Communities Happenings is a weekly post with news of interest to NPG’s online communities. The aim is to provide this info in one handy summary. Listings include tweetups and conferences which we’re attending and/or organising as well as new online tools, products or cool videos. We also occasionally flag up NPG special offers and competitions plus updates about NPG social media activities such as new accounts you might want to follow. Do let us know what you find most useful!
TalkFest
May’s TalkFest from London’s Biochemical Society entitled, “Science Communication and Political Divides”, held on Thursday looked at whether science communication can overcome political divides and be truly neutral:
A common caricature of science is that it likes to think of itself as above politics; a disinterested, purely empirical interaction with the natural world. But what about the public communication of science? Can it strive to avoid political divides? How might it do so? Should it even, or is it time science communicators came to terms with their role as passionate political actors? From culture wars surrounding evolution to false balance and reporting climate change, join us for what promises to be a lively debate.
The panel included Dr Steve Cross, Dr Michael Brooks, Dr Simon Lewis, Dr Felicity Mellor and Dr Alice Bell as the chair. The event was recorded (podcast will be posted here) and Nature London also created a Storify detailing the online conversation.
For more talk on the event, Sunny Hundal, editor of the leftwing blog Liberal Conspiracy and other online magazines, wrote his thoughts in an online piece in the Guardian – make sure you check out the comment thread.
Open Access debate at Imperial College London
On 25th May a debate on the prices of Elsevier journals and why thousands of academics have pledged to boycott them took place at Imperial College London:
What is the cost of knowledge? That’s the question asked by thousands of academics (thecostofknowledge.com) who have pledged to boycott Elsevier journals in a stand against “exorbitantly high prices”. They want science to be open access: if science is funded by the public, it should be freely available to the public. No more frustrating links to a $30 PDF? Great! But don’t publishers provide a service? The Editor in Chief of Nature thinks the shift is “inevitable”. Is he right? And who will pick up the tab?
- Dr Alice Bell (Chair)
- Chris Bird (Senior Lawyer, Wellcome Trust)
- Stephen Curry (Professor of Structural Biology, Imperial College London)
- David Hoole (Marketing Director, Nature)
- Graham Taylor (Director of Educational, Academic & Professional Publishing, Publishers Association)
- Michael Jubb (Director, Research Information Network and Secretary, Working Group on Access chaired by Janet Finch)
There was a lot of interesting online talk under the #OAdebate hashtag and you can find the tweets archived here.
UK Conference of Science Journalists (UKCSJ)
The second UK Conference of Science Journalists (UKCSJ), organised by The ABSW, will be held on Monday 25th June 2012 at The Royal Society, London. You can find a preliminary programme here. Expect a full day of discussion and debate with three key aims:
- To discuss and debate contemporary issues in science journalism
- To encourage and provide skills for newcomers
- To promote professional development
You can register for the event here and you can also visit an archive of material including written session reports and video, audio and podcasts from previous meetings.
World Science Festival and SoNYC
The World Science Festival is fast approaching and will be kicking off in New York City on the May 30th up until the 3rd June. For a taste of what’s to come you can check out our coverage of last year’s event here.
The next #soNYC will take place on June 7 and the topic for this month’s debate is, Reaching out of the ivory tower:
Do researchers have an obligation to take their work directly to the public? The public, through the government and charities, funds most of the US’ science research, but doesn’t generally have access to the papers that result. Increasingly, through on- and offline tools, researcher can speak directly to the public.
Our panel will include scientists that use various media to connect directly with the public, either about their field of expertise or about their research. They’ll talk about the challenges of balancing a career and public outreach, as well as the rewards of helping people to understand science.
The panel:
- Ethan Perlstein, who’s faculty at Princeton and promotes open access research.
- Sarah Weisberg, who helps run a program called the BioBus.
- Matt Strassler, a blogging theoretical physicist.
- And our own Jeanne Garbarino, a researcher at Rockefeller University.
Events elsewhere
Our scientific events calendars have been freshly updated to include the latest scientific events. Make sure you check them out. Please do get in touch if we are missing any events or if you would like to contribute to this calendar or any of the other calendars listed below.