{"id":3750,"date":"2012-04-30T18:00:13","date_gmt":"2012-04-30T18:00:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.nature.com\/ofschemesandmemes\/?p=3750"},"modified":"2012-09-04T11:50:52","modified_gmt":"2012-09-04T10:50:52","slug":"our-baby-is-turning-1-a-super-sonyc-reflection-on-becoming-a-born-again-scientist","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.nature.com\/ofschemesandmemes\/2012\/04\/30\/our-baby-is-turning-1-a-super-sonyc-reflection-on-becoming-a-born-again-scientist","title":{"rendered":"Our Baby is Turning 1: A super-sonyc reflection on becoming a born again scientist"},"content":{"rendered":"

To celebrate SoNYC\u2019s first birthday, we have been reminiscing on past events by highlighting some of the key take home messages, linking out to pictures and hearing from the co-organisers. (We recently summarised all of the past SoNYC events; you can read the recap of the events from the science communication and outreach strand\u00a0here<\/span><\/a>, online tools for scientists and digital publishing\u00a0here<\/span><\/a>\u00a0<\/em>and the implicational issues \u2013 legal, policy and community\u00a0here<\/span><\/a>.)\u00a0It has been a great year and we hope you have enjoyed the conversations, whether it has been in person, online, or via our write-ups and Storifys.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

<\/em>To finish out warm-up to the party, we’re hearing from each of the SoNYC co-organisers. \u00a0F<\/em>irst up was SoNYC co-organiser Jeanne Garbarino from Rockefeller University. In her\u00a0retrospective\u00a0<\/span><\/a>she details the birth of SoNYC and how the internet has enabled her to tap into a community she never knew existed. Next up is\u00a0<\/em>\u00a0co-organiser\u00a0<\/em>John Timmer<\/span><\/a>, Science Editor at Ars Technica.<\/em><\/p>\n

If it were 2005, you would undoubtedly find me avoiding the question \u201cWhat do you do?\u201d\u00a0\u00a0 At that point in time, I was trying to wrap my head around my PhD thesis and accompanying qualifying exams, leading me to completely dissociate from realities pertaining to the big picture.\u00a0 I didn\u2019t really understand the importance of science communication.\u00a0 Hell, to be honest, I didn\u2019t even know that the communication of science actually existed outside of academic instutions.\u00a0 So when people asked me about my line of work, I skirted the issue, mostly because I just didn\u2019t know what to say.\u00a0 Or rather, I didn\u2019t know how to say it.\u00a0 In my mind, there was no way to make non-scientists understand, and trying to do so would only be frustrating for all parties involved.<\/p>\n

Having been at the bench for more than a third of my life, I literally had no idea how technical my science English had become.\u00a0 Traditionally, my science had always been communicated to other scientists.\u00a0 Even worse was the fact that these scientists were usually in my field.\u00a0 This undoubtedly led me to adopt a vernacular that was so completely inbred that it became its own dialect.<\/p>\n

Then I found the internet.<\/p>\n

Whether you want to call it serendipity, a product of the highly intricate algorithms inherent to social media networks, or getting a twitter follow by this guy who goes by BoraZ, I somehow found myself quickly immersed in the science online community.\u00a0 I was devouring the information that was only a click away and suddenly, my favorite scientists were being replaced with my favorite science writers.\u00a0 In one fell swoop, I could read on point science articles by John Rennie and David Dobbs, as well as share common experiences with other scientist women and mothers like Dr. O and Emily Willingham.\u00a0 What was this cyberutopia and why did it take me so long to find it??<\/p>\n

It started to come together a little more for me as I shared in the ScienceOnline2011 experience.\u00a0 With an infant on the boob and toddler still in diapers, it was difficult for me to travel to North Carolina for that meeting, but I was lucky enough to follow through twitter and catch a few of the live video streams.\u00a0 Now, I\u2019ve been to plenty of meetings before, which are quite useful for making professional connections, but often, early career scientists (like myself) feel intimidated.\u00a0 The ScienceOnline meeting in North Carolina, however, was different.\u00a0 EVERYONE who wanted to be heard was heard.\u00a0 There was no hierarchy and information flowed freely.\u00a0 Even though I was tuning in from afar, I could tell that this meeting was different, for it was not a \u201cmeeting\u201d at all.\u00a0 To me, it seemed more like a gathering of friends who are all passionate about communicating science and, miraculously, the lines between being professional and being social became blurry.<\/p>\n

I really wished that I could be there in person.\u00a0 And naturally, I found myself thinking about getting my act together so I could attend ScienceOnline2012.\u00a0 But then I started to ask myself, why wait a whole year?\u00a0 My home base is NYC and I am a postdoc at The Rockefeller University, which is, in my opinion, is one of the most forward thinking and accommodating research institutions around.\u00a0 Surely there is a community who would be interested in a regular science online discussion series.<\/p>\n

