Art of Speaking Science

This past Thursday the Chronicle of Higher Education reported “Journals Find Fakery in Many Images Submitted to Support Research“.

I was astounded. How could this happen?

In two weeks I’ll be at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center delivering a talk to “young scientists” and I am now wondering if I should add a piece in that says…

“Hey, don’t do this! Why risk your career?”

I was preparing for a networking seminar, so I decided to use my own professional network to prepare for the seminar (tricky, huh?). Anyway, while speaking with Julian Lum, Ph.D. he mentioned two great resources aimed at post-docs and early career scientists. These two books can be downloaded for free (for non-commercial use) from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute.

Here’s the link to both of the books and other great resources.

I highly recommend reading these long BEFORE you start looking for a job in academia and long before you are ready to start you own lab. You’ll need to be doing things NOW in preparation for when you do have your own lab. Read the books to learn more!

Here are links to each of the books:

MAKING THE RIGHT MOVES: A PRACTICAL GUIDE TO
SCIENTIFIC MANAGEMENT FOR POSTDOCS AND NEW FACULTY, SECOND EDITION
Based on courses held in 2002 and 2005 by the Burroughs Wellcome Fund and HHMI, this book is a collection of practical advice and experiences from seasoned biomedical investigators.

TRAINING SCIENTISTS TO MAKE THE RIGHT MOVES
These publications can help universities and professional societies develop programs in scientific management.

If you have found these helpful or you know of other helpful resources let us know in the comments!

“Enthusiasm finds the opportunities, and energy makes the most of them.” — Henry Hoskins

For those that have seen me in person you know that I am BIG on PASSION!! Tonight I was watching NOVA and they had a program on the history of the first flowering plant. There was a scene where the scientists suddenly tells his driver to pull over to the side of the road. The scientists gets out of the car and proceeds to show us several rare flowers that are just growing naturally on the side of the road. At one point, he was so excited and overwhelmed that both my husband and I thought he had hurt himself, but it turned out he was just overwhelmed at seeing a rare orchid. I turned to my husband and said, “I just love to watch a person, like him, who is so excited by their work–it is inspirational.”

Again, I think passion is SO IMPORTANT- for everyone!

Not only do I think that “science rocks” I also think that most scientists are extremely passionate about their work–that’s why I love working with science and technology professionals.

I know that at times, in the lab it feels like you know less this week than last week. It’s these times you have to give yourself a little boost. I found this link a while back but have been saving it. But today I think is the day I am going to share this little gem.

So if your science has got you down…take this very quick break. I promise this will put a smile on your face and perhaps remind you that you are following a dream.

Check it out for you yourself!

(Note: I originally wrote this article in September 2006. For this post, I made a few minor very minor updates. I think since this writing, some conferences are moving in this direction. Comment below about your experiences and thoughts on this.)

One person recently commented to me, “Often times, I look at a poster for 5 minutes and am unsure of the important points, but when I hear just a few minutes from the scientist I find the work so much easier to understand”.

If you read my previous post you already know that I think the landscape for scientific poster presentation is changing. This post will describe more details of my vision, but first you’ll need to allow me a digression.

Up to this point, my writing suggests that poster podcasts are in addition to the poster itself. However, what I didn’t specifically mention is that I believe the form of the actual poster may be changing as well. With the ability to easily create posters electronically, the visual form is likely (and should change) as well.

With a static “linear” printed poster, we present data visually so it can meet the needs of both general and advanced users. However, using a printed, linear format, makes it difficult to meet both groups effectively and often is the reason why posters become overcrowded with text and details. I often hear “We can’t leave that out, because someone might ask”.

As an alternative posters could become purely electronic or “e-posters” if you will. Yes, I know e-posters exist, but right now e-posters are usually just PDFs of the printed poster. But what if we created them in a form that took advantage of web linking, audio and video files? In this linked form, users could collapse or expand the details and navigate through the poster in the manner that works the best for them. What if you could easily project the overall image and simply by touching different sections of the poster it would drill down the next level of detail. This would certainly allow interested parties to first view a more simplified version of the work and allow each viewer to choose to view only the details that are important to them. Now image being able to click to hear the voice of the scientist when you click on the section of interest–that is without the scientist actually being physically there.

