As the Economist reported recently, the scientific community is nearly unanimous when it comes to anthropogenic climate change, yet the public's desire for action continues to drop. Why is this? Surely the recent "Climate-gate" scandal at East Anglia University is playing a role, but is it ultimately a failure of communication (or success depending on your point of view)? What do you think?
The way in which science is communicated is often just as important as the actual research findings, yet how many environmental scientists do you know who've taken courses in presentation design, speech writing or related topics?
As IonE's director has stated on numerous occasions, perhaps it's time we move beyond simply educating future scholars to training future leaders who are not only scientific experts but also adept at public speaking, media relations, government affairs, and yes, PowerPoint design.
The world - in particular polar bears and undergraduate students sitting through two-hour lectures - will be thankful.
P.S. Since PowerPoint/Keynote presentations have been on my mind quite a bit lately, I thought I'd share a few of my favorite resources for cleaning up those old multi-color / 20 bullet points / 200 word slides:
Slide:ology - Hands-down my favorite book on building better PPTs.
TED and PopTech - Inspiration from some of the best in the business. Note the prevalence of striking visuals rather than bullet points.
The way in which science is communicated is often just as important as the actual research findings, yet how many environmental scientists do you know who've taken courses in presentation design, speech writing or related topics?
As IonE's director has stated on numerous occasions, perhaps it's time we move beyond simply educating future scholars to training future leaders who are not only scientific experts but also adept at public speaking, media relations, government affairs, and yes, PowerPoint design.
The world - in particular polar bears and undergraduate students sitting through two-hour lectures - will be thankful.
P.S. Since PowerPoint/Keynote presentations have been on my mind quite a bit lately, I thought I'd share a few of my favorite resources for cleaning up those old multi-color / 20 bullet points / 200 word slides:
Slide:ology - Hands-down my favorite book on building better PPTs.
TED and PopTech - Inspiration from some of the best in the business. Note the prevalence of striking visuals rather than bullet points.
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