You've just found yourself in the manager's seat. Maybe your mind is racing with thoughts. "How in the world did I get here?" "What am I supposed to do?" Or you worked your tail off to get there and are excited but have found yourself tackling unexpected challenges.
Science may always give the impression of cold hard facts. Yet by adding a personal voice to these "cold hard facts", science writing can create compelling stories that resonate with readers.
Moderator Alison Gillespie thinks her session on optimizing Twitter for science communication should have been named "Taming the beast" because of the barrage of content that is posted on the social media platform.
By William G. Schulz
By Diana Steele
Managing social media in a small or solo business can be challenging but there are strategies and tips to make things easier, according to panelists in "How to increase your social media reach when you’re a one-person shop."
Reddit has a reputation. But for all its potential unsavoriness, Reddit is a powerful social media platform — one capable of reaching thousands of potential readers.
Like the insurance company commercials that note "If you’re a parrot, you repeat things" and "If you’re a mom, you call at the worst time," it is obvious that "If you’re a science writer, you ask questions" and "If you’re a science PIO, you answer questions." But what if the questions are about research misconduct, questionable studies, plagiarism or other negative or controversial aspects of the science and technology communicated by NASW members?
While expert sources are necessary to add credibility and nuance (and, ideally, personality) to the writer’s interpretation of a scientific concept, they might not effectively tell the whole story. Non-scientists — a young stroke survivor, a bereaved parent, a victim of water contamination — can provide more context and emotional depth. They put a face to the data, illustrating how people are being affected.
“Editors are desperate people,” Josh Fischman, editor at Scientific American, told a standing-room-only audience. Publications need to be filled with ideas and editors need people who can write those ideas. Once an editor is excited about your story idea, the trick for the freelancer is to keep that excitement going, he explained. Fischman, along with editors Cori Vanchieri of Science News, Gideon Gil of STAT, and Alexandra Witze, correspondent for Nature and Science News attempted to illuminate for writers just how to do that.