Empowering and Encouraging Scientists to Act

Don't Be Such A Scientist: Talking Substance in an Age of Style . R. Olson 2009 . Island Press , Washington , D.C . 216 pp. $19.96. ISBN 978-1-59726-563-8 . Communication Skills for Conservation Professionals . 2nd edition . S. K. Jacobson 2009 . Island Press , Washington , D.C . 480 pp. $37.50 (paperback). ISBN 978-1-59726-390-0 . Am I Making Myself Clear? A Scientist's Guide to Talking to the Public . C. Dean 2009 . Harvard University Press , Cambridge , MA . 288 pp. $19.95 (hardcover). ISBN 978-0-674-0365-2 . At the 2010 Society for Conservation Biology meeting in Edmonton (Canada), several plenary speakers, including Shane Mahoney, who referenced the “austere mind of science,” implored conservation professionals to become more effective communicators. Fortunately, a few books on the shelves can help. To set a key foundation for the challenge of communicating more effectively, one must read Randy Olson's Don't Be Such a Scientist. The book practices what it preaches. With humor, anecdotes, irreverence, and embarrassing tales, I felt Olson's evolution in coming to grips with the challenge of reaching an audience. Based on an admonition from his acting teacher—“You [expletive deleted] think too much”—he offers a first commandment: thou shalt not be boring. His most impressive image (and images are critical in communication) is of Arnold Schwarzenegger in a Speedo, with arrows pointing to all four organs of communication. We need to reach the mind, certainly, but also the heart, the guts, and the gonads with our storytelling. As with any marketing enterprise we must, as Olson puts it, “arouse and fulfill.” We also have to be likable and bilingual. We cannot expect a scientific publication to affect broader public discourse when the readership of an article is often at best a few dozen people. We need to do more. Olson compares the challenge to the feature-film industry in which about 30% of a film budget goes to marketing. The same goes for selling any product. So why is it that scientists, with information to sell and findings of enormous import to distribute, put so little time into getting the key messages out for broader consideration? And why is it that foundations, other nongovernmental organizations, and governments do not invest more resources in strategic messaging? Only 3% of the budget of the Pew Oceans report, Olson notes, was devoted to marketing, and, he asks, “Is it any wonder that it failed to have much effect?” Of course, it must be demonstrated that communications merit investment. Olson gives many examples of how this is true, including Jack Black's public service announcement for shiftingbaselines.org that had 30,000 showings and garnered $10 million of free airtime. But measuring effect is a far cry from measuring action, and books should be written on the effects of such public service campaigns. However much we need rigor, Olson notes that his appeal mostly to emotion in Don't Be Such a Scientist can fall short. By being so personal and by deemphasizing the cerebral and emotionally antiseptic domain of the scientist (he says we view ourselves as the designated drivers of society), Olson says he alienates a third of his primary audience. It is a tough pill to swallow if someone proud of his own evolution tells you that you are boring. But it is a necessary pill if we are to meet our challenges of communication. Susan Jacobson, in her second edition of Communications Skills for the Conservation Professional, is at the other extreme of the heart-cerebral continuum. Here are nearly 500 pages of carefully compiled instructions on how to design and execute communications programs. This is a textbook and the heart of the mission of conservation communication is absent. People will buy it to be educated (there is even a chapter about how to educate). The book is an excellent practical resource for those needing good case studies and direction on how to address specific audiences. Jacobson provides a broad compendium of the many arenas in which one can and should act. These arenas provide an outlet for scientists to engage with the public and include political promotion, mass media, on-site interpretation, educational curricula, and public programs. In a second edition one should expect the range of communications enterprises to include updates on new technologies and approaches. Although a section of some 20 pages attempts to do so, including references to the effect of An Inconvenient Truth and a few other examples, the book does not feel new. Jacobson does provide tips on effective blogging and highlights World Wildlife Fund and National Zoological Park email lists and newsletters, but the reference to MySpace, now in fierce decline, seems archaic. This is not the author's fault. Facebook is now the rage and this too will change. Choosing where to dedicate communications energies varies among environmental groups, and strategies are shifting by the week. A table of current communications approaches of some 26 organizations shows the contemporary landscape and this attempt to summarize is commendable. Perhaps the most critical topic to be covered in the book is a final 60-page chapter on evaluation of program success. This and the couple of chapters on audience research through the use of quantitative and qualitative approaches are particularly useful for determining where to put scarce resources. Jacobson illuminates the challenges and import of measuring what your audience needs and what does and does not reach that audience. Some methods Jacobson presents have simple metrics, such as the number of bluebird boxes built following a habitat-enrichment education program. Others, such as a park-school program through Yale School of Forestry, employ a panoply of pre- and post test scores, user satisfaction surveys, structured interviews, video records, and other techniques for evaluating effects of the program. As social media gain traction, metrics will improve on purchases, preferences (e.g., “liking” on Facebook), and membership and messaging will indicate traction of marketing campaigns. Am I Making Myself Clear? is friendly looking, pocket-sized (just as the book jacket reads), and packed with practical up-to-date information on how to present science effectively to the public. Its tone is a fresh intermediate to the textbook and biography approaches of the other two volumes. Cornelia Dean speaks personally from her role as a science editor, through which she has seen what makes good science accessible to a large newspaper and other audiences. She characterizes the challenges scientists face in making their hard won knowledge accessible to many through radio, television, online, OpEd publications, policy forums, and the witness stand. In each case, one learns the challenges of making science interesting are acute and that techniques vary. Dean and colleagues know the challenges intimately, and it is our good fortune that she can help demystify the enterprise, especially for those scientists just embarking on this path. In the introduction the author puts undue weight on journalists being the salvation as mediators for scientific understanding. However, as the arguments proceed and especially with regard to online communication, Dean references Scott Gant's (2007. We're All Journalists Now. Free Press, New York.) idea that we are all so empowered. In fact, much of the book helps scientists realize the necessity of reaching beyond their bread and butter academic publications into domains where they feel qualified to, and must, contribute. Dean's book excels in its detail. She advises scientists, when writing for popular audiences, to keep subjects close to verbs, to use simple, English-root terminology (e.g., German not Latin roots—cats, not felines, and water is safe to drink, not potable), and to avoid the passive voice, clichés, puns, wordplay, technical language, jargon, and acronyms. She encourages scientists to tell stories, and to allow themselves to be edited. For those choosing to enter the blogosphere, Dean cautions that stamina is critical and that one must be regular, authoritative, break news, and provide updates and visuals to gain a significant audience. Beyond the written word, Dean also provides counsel on how to conduct oneself on radio and television and when giving lectures, including how to dress, talk, sit, and smile. She offers detailed advice on giving press conferences and interviews. With a good sprinkling of personalities and examples (e.g., Andyrew Revkin's earth.com), Dean gives the reader some models to follow in the realm of conservation communication. Reading Dean's work, I could not help but feel she is a great ally to have in our camp and more of those in the know should follow the examples she provides. All is not lost because leading conservation professionals are challenging us to become new actors on the forefront of sustainability of ecosystems. Olson says the best communicators are those who believe in communication. These books offer some reinforcement, suggest new ways to be more effective, and promise to lead a few more into the fold. And, I must add, if we don't bring more heart to our communications, these books will be speaking in the dark, alongside those who expect their science alone to effect significant change.

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