Social Media and Science

It’s pretty obvious that I spend a considerable amount of time on social media. I’ve got a Twitter account, @ScientistMags, and I’ve got a public facebook page as well as this blog. I also work full time as a scientist and as a freelance science writer. Occasionally I do allow myself to sleep.

I do get asked why I do it. I do “it” because the internet is supposed to be a utopia filled with free factual information. It isn’t. There’s websites devoted to nonsense promising cures insulting scientists whilst using smoke and mirrors to present information disguised as science. This is why I do it.

I also do “it” because when I was growing up, I didn’t know of any scientists. They were all on television and were always busy in a lab. Now that I am a scientist, I know this is not true. You won’t be able to pick out a scientist at the local shops. They are well camouflaged wearing every day clothes or even busy wrangling an unruly child or two. We’re regular people. Scientists are people, and sometimes we get angry at the same things you might do like when a computer crashes while saving an important piece of work or are known to get swept up in hysteria and join queues outside Apple stores for the latest iDevice.

I’m part of social media because the most important thing I want to tell people about the science I do that above all, I’m someone with feelings, desires and frustrations.

Last week there was a discussion on Social Media and Science on Twitter hosted by Bridge8. I am so sorry I missed it. My Masters thesis is to do with science discussions on Twitter so I was rather frustrated not being able to take part. I said that would do a blog post on it instead. It’s not quite the same.

The questions are what framed the discussion last week.

1. How do you measure the success your professional efforts in social media?
   I find it difficult to measure the success of my professional efforts in social media. I know things have gone well if I have conversations with people about the science news and topics I’ve posted. If things get passed on then that’s all well and good but I don’t know how well it was understood or whether it was because of the pretty picture.

2. How important are metrics (eg no. of YouTube views, followers, FB Likes?) to you and your org?
   Let’s be honest. Who doesn’t like being liked? I think the importance isn’t just having lots of followers and likes. What should be important are the types of conversations and discussions being had with the people who subscribe to you. Are they ones that reflect who or what you are? Have they achieved a goal or aim?There is merit in awareness raising but this should be followed on with something. Activists and lobbyists follow on with a call to action. As an individual I let people know of events and things that they can be a part of that are happening. I share my visits to science centres, museums and libraries because I want to share my enthusiasm for them with other people. Whether or not this leads to people going to them, I don’t know but I do know that I get to talk to people about what it is I see in front of me. To me, that’s more valuable than collecting 100 more followers who don’t interact.

3. How do know when you are #doingitwrong? (“failing” at social media)
   I know I am #doingitwrong when I respond to trolls.

4. Are there things that turn you off? What should be “don’t do” advice for social media?
   Trolls are the very worst things that I encounter. This is different from someone who has a misconception. They tend to engage with a misconception and after a conversation has been established, begin to go on the offensive and attack. It’s incredibly draining and wastes time.The most important “Don’t do” is to treat social media as a broadcasting medium. It’s a communication medium and there will be a transfer of information between yourself and a lot of different people. In some cases, broadcasting works like for news services and emergency updates but when it comes to individuals and organizations, expect interaction from your audience and have a plan on what to do with it.

5. Socmed > Twitter. Where else do you engage and why? What works?
   Twitter is great for quick updates. I use my blog for discussions longer than 140 characters. I have found that facebook has become an area where photos and visuals reign supreme.  I have different audiences and they interact differently. People use different forms of social media and tend to stay with the one they find most convenient or most interesting to them.

6. What’s the most creative use of scicomms through social media you’ve seen? Or done!
   I love the Google+ hangouts. They’re really innovative. I haven’t taken part actively but have watched from the sidelines where a scientist interacts in real time with people from all over the world. Phil Plait aka @BadAstronomer has a weekly one which he promotes on Twitter. More information here.

7. How much time would you spend on social media? How do you find the time?
   How much time do I spend on social media? A LOT. In numerical terms, probably around 20 hours a week.

