A few questions on your professional situation

Martin Bauer, Head of the Methodology Institute and Director MSc Social and Public Communication, at the London School of Economics, is using the World Conference of Science Journalists as an opportunity to conduct a survey of science writers.

"We are undertaking a survey on the backgrounds, employment situation and daily practices of science journalists and the future of the profession. Whether you are taking part or not in the events, you are most welcome to tell us your opinion."

Lots of interesting questions in there "on your professional situation, your working practices, and the future of the profession".

Martin promises that "It will take you less than 10 minutes to answer these questions."

Recruitment – Nobel Prizes: Online Editors/Event Managers wanted

EMPLOYER: Nobelprize.org

JOB/COURSE TITLE: Online Editors/Event Managers

SHORT AD DESCRIPTION: Highly motivated and organised individuals needed to join a small team working on an educational outreach programme that takes Nobel Laureate in Physics and Chemistry to universities around the world.

LONG AD DESCRIPTION: Nobelprize.org, the official website of the Nobel Foundation, with headquarters based in Stockholm, Sweden, is seeking two enthusiastic people to work in its expanding London office in Camden. The successful applicants will join a team working on the Honeywell-Nobel Initiative, an educational outreach programme that takes Nobel Laureates in Physics and Chemistry to universities around the world (for more information see www.honeywellscience.com).

The chief goals for these new positions will be to help develop the programme and the evolution and expansion of the initiative’s website. Key tasks will include planning and attending Honeywell-Nobel Initiative events, interacting with Nobel Laureates, generating video content for the website, developing new content streams and creating online communities. While these tasks could be divided into two separate roles, one concerned more with the event management side and the other concerned mainly with content creation, these two job descriptions can be tailored to the individual skills of the successful candidates. Both positions may involve fairly frequent travel. Applicants should have a background in science or engineering, be highly organized and good at working in geographically separated teams, and possess a good understanding of event management and online communication and education.

Nobelprize.org offers a competitive benefits package and the opportunity to work in a highly creative and congenial atmosphere, helping to provide truly inspirational content. To apply, please send a covering letter indicating your salary requirements and how your previous experience relates to these positions, together with a full CV, by email to the Editor-in-Chief, who can be contacted for further information at editor@nobelprize.org. Applications will be reviewed upon receipt with a closing date of Monday 23 March 2009. Early application is encouraged.

• JOB POSTCODE: NW1 7DB
• SALARY: On request
• CONTRACT TYPE: Permanent
• HOURS: Full time
• QUALIFICATION LEVEL: Undergraduate degree (or equivalent)
• CLOSING DATE: Monday 23 March 2009
• CONTACT DETAILS: Editor-in-Chief, Nobelprize.org, editor@nobelprize.org.
• HOW TO APPLY: Please send a covering letter indicating your salary requirements and how your previous experience relates to these positions, together with a full CV, by email to the Editor-in-Chief, who can be contacted for further information at editor@nobelprize.org.

Telegraph science writer awards 2008

The report of the Science Writer Awards 2008, The Daily Telegraph’s "21st annual mission to find the future popularisers of science, engineering and technology," is Roger Highfield's swansong in the role of chief cheer leader for the awards. With Highfield, the newspaper's science editor moving on to bigger and better things, it will be interesting to see if the newspaper continues its annual competition for young science writers.

Perhaps it is a sign of the times, and the fact that it is now respectable for young aspiring scientists to write for "ordinary readers," that Imperial College latched on to the fact that one of its students, Erika Cule, picked up the main award for the 20-28 section. (The Telegraph published her essay here.)

The item on the Imperial web site shows that Cule has not allowed the award to go to her head. "Winning the competition has sparked of an interest in science writing. However, I plan to work on my PhD first! After that, who knows?"

Scientists heart journalists?

Thanks to Kat Arney for spotting this interesting take on a recent paper in Science, from a seriously experienced group of researchers who observe the media side of science. It is on the blog Not Exactly Rocket Science.

The blogger looks at the paper and offers "a quick guide to dealing with the media".

Doing it with style

A perennial issue for any science writer, especially freelance contributors, is which "house style" to adopt. "Style" isn't about fine writing or grammar, but the need to be consistent in what appears in a publication. How do you deal with numbers, for example? Is it "5" or "five"? Neither is wrong, but you cannot chop and change within a publication.

Most larger magazines and newspapers have their own house style. Writers should, then, get their hands on a copy, if possible, and stick with that.

