Week 11 Class Plan on outreach
Connecting education and public outreach (EPO) with oceanographic expeditions is becoming increasingly common, and is thus an additional layer of planning, execution and assessment for a chief scientist to manage. In this week, we will review some of the common ways that EPO is incorporated into field work, both before, during, and after, and what is required to implement them (technology and personnel), and some of the common pitfalls to be aware of. We will hear from a former COBRA Fellow who is also an amazing science communicator to give us another perspective on outreach and sea-going work. Finally, we will discuss the assessment tools, processes, and metrics that are used to gauge the efficacy of EPO activities, and how to write these into proposal planning.
Understand the types of common EPO connected with deep-sea oceanographic expeditions, what is required to implement them, and common pitfalls to be aware of
Understand where to get communication training to help with creating effective products
Understand what kinds of assessment tools, processes, and metrics are useful and often required from funders
Spend some time looking at example outreach products like blogs, photo galleries, and videos from recent expeditions of the Schmidt Ocean Institute (see this playlist of videos from the OctoOdyssey expeditions). Note that professional communicators sail on these expeditions to enable these products.
Read this essay from former COBRA Fellow Sergio Cambronero “A Transformative Deep-Sea Odyssey”.
Draft a short paragraph or a few bullet points describing the education, public outreach, and/or communication approach for your proposed Dream Project.
14:00 (15 min): Welcome and scene setting - give some examples of outreach that worked really well… or didn’t
14:15 (40 min): Creating accessible narratives for deep-sea expeditions
Guest lecturer, scientist, and former COBRA Fellow Sergio Cambronero (20 min)
Q&A (20 min)
14:55 (5 min): Break
15:00 (30 min): View from two Chief Scientists on EPO at sea
How we have funded our own EPO at sea, what has worked or not, how some agencies required assessment, bringing in experts, etc., Julie & Beth (15 min)
Q&A (15 min)
15:30 (25 min): Breakout rooms to discuss your Dream Project idea for EPO
Breakout A: Amanda, Bonnie, Emanuel, Michelle
Breakout B: Alycia, Ellie, Sina, Titus
Breakout C: Alex, Alyssa, Joan, Tremaine
15:55 (5 min): Wrap-up and Prep for Next Class
Science communication tips:
Some great websites covering basic Scientific Communication from AAAS, Alan Alda Center, and the Metcalf Institute.
Learn about project Ocean Memory, a collaborative network of researchers from across the Sciences, Arts and Humanities dedicated to exploring the intersection of Ocean and Memory.
Other examples of expedition outreach:
A website maintained by NOAA/PMEL researchers working at Axial Seamount, including educational activities and blogs from 20+ years of cruises. These were mostly done by scientists aboard.
Learn about various education and outreach programs with the IODP (International Ocean Discovery Program) for drilling.
More about telepresence:
Slide deck from Brian Kennedy at Boston University with incredible detail about considering how to implement telepresence on a ship, from the 2022 Master Class.
Learn about how telepresence can enable scientists-at-shore for OET
Watch this recorded part of a recent ROV Hercules dive on the Don Quixote Seamount EV Nautilus expedition 134. Listen to the first 10 minutes or so to hear how the scientists, pilots, navigator, and camera controller communicate with each other to work through sampling, archiving, navigation, all while also narrating the action for a global online audience. Also, really cool deep-sea corals and sponges to enjoy! Beth Orcutt is one of the scientists narrating this part of the dive: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SOoySWCXQOY
Check out the Schmidt Ocean Institute’s YouTube channel and listen to a couple of the recorded livestreams to get a sense of what telepresence sounds like. There are many in Spanish recently!
NOAA OER overview of Telepresence Technology and Introduction to Telepresence
Resources for getting educators to sea:
Learn about NOAA’s Teacher at Sea program
Articles about outreach and telepresence applications:
Marlow, J., Borrelli, C., Jungbluth, S.P., Hoffman, C., Marlow, J., Girguis, P.R. and AT-36 Team, 2017. Telepresence is a potentially transformative tool for field science. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 114(19), pp.4841-4844.
Kennedy, B.R.C., Elliott, K.P., Cantwell, K. and Mesick, S., 2016. Telepresence-enabled exploration with NOAA ship okeanos explorer. Oceanography, 29(1), pp.50-51.
Raineault, N.A., Bell, K.L. and Girguis, P., 2018. Advancing ocean science and exploration through telepresence. Deep Sea Research Part II: Topical Studies in Oceanography, 150, pp.1-3.
Sergio Cambronero Solano’s Presentation
Julie Huber and Beth Orcutt’s Presentation
See the Dream Cruise Project Overview Template for additional context.
Flesh out the Education & Public Outreach (EPO) concept for your dream cruise