A (belated) Valentines Day post

This is a blog bost I wrote for The Thesis Whisperer for Valentine’s Day where I am on the other side of the mirror in the relationship. I am now the one with a thesis to wrangle.

Last year I wrote about that being in a relationship with a PhD student meant also dating their thesis. The shoe is now well and truly on the other foot. I added my Masters thesis to the mix of our relationship last year. It was awful. I had a breakdown that I didn’t see coming. My boyfriend, Dave, did and he dealt with it better than me.

There are some dreadful times in research where nothing goes right. I’ve had them and gotten out of them with project intact. Studying was different. It was my project and therefore mine to get done but obstacles were everywhere. Despite my best efforts my academic woes spilled out into other aspects of my life, mostly into my relationship with Dave.

I became moody and snappy, even on date night. Dave would pull me up on it every single time and I would stop. No defense mechanism. I knew I was being unfair. And mean. It’s not easy doing this but the skill of biting one’s own tongue when a thoughtless remark is thrown your way during a research group meeting has to be good for something right?

It was at this point Dave would ask me what was wrong. You know what my reply was to someone who has finished a PhD and now has students of his own? The ever classic, “You wouldn’t understand.” Stupid or what? If anyone was going to understand my private hell, Dave was. And even when he didn’t understand, he listened. Sometimes what I needed wasn’t someone who understood, I just wanted someone who would listen without saying anything. Just voicing things to someone who wasn’t going to judge was what I needed.

The best thing about talking to Dave was that he didn’t tell me what to do or what I should do. It was a relief. And sometimes it was all too much and I was reduced to tears. I was an utter mess and when this spilled over to a date night, something inside me snapped. I realized I needed to do something.

I decided to take a break from my Masters. It wasn’t easy. When I told friends, most of them said, “You’ve been through worse, it’s just another six months.” with the best of intentions. They hadn’t seen me when I detoured from going to uni. Nor had they seen me wolfing down a cheeseburger with extra pickles as the only solid meal of the day. They didn’t know how late I stayed at uni some nights trawling through journal articles. I barely recognized myself.

During an office reshuffle with advice to stick out another six months ricocheting around my hollow brain, I decided to take my belongings home. There was no fanfare, I just left. I didn’t even see my supervisor on my way out. I needed a break. The sooner, the better.

It was just after lunch when I made a phone call to Dave while loading my car boot. Telling him what I was doing tore me up inside. A feeling of incredible stupidity hit me. I didn’t feel like I was good enough to be his girlfriend. I felt like I had screwed up and had no options left in life. Any sense of self-worth was gone. He said, “Take a break. Take as long as you need before deciding what to do next.” This was the only time Dave ever told me to do anything during my Masters. I listened.

That was six months ago. I am now typing this from a mine site after work. I am still on my break from my Masters and in full-time employment. I have started to feel good about myself again and I’m regaining my confidence. The best part is that I am being paid to do research as well as day- to-day tasks. I could have written about a happier time during my Masters but what is the use in that? We’re all too cynical for posts spewing forth rainbows and unicorns especially on days like Valentine’s Day. Postgrad life isn’t conducive to having a relationship or much else. It demands long hours and unyielding commitment.

The thing is I am lucky to have had enough sense to know that Dave is someone who will always listen to my rants and be there for me. It isn’t easy to step back and apologise for being a moody cow but the more I’ve done it, the easier it’s become.  I have also had to remind myself that my relationship with Dave is separate from my Masters and that I won’t be crucified for being less than perfect. I was safe from that. I did my best not to take out my woes on him. There were times when I failed miserably and was admonished. I learned there was a fine line between venting and just being aggressive, usually when Dave asked questions to fill in gaps of something I was telling him. It wasn’t an attack on my integrity, it was a request for more information. It wasn’t as if he was there when I was aggravated.

