Yearly Archives: 2012

Member Profile: Jesse Shore, ASC National President

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I’ve been fortunate to find a career which allows me to indulge my two passions in life; my fascination of science since I was 12 years old, and my attraction to acting and other involvement in live theatre from my early 30s. I became a scientist to fulfil the adolescent dream and then managed an amateur theatre company to immerse myself in my adult captivation. I had no idea that my two interests would soon merge and be fulfilled by an area of work that was yet to have a name.

People tell me that my career sounds like I took a left turn but I see it mainly as a westerly-trending journey with a step to the north. My impulse for science took me from Brooklyn, NY, to Berkeley, CA, and then far to the southwest to Canberra. The ACT was my cocoon where the science-adolescent transformed into the theatrical-hopeful. It was after the move north, to work on the Powerhouse Museum project in Sydney, when the adult science communicator truly emerged.

It occurred to me that developing museum exhibitions was much like putting on a stage production. The wide range of display media seemed like the sets, props, lights, sound, scripts, and so on of live theatre. I found I could use my science background and theatre experience to bring meaning and fun to science-related ideas.

Being exposed to the broad range of subject interests of the Powerhouse, such as science and technology, decorative arts, social history, and design, was also helpful. They gave me the idea and the means of placing science within a broad cultural context.

Although my job title was Senior curator of sciences, from the mid-1990s, around the time the ASC was formed, I started to say that I was a science communicator. The term science communication was fairly new then, and even today I get asked to explain what a science communicator is.

I’ve now clocked up 28 years of communicating science and welcome the chance to put energy into the broader area of the profession through the ASC and its activities. If I could find a way to describe what it is that we do in around 25 words or 140 characters I’d feel that I made a real breakthrough.

It is exciting to be active with the ASC at a time when its profile is rising and it’s becoming increasingly influential. At our recent national conference we stepped up to a new level of organisation and amenity. Attendance numbers increased and so did financial support. Feedback from delegates was overwhelmingly positive and we had many constructive comments about how to do things better for the next event.

I’m looking forward to the ASC taking its next steps forward as an organisation but I may be a tad overly optimistic that our profession will become a household word. Now if I can only get on stage again I’d be really happy. Did someone say, “To be, or not to be – a science communicator”?

Jesse Shore
National President

Interactive Intro to Marketing & The biggest snapshot of science engagement in Australia – 30/4

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30 April 2012
6:30 pmto8:00 pm

Ever wondered why someone else is getting more web hits than you…. or funding…. or press?

Could it have something to do with the way you are marketing your product?

Have you really sat down to think about what your product, your audience, your goal really is?

Here’s your chance to ask an expert!

After graduating with a Master of Business Administration from the University of Technology, Sydney (UTS), Anthony Katsikas went on to become a lecturer at their School of Marketing.
His knowledge comes backed with 20 years of hands on experience, managing several Global Marketing Organisations, with over 7 years at Vice President, General Manager and Director levels.
His roles have focused on understanding customers and their needs in strategic and tactical marketing terms, developing product & market strategies as well as branding and promotional decisions.

If you are interested in getting a peek into the first principles of Marketing and how they might apply to you, come armed with your questions for a thought provoking and interactive delve into Tony’s world.

Interested?:

Where: Glasshouse, Level 2, City of Sydney RSL, 565 George St, Sydney

When: Monday 30th April, 6.30pm onwards

What: Interactive Intro to Marketing, followed by The biggest snapshot of science engagement in Australia!

Please RSVP to: ascnsw@gmail.com / Rebecca – ASC Committee: 0410 635 083

The biggest snapshot of science engagement in Australia!

How are we engaging people with science in in Australia, and how do we do it better? A way to get answers is to create a high definition picture of science engagement activities in the country.

Jesse Shore will explain this new project to gather information about the who, what, where, when, why and how we communicate science. Then you’ll have your say as you become a focus group to answer the biggest question of the project, which is basically:

What are the critical areas where we need to improve the quantity or quality of science engagement in Australia?

It will be a fast paced session peppered with simpler questions to get the pieces of the big one. Your thoughts will contribute to the success of the rest of the project.

The main tool of the snapshot project is a survey questionnaire to be answered by people and organisations involved in science engagement activities. So bring your ideas about who we should promote the survey to.

The project is funded by the Australian government’s Inspiring Australia Strategy. The ASC is a partner in this project with Jenni Metcalfe from Econnect and Kristin Alford from Bridge8. ASC members and their colleagues can make a major contribution to greater science engagement in Australia. So come to the session and help shape the future of science communication.