There are times when there is no house style to guide a writer. There can even be projects where the writer has to set the style. This is often the case when you are working for a large organisation – maybe a government department or a research organisation – that is not primarily in the publishing business.

A good place to start on the subject could be the Thoughts on Style from the Institute of Scientific & Technical Communications. As well as offering some sound advice, the ISTC has a pdf file of its own house style. As the institute says, this style guide "demonstrates a minimalist approach to style guidance". It is not a bad place to start to assemble a style guide for other projects.

The ISTC's web also has a page of "Further reading" with links to several other style guides.

Much of this information is relevant to any area of writing. Even the ISTC steers clear of ruling on issues of science and technology. Maybe that is something that the ABSW might like to investigate.

IUCN Media Awards

Reuters Foundation and IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature) have launched the 2008 IUCN Media Awards "for Excellence in Environmental Reporting". The web site has full details and application forms.

"All submissions must have been published between 12 September 2006 and 10 June 2008." You have until 15 June 2008 to enter.

DFID to research media’s role in research uptake

The UK's Department for International Development (DFID) has decided to fund research into the media’s role in research uptake. The press release on the thing says:

“The media plays an important role in communicating research and changing attitudes and behaviour, … , holding governments to account and giving voice to the poor”, states the Working Paper. Author, Ms. Abigail Mulhall, DFID’s Communication Team Leader, writes: “Current work demonstrates the value of helping southern journalists to engage with research and report development. Other initiatives within DFID offer the potential to learn more about how to support the media to bring about better governance.”

Hard to disagree, but someone else will have to work out what the point of the exercise might be.

Singapore seeks "science writers in residence"

The Agency for Science, Technology and Research, or A*STAR, "Singapore's lead agency for fostering world-class scientific research and talent for a vibrant knowledge-based Singapore" has released details of the Singapore Visiting Science Writer-In-Residence Programme.

There will be two residencies each year, lasting up to four weeks. A*STAR will pick up the cost of the round trip and living expenses in Singapore. The application deadline for the first year of the programme is 15 May 2008.

"We hope that this programme will allow journalists to gain new perspectives through a first-hand experience of science in Singapore at Biopolis and Fusionopolis. Singapore offers a unique, integrated environment that facilitates the sharing of diverse scientific expertise across biomedical science and physical sciences and engineering to push the boundaries of science and technology and create new knowledge for the benefit of society," said A*STAR Chairman Lim Chuan Poh.

WFSJ Skypes up a press briefings

Over on its blog, the World Federation of Science Journalists (WFSJ), Christina Scott has an account of using Skype, the "telephone over the internet" service, for science briefings in Africa. The account on WFSJ News describes it as "an innovation that improves science journalism and interaction between journalists and scientists across the continent".

"Skype has many advantages," says Scott. "No longer does science communication require visa arguments and jet lag for a big international conference, or a hair-raising journey across town and countryside in unreliable public transport, or traffic jams."

Readers in the richer parts of the world may find it hard to understand the problems that reporters have in joining something that most of us take for granted. As Scott reports, "An internet café in Ghana asked Frederick Baffour Opoku of Accra for the insane amount of 70 US dollars to use Skype. Charles Mkoka of Malawi had to travel long distances to find an cybercafé with a sound card, only to discover that the owner had not downloaded the latest version of Skype, and he was out in the cold."

Skype has its positive side that many of us might appreciate. The piece quotes Esther Nakkazi, a Ugandan reporter currently studying at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, as appreciating voice-over-internet-protocol because it is not as intimidating as a press conference. It "breaks down the bureaucratic barriers that sometimes make scientists impossible to contact for clarification" she told Scott. "With Skype you can get to the scientist and cross-check any information once you see them online which is very easy," says Nakkazi.

Science and the media as a hot topic

Some science writers may find it a bit worrying to be the subject of the sort of research that they sometimes have to report. Others might like to chortle at the misconceptions out there. Both camps will find something to confirm their prejudices over at Intute: Health and Life Sciences which has added Science and the media to its series of "Hot Topics".

There are links to interesting documents. They even have a small plug for the ABSW.

Intute, since you asked, is "a free online service providing you with access to the very best Web resources for education and research".

Other hot topics that might be of more long-term interest include "Hospital Superbugs and Infection Control," "Animal diseases: an international perspective," and "Museums and Libraries Online".

