In this course you will learn some of this know-how. 

Contents:

1. Why form an organization?
2. What are your principles, why do you need them?
3. Who is your target audience?
4. Tips on recruitment and team building
5. Tips on collaboration and intra-communication
6. Tips on affordable technological infrastructure
7. How to onboard and train the team members?
8. Tips on efficient management
9. Reaching a self-sustaining organization
10. Questions