Twitter Weekly Updates for 2012-04-22

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  • Features Fiona Armstrong: Climate & Health Alliance, Dr Marion Carey, VicHealth & Amanda McKenzie, Comms Director at the Climate Commission #
  • Communicating climate change & health impacts to policy makers & wider community. ASC Vic session audio now available: http://t.co/OaNNeS7w #
  • Help @mwikramanayake with her Masters. Fill in survey into working practices of sci journalists covering neuroscience http://t.co/9BedRrMF #

Twitter Weekly Updates for 2012-04-22

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  • Features Fiona Armstrong: Climate & Health Alliance, Dr Marion Carey, VicHealth & Amanda McKenzie, Comms Director at the Climate Commission #
  • Communicating climate change & health impacts to policy makers & wider community. ASC Vic session audio now available: http://t.co/OaNNeS7w #
  • Help @mwikramanayake with her Masters. Fill in survey into working practices of sci journalists covering neuroscience http://t.co/9BedRrMF #

Interactive Intro to Marketing & The biggest snapshot of science engagement in Australia

Posted on by
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Ever wondered why someone else is getting more web hits than you…. or funding…. or press?

Could it have something to do with the way you are marketing your product?

Have you really sat down to think about what your product, your audience, your goal really is?

Here’s your chance to ask an expert!

After graduating with a Master of Business Administration from the University of Technology, Sydney (UTS), Anthony Katsikas went on to become a lecturer at their School of Marketing.
His knowledge comes backed with 20 years of hands on experience, managing several Global Marketing Organisations, with over 7 years at Vice President, General Manager and Director levels.
His roles have focused on understanding customers and their needs in strategic and tactical marketing terms, developing product & market strategies as well as branding and promotional decisions.
If you are interested in getting a peek into the first principles of Marketing and how they might apply to you, come armed with your questions for a thought provoking and interactive delve into Tony’s world.
Interested?:

Where: Glasshouse, Level 2, City of Sydney RSL, 565 George St, Sydney

When: Monday 30th April, 6.30pm onwards
What: Interactive Intro to Marketing, followed by The biggest snapshot of science engagement in Australia!
Please RSVP to: ascnsw@gmail.com / Rebecca – ASC Committee: 0410 635 083

The biggest snapshot of science engagement in Australia!

How are we engaging people with science in in Australia, and how do we do it better? A way to get answers is to create a high definition picture of science engagement activities in the country.

Jesse Shore will explain this new project to gather information about the who, what, where, when, why and how we communicate science. Then you’ll have your say as you become a focus group to answer the biggest question of the project, which is basically:

What are the critical areas where we need to improve the quantity or quality of science engagement in Australia?

It will be a fast paced session peppered with simpler questions to get the pieces of the big one. Your thoughts will contribute to the success of the rest of the project.

The main tool of the snapshot project is a survey questionnaire to be answered by people and organisations involved in science engagement activities. So bring your ideas about who we should promote the survey to.

The ASC is a partner in this project with Jenni Metcalfe from Econnect and Kristin Alford from Bridge8. ASC members and their colleagues can make a major contribution to greater science engagement in Australia. So come to the session and help shape the future of science communication.

Bryson explains why he wrote A Short History of Nearly Everything – video

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What possessed self-confessed “terrible science student” Bill Bryson to write a book about the science of everything?

All writing is “an instinct to share amazing information” he explains in this short film from the Wellcome Trust and “science is fundamentally amazing.”

 

Download the free ‘Ultimate Science Guide’

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It’s here! The eagerly awaited 2012 edition of the Ultimate Science Guide, an undergraduate guide, is now available for download, to help navigate options for careers and courses in science, IT and engineering.

Find out what’s hot in science and how to nab the best salaries and get the most out of a course. Or discover what science personality you are by taking the COSMOS science personality quiz.

Get all this and more in the 2012 ULTIMATE SCIENCE GUIDE.

ASC National conference 2012 – three great days

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What happens when you have 250 science communicators in the same place at the same time? Going on observations from the recent national conference in Sydney you get an intense buzz of social networking. Every face to face gathering was busy with people talking, laughing, exchanging ideas and contact details, moving around to meet new people and to catch up with a wide range of colleagues. Cyberspace was filled with an intense stream of tweets which lasted well after the conference – and they are still coming although now at a trickle (see #ASC2012 for the latest). One tweeter during the conference pleaded for others to slow the pace as he couldn’t keep up with the flow and catch a moment of the sessions at the same time.

We are still digesting the results of the post-conference on-line survey. We had around 130 completed questionnaires – a great response rate. I’m happy to report overwhelmingly positive feedback. There were good suggestions for improvements which will be considered as we start planning for the next national gathering.

I look forward to developing the relationships with the federal and five state Chief Scientists and with all the Inspiring Australia representatives who featured at the conference. The ASC is growing its connections all the time.

