Science in the Triangle

“There’s something hopelessly quaint about the little piles of pens and paper on the tables at #scio11.”

“Best thing about #scio11 is that people will pull out an iPhone or iPad in the middle of a convo and they’re not rude; they’re live-blogging.”

If these two tweets give the impression that ScienceOnline 2011 (or #scio11 in the Twitterverse) was a brave new world populated by geeky early adopters who have foresaken pens, paper, and print in favor of devices and Web 2.0, well, that’s partly true.

After all, it was a conference where it was normal to see panelists consulting notes on their iPads, where attendees did in fact live-blog and live-tweet, and where many sessions had a panelist devoted to monitoring Twitter for questions and comments from the audience. (One aggrieved camera operator told me that people watching the live webcast were tweeting complaints about camera angles!)

But in fact, the conference welcomed a number of people who are open to the opportunities afforded by new media even if they are not cutting edge practitioners.

I became particularly interested in how nonprofits were faring with social media, given the challenges of budget and staffing. For instance, I chatted with Katie Mosher, communications director for North Carolina Sea Grant. While some journalists flew in from California and even Ireland, Mosher or someone on her staff is able to attend each year because it’s local and the registration fee is relatively modest. Her organization is one of the conference sponsors, because, she told me, their interest in and support of the goals of ScienceOnline are strong, even if their use of new media is not advanced.

For dot-orgs like NC Sea Grant, the challenge of using new media is largely a staffing issue; finding staff time to learn what’s available and finding staff time to implement it. That’s why attending — and sponsoring — ScienceOnline is valuable. Mosher says, “This conference helps us understand the potential of what we can do online.”

NC Sea Grant does have a Facebook page, and Mosher says, “Not surprisingly, it tends to have a younger audience than our paid subscribers to Coastwatch magazine.” A new intern is interested in helping the organization get started on Twitter.

For groups with limited budgets and staff time, the challenge is not just learning how to use tools like Facebook and Twitter, but learning to use them effectively. Rick MacPherson, interim executive director and conservation programs director at the Coral Reef Alliance, says that the group’s experiments with Facebook paved the ways for constituents to “talk back.”

“Normally with conservation organizations and nonprofits, we do most of the talking,” he says. “We haven’t had an opportunity to have true social engagement with our constituents. Facebook is allowing that. With blogs like Deep Sea News and Southern Fried Science, these are fantastic opportunities for readers, constituents, etc., to talk back to us.” [For the downside of that backtalk, see my post "Why scientists (should) blog."]

Mosher says that NC Sea Grant doesn’t see a lot of commenting on its Facebook page, “but we do see the reposting and sharing.”

Blogging platforms offer nonprofit organizations opportunities to spread the word without having a deep technical support staff. Blogging software is user-friendly, allowing staff to focus on the message, not the technology. Mosher says NC Sea Grant’s marine science newsletter, Scotch Bonnet, has been moved online, using a blog template. The “audience of teachers and other educators have the option to read it on-screen, or to print the hard copy in newsletter layout-to take it with them to read offline. So, the news items have not changed much but the delivery method has.”

Although newsletters have their place, online and on paper, where nonprofits are really shining is in the use of blogs to convey information that the public wants to know. Blogs like Deep Sea News, which MacPherson writes for, present scientifically rigorous information to a public thirsty for scientific knowledge. Mariners Menu gives seafood recipes along with servings of useful information on seafood safety and the cultural history of fisheries. If both of those blogs lead their readers across the internet to learn more about nonprofit organizations protecting our oceans, that’s not a bad thing.