I owe a lot to Dave for sticking out 2011 with me. It was a horrible year. There was very little fun in it but the bits that were fun, I relished. Dave would come by with cheeseburgers when I needed them with episodes of Doctor Who to dangle in front of me for much needed breaks. There was the time when he bought me a plush Totoro after I sat him through My Neighbour Totoro. By some quirk, Dave always knows when I can do with a hug. These are the little things that made me happy and got me through 2011. The huge thing that got us both through was being able to listen to one another.

Related articles

• Dating the Thesis

I am Science

A couple of weeks I saw a call out to scientists on Twitter to share their story on how they became scientists using the hashtag #IamScience. It quickly became clear that the route of being excellent at high school science followed up with fantastical results at university and completing a PhD wasn’t the norm. It existed and I know people who have achieved this and I suffer moments of jealousy because my path wasn’t like that. To get a sense of the tweets that came out, watch the following video.

I have to admit that I didn’t join in despite being a scientist and my persistent call to scientists to let people know that the lab coat doesn’t define them. I stayed quiet feeling like a hypocrite. The path to where I am today as a scientist is unusual and there are some things I would like to obliterate from my memory. I don’t want to give a sanitised representation of science but some things are so incredibly painful to bring up but there are some things that I can share. I want to share these not because I want you to pity me or give me a pile of compliments. I made it. Just. I have made it, thousands don’t. I’m lucky. I am about to tell you and the world things that I wish I could tell students when they ask me whether science is hard but I chicken out for fear of scaring anyone away or deemed too negative to be placed in front of an audience ever again.

• A high school physics teacher told me, “I can’t explain this any simpler. Maybe you should take another class.”
• A high school math teacher said, “You don’t deserve an A in my class” and then consistently awarded me B grades no matter what I did. By the end of Year 10, I hated mathematics.
• In my final year of high school I failed Calculus but I earned a Distinction in first year university Calculus. That Distinction still feels good today. I have kept the letter inviting me to consider a degree in mathematics.
• At university, one chemistry lecturer I once respected told me that I would never be good enough for research. Four months ago, this same lecturer was suggesting PhD research projects for me to consider.
• I have been told, “You’re good at chemistry, for a woman.”
• I’ve been unemployed as a scientist for 25 continuous months and barely managed to pay the bills with short term university teaching contracts and government assistance.

Despite this and a bunch of personal crap no one else needs to know, I’m still a scientist. Sometimes I’m working in the lab. Sometimes I’ve got reference books open with an obscure journal article on my computer monitor to piece together a new procedure. And other times I can be found outside covered in dirt toiling away.

I have to admit that the image of me being a super brain scientist is one that cripples me. Sure, I can probably recall enough random facts to help win a pub quiz but it isn’t who I am. I am not super smart or all knowing.

I have spent hours preparing for 15 minute science talks. Most of it fretting over whether I will come away from the stage looking less of the scientist the world expects me to be. Though this year I am going to be more honest about how I became a scientist and maybe the student who gets average grades but loves science does what they love instead of being funnelled elsewhere.

Related articles

• I am science (astronomycommunication.wordpress.com)

Hello From the Pilbara

I am almost a week into a three week odyssey in the Pilbara. Two weeks of it will be work in a lab broken in the middle with a week spent in Port Hedland. I’ve got a story to follow up and write about in Hedland for Science Network WA and that is all the work I am doing. Beyond that I’m going to take it easy and have a look around and take a few photos though my travels will be dependent on what roads are open.

There has been a lot of rain up here. The wet has arrived in the Pilbara. There has been two cyclones this month. Tropical Cyclone Heidi crossed the coast near Hedland and Tropical Cyclone Iggy, the most recent one is disintegrating in the Indian Ocean. With them there has been storm activity though I missed both lightning storms much to my frustration. No storm chasing in the Pilbara yet. I say yet with hope.

However, I have not missed out on awakening 4WD driving skills. The roads here have gotten incredibly soggy. The dirt roads that is. There is so much water out here small pools form and in some cases streams run across them. In some instances local traffic management teams directs traffic to minimise damage to the wet roads and to slow people down though this is when things get rather wet.

