In a session mediated by freelancer Karen Infeld Blum, three seasoned correspondents talked about tips and tricks to get the most out of interviews with challenging subjects.
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Led Zeppelin’s “Kashmir” greeted receptive attendees of David Dobbs’ Saturday afternoon workshop “Going Long: How to Structure the Longform Narrative – with Help From Music, Theater, and Film.” Dobbs played portions of the track, an example of the rock pioneers’ exploration of song structure, to kick off a fascinating talk and discussion about the use of form and structure in longform narrative stories.
When Siri Carpenter opened the Pitch Slam session, just two writers had signed up to pitch. But an hour and a half later, nearly a dozen ideas had been put to the panel of seven editors. Not a single assignment was made, but both the pitchers and many others in the room likely walked out with insight about how these editors think and some specific suggestions for selling an idea.
The media industry — science writers, particularly — can no longer afford to look the other way when it comes understanding the fundamental changes occurring in how Americans are getting their news in our “crazy, mixed-up digital world,” said Esther Thorson, plenary session speaker at ScienceWriters 2011.
Science Writers 2011 kicked off Saturday morning with a business meeting (coffee and carbs were provided). Before committee members shared the exciting things going on, including various opportunities for money, Ron Winslow of the Finance Committee assured members “we are solvent.”
“How Science Writing Saved My Life,” was one of the highlights of the ScienceWriters 2011 opening session, which followed the high-energy format of an Ignite event. In rapid succession, ten presenters had exactly five minutes each to speak on a topic of their choice. Each presenter used twenty slides, which were set to auto-advance every 15 seconds.
Field trips on forest and range science management near our Flagstaff, Ariz., meeting site, workshops on audio and video production, and a welcome reception are among today's highlights at "a meeting for science writers, by science writers." If you are unable to attend, you can follow the Twitter hashtag #sciwri11 or just check this page, where Purdue University is aggregating tweets. Watch this space over the weekend for further reports.
The Scientist is dead. The Bolshoi Simulation: It's Life, the Universe, and Everything. Except Life.
It's impossible to anticipate who will have health literacy problems. You can’t predict based on a patient’s age, gender, profession or income. So what can be done? Listen to my conversation with AHRQ’s Cindy Brach to hear how AHRQ is offering tools to help clinicians communicate better: http://engagingthepatient.com/2011/10/03/ahrqs-cindy-brach-the-20-actions-you-can-take-to-prevent-health-literacy-related-complications/