My choices for conference highlights

Day 1: Ian Chubb’s talk provoked much ongoing discussion about several big topics and issues. One was that public interest in science developed countries is declining while the inverse is true in developing economies. Why is this? Is this a worrying trend (I say yes)? What do we do about it? Is there an inverse relation between celebrity appreciation and cerebrum use?

The cocktail function at the end of Day 1 gave us a look at UTS’s impressive new function space. Around 150 delegates got together for two hours of intense chatting and mixing in a most pleasant atmosphere. I thought this worked far better than a sit down dinner for networking. Also we didn’t have to charge for the event (thanks to UTS sponsoring this most hospitable function).

Day 2: The opening plenary about career possibilities for science communicators featured good energy and diverse jobs paths. It not only highlighted several talented early career sci-commers but revealed the Australian Museum was holding a ‘Jurassic Lounge’ event that night which added to delegates’ choice of social events for the evening. I enjoyed the ABC Café Scientific chat-fest but I noted the tweet stream from rapt Jurassic Loungers.

Day 3: Chris Fluke in the morning plenary said that he was satisfied with 85% accuracy in his astronomical animations (he sometimes exaggerates vertical scale for visual effect). This kicked-off a discussion topic that we won’t see the end of. In the afternoon plenary about science to policy I was interested to hear about how rallies of scientists were organised to get media attention and public support to pressure the government not to cut funding for medical research work. The threatened funding cut was a rumour at the time but timely action of getting scientists onto the streets may have been instrumental in preserving funds during a cost-cutting period.

Days 1-3: I was also impressed with the efforts exhibitors at the conference put into making their display areas look appealing. It enticed me to chat with a few of them and I would have visited all the stands if I had less running around to do.

The Science-As-Art exhibition seemed to be a big hit. More than 100 votes were cast for the People’s Choice winner and there was a lot of feedback that the exhibition should be a regular feature of future conferences.

Several teams of people worked hard and effectively to achieve a great conference. The ASC conference organising teams lead by Rod Lamberts are deservedly basking in the bright glow of congratulations for the high quality of the overall event. Our professional conference convenors ensured that all ran smoothly and made the most of the excellent venue.

So how do we do even better next time? I’ll leave that to you to send your suggestions.

Jesse Shore
National President

Member Profile: Susan Kirk

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Susan Kirk is a nationally published writer, with a degree in journalism and TAFE qualifications in horticulture.  She has written for many different publications but lately writes extensively for Rural Press publications including Good Fruit and Vegetables and Australian Horticulture.

She wrote a number of the Taste booklets (Global Food and Wine) which showcased Australian produce and producers and even did a stint as a restaurant critique. She loves growing, cooking and consuming food so over the years the interest in ornamental plants turned into an interest in food plants.

She has just recently started a herb nursery with her partner Bob on the Sunshine Coast hinterland, aptly named, Hinterland Herbs, concentrating on culinary and medicinal herb plants.

She is a member of the Media Alliance, Horticulture Media Association and is a member of and the Queensland web editor for the Australian Science Communicators.

Best Science Apps for iPhone/iPad:

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Thanks to Joe Hanson for posting his best science apps for iphone / ipod – for the science and technology obsessed – enjoy!

Best Science Apps for iPhone/iPad:

Space/Astronomy:

–       NASA has a great free educational app where you can track spacecraft and learn about projects.

–       GoSkyWatch, which is inexplicably free for the iPad only version (and a very underpriced $3.99 for iPhone/iPad compatible version). Seriously, it will change your life. Point it at something, it tells you what it is. It even draws constellations and has a red low-light mode.

Biology/Chemistry:

–       Molecules lets you input any Protein Data Bank or PubChem molecule identifier and then renders a 3-D version that you can rotate, zoom and space-fill. Must-have for molecular noodling on the fly.

–       The Elements is pretty pricey for an app at $13.99, but it’s bar none the best app for exploring the periodic table.

In The Lab:

–       Life Technologies has a useful app called DailyCalcs that will calculate solution concentrations, convert units, figure out dilutions and give you cell culture plating tips. Nothing you couldn’t look up or figure out on a paper towel, but nice to have it handy for free.

–       If you’re like me and you have to keep track of a lot of PDFs and research papers, I’m still torn on whether Mendeley or Papers is better. I use both, and I like both. One is free, of course.

Math/Misc.

–       WolframAlpha: There’s Wolfram reference support built into Siri, but the full app is like a math search engine/calculator/reference guide all in one. Very cool.

–       Skeptical Science will help you refute climate deniers right from your pocket!

[Extracted from Joe Hanson’s Blog: It’s Okay to Be Smart – post link here]

If you know of or use any great science apps, share it! (email: editor@asc.asn.au )