Anyhow, enough blathering from me. Here’s a really quick video from my point of view when driving in soft mud. It really is me driving and swearing quietly under my breath, (this can’t be heard, I’ve checked), as I get through and hoping that my poorly mounted iPhone doesn’t fall into the dirt encrusted crevices of the car. It was like driving through mousse or cheesecake. There was no grip. It was really slippery. It is definitely for 4WD vehicles only and takes skill to get through without getting bogged.

This is where my science degrees have gotten me so far. It’s an incredibly stunning landscape that I want to spend time in relaxing. Not every FIFO worker is just about the work and getting home to spend up big.

Investing in ASSETS for the Future

It’s the summer holidays and high school students around Australia have participated or are participating in science summer programs designed to show teenagers different aspects of science and engineering to encouraging them to consider careers in science. I attended one myself just before entering the final year of high school. I knew I wanted to do something related to science but I had no idea what and had even less of an idea how to beyond getting into university. After five days spent at a university, I had a better idea and more importantly no longer frightened by the prospect of walking into a laboratory at a university.

With the successes that I have had since my experience of a science summer school, I have a soft spot for them. I’m always happy to volunteer as a chaperone, speaker, or even run a lab activity. I love talking to the kids that attend especially when they realise they are in a place where they can talk freely about what they want to do in science. The conversation goes both ways and I am honest about what I’ve done in science and also about the times of difficulty as a scientist. If the kids are going to be honest then I too must be honest.

Often the reason trotted out for fostering a new generation of would-be scientists is that it’s safeguarding the future and ensuring that scientific research continues in Australia. Another reason which I think is more important is that with the new blood is that someone has an entirely new way of interpreting the science in front of them leading to new discoveries and progress. These are the things that bring excitement into science and keeps things moving.

I have recently come across the Aboriginal Summer School for Excellence in Technology and Science, (ASSETS), run by the Royal Institution of Australia. I think it’s a brilliant programme. It takes in 30 Year 10 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students from across Australia at no cost to them to take part in a nine day program of science, engineering and mathematics in a diverse range of scientific fields. Directly from the RiAus ASSETS website:

The Aboriginal Summer School for Excellence in Technology and Science (ASSETS) program is for Year 10 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students from around Australia with an aptitude for mathematics and science. The nine-day residential summer school in Adelaide is open to students from all Australian states and territories. It is cost free, including return travel, for successful applicants. Accommodation is provided at Wiltja Residence, a successful long term Indigenous boarding school facility.

Participants undertake an academic program in science, technology and mathematics at the Australian Science and Mathematics School. They are required to meet rigorous academic demands in such areas of study as:

• Nanotechnology
• Photonics
• Aerospace science
• Environmental science
• Biotechnology
• Health science
• Geosciences
• Mathematical sciences

There is also a cultural and social program that includes interaction with role models and exploring participants’ language group backgrounds to encourage personal growth and nurture leadership qualities.

As a trained scientist, I’m pretty very excited about the program and wish I could sign up. It’s an incredibly diverse program and I’m always wanting to learn more and more curiosity than a litter of kittens. So what do the students think?

It is really heartwarming to see students from previous years of participating in ASSETS earning a place at university and working towards a career in science.

You can read more of Dannielle Ghezzi’s story here. The RiAus is currently running a microdonation campaign online in an effort to fund at least one student place in the ASSETS program. There is a a disparity in the levels of education and health of Indigenous Australians and the wider population of Australia and there are many initiatives to help close this cap. This initiative resonates with me because it has the very real potential of doing both. Many of the problems  in Indigenous communities can be solved with science and technology but before that education is needed, not just for people living in those communities but also the education of the future leaders of those communities. If you’re able, consider donating to the ASSETS program and help close the gap. It’s an atrocity in 2012 Australia.