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Week 11: Outreach

Week 11 Class Plan on outreach

Published onApr 26, 2024
Week 11: Outreach
·

7 May 2024

Overview

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.

Goals

  • 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

Pre-Class Activities

  • 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.

Class Plan & Materials

  • 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

Additional Resources

  • 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:

  • Resources for getting educators to sea:

  • 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.

Class Slides

  • Sergio Cambronero Solano’s Presentation

  • Julie Huber and Beth Orcutt’s Presentation

Post-Class Dream Cruise Project Development

See the Dream Cruise Project Overview Template for additional context.

  • Flesh out the Education & Public Outreach (EPO) concept for your dream cruise

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