Only days after my ScienceOnline2011 virtual experience and resulting epiphany, I met the ever-fantastic Shelley Cohen, who just happened to be a part of NPG.\u00a0 We got to chatting and I told her about my desire have regular discussions surrounding the communication of science. \u00a0She told me how there were others interested in doing such a thing and recommended that I look into joining forces.\u00a0 And with that, she introduced me to Lou Woodley.<\/p>\n

I quickly came to learn that Lou would be the heartbeat of this movement.\u00a0 She had a clear vision that was creative, organized, and exciting (just to name a few).\u00a0 And, as it turns out, I wasn\u2019t the only one who approached her.\u00a0 John Timmer, chief science wrangler at Ars Technica (chief wrangler because he is probably one of the smartest guys out there), had also hopped on board.\u00a0 And to complete our super-sonyc team, I asked Joe Bonner to join in as well.\u00a0 As Director of Communications at RU and head honcho of Science Writers in NY (SWINY), I knew that his local expertise would be an incredible asset.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Photo Credit:\u00a0Copyright (c) 2011 Sourabh Banerjee Photography. Any Use<\/em><\/p>\n

We went from concept to the first SoNYC in only a matter of weeks.\u00a0 The planning was streamlined and everything just seemed to fall into place.\u00a0 But, that didn\u2019t stop my nerves as the 7pm starting time drew near on that warm April evening.\u00a0 We had a packed house and a great panel to discuss the communication of controversial topics in science, including vaccination, climate change, and the psychology of risk.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Photo Credit:\u00a0Copyright (c) 2011 Sourabh Banerjee Photography. Any Use<\/em><\/p>\n

We all had taken on a specific job.\u00a0 Lou was assigned with introducing SoNYC, coining our catchphrase \u201chave a super-sonyc evening\u201d while doing so.\u00a0 John introduced our panel and I followed with the moderation.\u00a0 After two truly captivating hours, it was over.\u00a0 And with that, we all funneled into the RU bar and toasted to a great evening (and I finally exhaled!).<\/p>\n

From that event, SoNYC became a mainstay on the calendars of many locals.\u00a0 Month after month, people like Sean Cusack, Maki Naro, Ben Lillie, David Levine, and Nancy Parmalee never disappoint with their insightful and sometimes provocative comments (I\u2019m looking at you, Nancy!).\u00a0 I have come to associate SoNYC with seeing and interacting with some of the best minds NYC has to offer.\u00a0 And with each event, I am afforded the incredible opportunity to interact with our guest panel, giving me a glimpse of all the amazing science communications initiatives happening around us.<\/p>\n

But let\u2019s not forget some of the more humble aspects of SoNYC.\u00a0 We are, for the most part, working on a next to nothing budget.\u00a0 We dine on cold pizza and drink lemon soda.\u00a0 We use a cup turned upside down as our microphone stand.\u00a0 We record our events with my macbook.\u00a0 Don\u2019t get me wrong, I\u2019d love to be able to upgrade some of our technologies, but there is something special about putting things together as best you can and having people think that what you\u2019re doing is tops!<\/p>\n

So how did a scientist who didn\u2019t even take the time to explain her science to her own parents become so involved in science communication?\u00a0 I don\u2019t really have an aswer for this, but I do know its been a great ride so far!<\/p>\n

I am honored to be a part of this super-SoNYC crew and am over the moon to see that SoNYC has inspired other local science communities, like Vancouver, Seattle, and San Francisco, to establish their version of the regular science online discussion.<\/p>\n

Now if we could just convince the higher-ups at NPG to transfer Lou to NYC!\u00a0 Then things would really be perfect <\/span>super-sonyc!!!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

To celebrate SoNYC\u2019s first birthday, we have been reminiscing on past events by highlighting some of the key take home messages, linking out to pictures and hearing from the co-organisers. It has been a great year and we hope you have enjoyed the conversations, whether it has been in person, online, or via our write-ups and Storifys.  Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":185,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[28],"class_list":["post-3750","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-science-online-nyc-sonyc","tag-sonyc"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.nature.com\/ofschemesandmemes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3750","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.nature.com\/ofschemesandmemes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.nature.com\/ofschemesandmemes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.nature.com\/ofschemesandmemes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/185"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.nature.com\/ofschemesandmemes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3750"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.nature.com\/ofschemesandmemes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3750\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.nature.com\/ofschemesandmemes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3750"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.nature.com\/ofschemesandmemes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3750"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.nature.com\/ofschemesandmemes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3750"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}