Nanotechnology and the media

The Wilson Center started its Project on Emerging Nanotechnologies in 2005, around the time that the media frenzy on the subject started. The project "is dedicated to helping business, governments, and the public anticipate and manage the possible health and environmental implications of nanotechnology".

The centre runs occasional web events. There is a new webcast scheduled for 18th December with the title Nanotechnology and the media: The inside story.

The event plans to investigate, among other questions:

• Is media coverage of nanotechnology’s potential risks growing?
• If so, who or what is driving articles in national newspapers and newswires—environmental and consumer organizations, scientists, law makers, or industrial and financial groups?
• How do broadcast journalists decide to cover a nanotechnology story, especially one about possible risk-benefit tradeoffs?
• Do radio and television correspondents face special challenges reporting on a technology which most Americans do not know about and which is on a scale invisible to the human eye?

One of the more interesting bits of the event could be the presentation by Professor Sharon Friedman who will present will present her latest results "from tracking seven years of newspaper and wire service reporting of nanotechnology risks in the United States and United Kingdom".

Is this another new disease?

Every now and then, there is an outbreak of the well known infection of telling journalists how to do their job. The latest flair up comes from The Academy of Medical Sciences which has just put out the report Identifying the environmental causes of disease.

According to the summary, this "sets out five key recommendations and offers guidelines for the wide range of stakeholders involved in generating, communicating and translating research into the environmental causes of disease into policy and practice". The academy set up the study "to address increasing scepticism amongst professionals and members of the public that had arisen when claims from one such study were so soon reversed by those of another".

Given the "public" angle in there, it is no surprise that the document deals with communication. That's why there is a separate section on how to get the message across to hacks. They dress this up as "Guidelines for science or medical writers and journalists".

That is their first mistake, science and medical writers aren't the source of most of the propblems. These happen when such stories fall into the hands of people who are not familiar with how science works.

There is also an interesting section "Communicating the findings from causal research". This makes the important point that when it comes to communication "the prime responsibility lies with the researcher to communicate accurately, clearly and fairly what the study set out to do, how it sought to accomplish its aims and how secure were the findings, as well as the confidence that can be placed on causal conclusions, and the generalisability of the conclusions to the population at large."

They weren't quite devoid of knowledgeable input when they wrote this. Along with lots of eminent professors and scientists there was one Dr Geoff Watts, FMedSci, Freelance Science and Medical Journalist.

Chinese science communicators build a network

With the country graduating more new scientists every year than any other country, Chinese science has always been worth watching. It is especially so now that the country has become the world's manufacturing powerhouse. It won't be long before it makes even bigger waves on the technology front, which is why anyone who can read Chinese will profit from a visit to the China Science Reporting Network.

The network describes itself as "a public welfare network composed of Chinese science media workers, scientists willing to communicate science to the public, and public information officers of science institutes and innovation-based industries".

The CSRN's "manifesto" could easily describe the work of the ABSW. "It is aimed at improving and enriching scientific news reporting; advancing the abilities of scientific journalism; and promoting the exchange between science and health journalists and between journalists, science community and innovation-based industries."

It might be a good port of call for any science writer planning a visit to China. Then again, much like the ABSW, CSRN is, as it says, "a voluntary network without regular office and staff".

Deadline looms for AAAS Science Journalism Award

There is time, just, to get entries in for this year's AAAS - Science Journalism Award. "All entries must be postmarked on or before midnight of 1 August 2007."

The web site has PDF files of entry forms and details of what qualifies.

Syngenta's final fling for the ABSW Science Writers' Awards

A good time was had by all who attended the Syngenta ABSW Science Writers' Awards, the last year of the company's sponsorship of the event. Check the web site not just for the details of who picked up this year's prestigious awards, including the new awards for "The best writing on a healthcare bioscience subject." but for pictures of all the schmoozing and boozing.

Want to join the fun? Start filing away stuff for next year's competition. Or you could, if you can afford it, become a sponsor.

AAAS - Science Journalism Award

It is that time again. They have fired the starting pistol for this year's AAAS - Science Journalism Award.

Stuff written 1 July 2006 through 30 June 2007. "All entries must be postmarked on or before midnight of 1 August 2007."

Last chance to win an award

"Acoustical Society of America (ASA) sponsors two annual awards for outstanding science writing one by a professional scientist and one by a journalist. This year's deadline is April 2."

Read all about it here: Science Writing Awards Call for Entries