Panel Discussion on Communicating Science

[Greg Bernhardt]

@dlgoff and I attended a panel discussion at the WI Science Festival. @dlgoff found the video for it and I thought I'd formally share it because it was quite interesting and a very important topic. The general point is that scientists need social and speaking skills. Being able to effectively relay the importance of their research to the lay public is vital.

 

[PWiz]

I think it's safe to say that I'm able to convey scientific ideas with richer details (and some unneeded formality, unfortunately) online, but face-to-face, well that's a different story.

 

[ShayanJ]

Thanks Greg, it was interesting and there were some good points in it that I found useful.
Actually I really love to talk about physics and explain things and I think I'm good at it, of course about things that I myself understand well.
Though I'm somehow in contrast with PWiz. Sometimes when I get into one of the threads here and read the question, I say to myself: wish this guy was here so I would explain it clearly. Because sometimes it feels I can convey more when I'm explaining things face-to-face.

 

[PWiz]

I think that your contrasting opinion proves how diverse and global the physics forums community is, Shyan.

 

[Greg Bernhardt]

Because sometimes it feels I can convey more when I'm explaining things face-to-face.

There is no doubt that conversing via text online can be difficult. However I have met plenty of people who are very good at explaining things online, but in person they are very ineffective.

 

[Bystander]

Ease of discussion is also a function of the specific topic: Typing a decomposition of a vector without any graphical aid can be an exercise in precision use of language that depends heavily on the readers language skills; face to face, it's duck soup with a fingertip sketching in the air.

 

[Greg Bernhardt]

Attention, All Scientists: Do Improv, With Alan Alda’s Help
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/03/03/s...ists-do-improv-with-alan-aldas-help.html?_r=0