The IRS is unyielding when NASW members receive Science in Society Journalism Awards or other awards of money or property in recognition of their journalistic or literary achievements. Writers owe income taxes on their awards. From the Summer 2013 ScienceWriters.
ScienceWriters magazine
Whether we are trying to figure out how to avoid participating in a “trust fall” activity at an office team-building event or debating how much our key stakeholders trust the scientific information that they see in the media, trust is a recurring theme in our professional lives. With all of the time our community spends focusing on trust, we thought it would be worth exploring some recent research that can provide some insight into how issues of trust play out in science communication.
For many who write about science for kids, the ground is about to shift, or is already trembling. When the tremors stop, the altered landscape may hold new opportunities for science writers. The movements come in the form of nationwide initiatives to rewrite the standards for literacy, science, and mathematics.
ScienceWriters columnist Julian Block answers questions from readers about the IRS rules for deducting expenses for conferences such as ScienceWriters2013 and whether an honorarium donated to charity is eligible for a deduction.
In December 2003, after an explosion of feverish work, NCI staff members stood on the threshold of launching a weekly newsletter that would cover the entire field of cancer research. The publication they designed — ultimately named the NCI Cancer Bulletin — was neither the largest nor the most controversial of projects launched by then-director Andrew von Eschenbach. The history of the Bulletin — which died with a whimper after nine years of operation — describes an idea gone amok.
In some ways, writing a book (the Science Writers Handbook) with 30 other writers was easy compared to sole authorship. Each of us had only a chapter or two to write. But in other ways, it was incredibly difficult. How do you make so many individual voices cohesive, and how do you weed out the overlaps or resolve differences of opinion? It quickly became a balancing act of delegating work and decisions, coordinating many moving parts, and heavy doses of diplomacy.
As we submit this article, the election season has just wrapped up in the United States. During our observation of the various campaigns, we noticed a general lack of discussion about science in the political discourse. Some recently published research gives us some ideas about what level of engagement is appropriate in raising these issues and how that engagement sways public opinion.
If you attend the 8th World Conference of Science Journalists (WCSJ2013), in Helsinki in June, be prepared, even if not to hug some trees, at least to go into the woods for some scientific — and social — interactions with your lumber-loving hosts. Indeed, a sure conference highlight will be “science at midnight,” a seminar on the development of innovative and renewable wood-based materials for the future, held in the heart of a coniferous boreal forest.
Earlier this year, the Public Information Officers’ committee developed a short survey to gather information about how PIOs are using social media to enhance communications goals. Questions focused on what types of social media tools PIOs and their organizations are using, how and why they are using these tools, and who they hope to reach.
A group of 40 Argentine writers, aligned through the nonprofit Argentine Science Journalism Network (RADCAP), have pooled their resources, time, and considerable talents to produce the first-ever anthology of “the best science articles” published in national and regional media during the past year.