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

Getting Real About Stuff

Let’s get this Chemistry365 project back on track. Starting with this post. Posts in September and October will be filled in before the year is out. I’ll find the time. Somehow.

This month, I’m going to address the most common things that people have asked about me and put to writing what I’ve talked about with people as I’ve embarked on this project. The most common question is about what it is I do. Throughout this year the answer has changed a lot.

At the beginning of the year I was enrolled full time in a Masters in Science Communication and as part of that I was an intern at the Australian Science Media Centre for a month. It was a fabulous time learning about the viciousness and fickleness of the media cycle. It was an eye opener. I don’t know if that has made me more or less cynical about journalism.

Then after prompting from someone on Twitter I applied for a science writer position at Science Network WA and before the week was out, I was writing my first story. Finally, a paid job while being at uni though I still had to meander my way through Centrelink looking for ten jobs a fortnight while studying full time. If you’re wondering how I did it? I didn’t. I failed my first unit at university ever by two marks and scored an ungraded pass in a unit I thought I did really well in.

At this point through the year I was happy writing science news stories but the thought of going to uni and working on my thesis wasn’t getting me out of bed in a hurry. It also hit me that I had spent a long time outside of a laboratory doing science. I was missing it. Talking about scientific work wasn’t satisfying enough and working on why it’s hard to talk about science well had become an exercise in self-flagellation. I bit the bullet and sent a quick message to a friend working on a minesite looking for work during the break in between Semester One and Semester Two.

I wasn’t looking for permanent work. I just wanted to do a bit of lab work and then return to uni after a couple of months. I wanted to be a scientist again and show the world that I can not only talk the talk but walk the walk, (and on good days dance the walk). I also wanted to prove to myself that I could still do good science. I just didn’t know anymore.

A week after sending the message to my friend, I was spending the last of the money in my bank account on a pair of steel capped boots and toiletries to work on a fly-in fly-out, (FIFO), roster on a minesite in the Pilbara to work in a chemical and metallurgical lab. A great way to escape Perth’s winter.

It’s now almost three months I’ve been working away. My Masters is gathering dust. I think I have managed to look at it once and I don’t know if I will return to it. I did not have any fun working on it and have now grown to hate it for what I had to endure to get things done. At my lowest, I was questioning my ability to research and ready to walk away from it all. I was broken and some wounds are still raw.

Almost three months later, I have regained the confidence in my research abilities and that I am a good scientist. Maybe one day I will be able to talk about my Masters without the urge to launch a prolonged attack at boxing bag but right now I am not in that place. My Masters will be locked away until I’m strong enough to deal with it without dissolving into a nervous wreck. And on that day I will decide whether to finish it or walk away, not before.

So what am I doing now? I am still writing for Science Network WA, (scientists in Western Australia, if you’re doing something you want publicity for let me know, shameless plug but I’m for real), while working on a minesite as a chemist/metallurgist. A little juggling is needed at times when organising interviews.

I have also been offered a permanent position on the minesite that I work. It’s pretty exciting especially when I think about where I was at the beginning of the year. I will be formally accepting this position in early 2012.

I am just starting to live the dream. I’m a scientist who is able to talk about the science, (as long as I keep within the set boundaries), I do. Not many scientists have that freedom.

Science as a Brand in Social Media

A brand is more than just a label. It is a reminder of the messages of an organisation or individual and what they represent. It is something that is intangible because its identity and nature is held in the minds and hearts of people. These days people are being inundated with messages and advertising and it’s a situation of information overload. Add the mix of social media and it becomes a confusing cacophony.

How does any of the messages reach the intended audience, or even a group of new people? Perhaps a little brand recognition helps especially when people feel as if they have a relationship with the brand. Think about Coca-Cola. I have awesome memories that are related to this. Not just the dopey scenes of grabbing a can of the stuff on a hot summer day but there are things that I’ve done to a coke bottle that just aren’t recommended and almost always in blowing them up in the name of science. When I’m not doing that, I’m dropping a lot of mentos into a freshly opened bottle and backing away quickly except that one time when I tripped.

What about science? Someone like me has a numerous happy memories of science. It’s no surprise that I navigate towards science related products and services. Heck, I even completed not one, but two science degrees and then continued to stay with the science field even throughout the GFC despite not being able to secure full-time employment. And when I haven’t been able to secure full-time employment, I enrol in a Master of Science Communication! What the hell am I doing? I’m a sucker for punishment. But for most people, science is a mass of confusion and negativity to begin with.

That last statement is from personal experience. It’s something I get told by people at dinner parties, when I first meet them, when I go out drinking or whatever else I do. I know of no other area outside of science and mathematics where it is okay for someone to express their negativity upon first mention without hearing anything else.

Science as a brand, not as a field of expertise, is woeful. It’s not doomed to succeed. If people don’t loathe it, they don’t understand it and on top of that it’s entered into the heady world of social media with no strategy in place to deal with this. There are individual pockets of wonderful where individual scientists and science communicators have the freedom to participate in the sphere of social media telling anyone who is interested about what it is they do.

When it comes to the larger organisations who have brand recognition, they are mostly silent and after almost two years of wondering why that is, I finally understand. When it comes to science, it’s a horrid brand to be associated with. It’s utterly heartbreaking that this is the case. I wish I had some answers to this but I haven’t heard anything of use sitting here in this session for 90 minutes with half an hour to go.

The Art of Creating a Great Experience

Anyone producing content online or offline should care a great deal about the user experience. What is user experience? Dan Baker, the Senior User Experience Consultant from Precedent defines user experience to be how a person feels about using a product or service. When it comes to the online experience, this relates to how individuals feel about their experience accessing online content with various devices.

User experience is made up of several layers and it is quite familiar to how we pass judgement on existing products and services:

• Utility – Is it useful? Does it meet my needs?
• Usability – Can I use it easily?
• Desirability – I like the way it looks and feels
• User Experience – I like the product

I can’t help but think that in all my training in experience in creating content to communicate ideas about science that this checklist has been in place as well as an additional checklist on how well the message was being transmitted and received. When it comes to communicating idea the process needs to be easy that the information is able to be passed along intact.

I like to think of it as people passing a delicate crystal between one another to study. It’s precious and needs to be passed without it being broken or marked because either of these things damages it. This is what I distill the idea of user experience down to. It’s probably over simplistic but sometimes things do need to be simple to achieve the aim of communicating to someone else.

As a scientist who talks a lot about science, I take great pains to not become a person of acronyms, jargon and technicalities. I keep it simple right up to the point of when I encounter another scientist in my field and then what anyone recognises as English is lost. Part of the user experience is the user. You have to know who they are and what they want. Otherwise what is the point of creating content when there is no one around to receive it.