Getting the message across (SS 2007)

Teacher: Dr. Katrin Weigmann

Aims of the course

A growing influence of science on almost every aspect of society, be it health care, economics or politics, leads to an increasing need to communicate science to a broader public. This is a challenging task for scientists, who are used to discuss their work within the narrow framework of their research area.

The workshop will first give a brief overview of the pathway from research to media. How do journalists find out about your work? On the basis of concrete examples and through written practice, we will then address the do's and don'ts of communicating science to the public. How can complex research results be broken down into newsworthy, understandable stories? What are the perils, pitfalls and possibilities of simplification and using metaphors?

The following contents are covered:

How does science get to media? (where do Journalists get their information, how are press released distributed etc.)
Introduction into writing press releases (how to start, what to take care of when you have to write comprehensive)
Discussion as exercise to put the own science into comprehensive words
Writing a short press release (or the first paragraph of it) about a given topic
Discussion of the products
Critical comparison of two press releases
Discussion about the adequate degree of simplification

Target date & Venue

September 23 & 24, 2007
Starting: 9:15 a.m.
Ending: 5 p.m.
Seminar room ground floor, MPI for Dynamics & Self-Organization, Göttingen