Of course, we aren’t quite there with the technology—yet. But we certainly can do more than we currently do.

Today, posters are typically supported by the voice of the creator during the conference (at least for a limited period of time). Like the person in the quote above, I think most would agree that hearing the work in conversational form directly from the scientist would make the work easier to understand.

My vision is that the poster podcast provides the science directly from the scientist in audio/visual form. To be very clear, I am not suggesting that the podcast replace in-person discussions. I view them as a supplement and means to provide the “conversation” when the scientist isn’t available –that is to provide the audio/video in a time-shifted manner so interested parties can hear the the stories behind the science directly from the scientists via the poster podcast. After all, it the story of the scientific process that is so interesting. Poster podcasts make the work more interesting and gives the scientist a way of sharing his passion for the work using his own voice.

As I said in the previous post, for little or no money, it is possible to create a podcast of your work. You could then submit this podcast, along with a PDF of the poster, to the conference organizers for consolidation. Using existing audio search engines, like Alta Vista (remember them?), conference attendees could search the audio files (and of course, the keyword tags associated with the files) along with the text abstracts to determine which posters were of the most interest to them. Because of the detail provided in the audio content, this searchable audio would allow for better, more refined searching. In the current environment, you need to rely on the abstract to include the specific related keywords.

So, once the podcasts are electronically consolidated into a searchable database, the next step is to provide an easy method to listen to this audio. Right now, this type of technology is available (think art museum tours or walking tours in cities). You can visit the art museum and they will give you a portable devise that you simply put the number of painting in and the audio tells you about the painting. You get to go at your own pace, you can pause, go back, and skip ahead. Nice. Why not do this for scientific posters? You can go to the independence area in Philadelphia (and many areas of interest in other cities) and use your i-pod to download MP3 audio walking tours or you can even use your cell phone to listen to the tour.

Again, why don’t we utilize this same types of technology for listening to scientific poster podcasts? This would enable anyone to listen at any time before, during, or after the conference and alleviate conference overload. It would help participants to focus and plan their interactions during the live poster sessions. With the near ubiquity of iPods and other portable MP3 players, the platform is already out there, in our bags, our coat pockets, on our belts.

To be very clear, I am not suggesting that the poster podcasts should replace the human-to-human interaction and discussion. What I am suggesting is that it would help to creator of posters to be able to spend more time with those that would benefit the most from in-person conversation about the work. Nothing can replace human interaction.

I am simply suggesting podcasts (like websites did not so many years ago) will provide yet another avenue of communication about your science. And, it is important to communicate your message through as many routes as possible, after all, the communication of your science to a broad audience should be your goal.

As evidence, a study showed that medical articles reported in The New England Journal of Medicine and then reported in The New York Times receive about 73 percent more citations in medical reports than do articles not reported in The New York Times (cited in Whiteman, Scientists Need Plain Language). Of course, if the work makes it to the New York Times, it probably means the work is significant to begin with.

Speaking of the importance of human interaction, why not use portable technology (you can get a reasonably high quality set-up for less than $100) to capture the interesting conversations you have during the conference itself. Maybe you can even interview someone who’s work is related.

After the conference, or even during the conference, post both the recorded conversations and the previously prepared podcasts to your own blog, the conference blog and any other appropriate location on the web including e-galleries and podcast aggregators like Apple I-Tunes. Again, the last and perhaps most important step in science is communication of the science. You want to be sure that people interested in your very specific topic will be able to find your science this way. Of course, you’ll might need to be careful with what and when you publish to the internet and how decide exactly how public it can be.

I look forward to LISTENING to your next poster presentation. Oh, and if you are inspired by this post and create your poster podcast, be sure to post a link to the podcast. I am hoping some of the work will inspire others to do the same thing.

Note: Again, keep in mind I originally wrote this article in September of 2006. Some progress has been made, but we still have a long way to go.

I want to encourage you to be not only on the leading edge with your science, but also be leading edge with your communication.

How can you do that? By allowing the form to follow function. What do I mean? Read on!

The basic rule for any design is “form follows function.” If an object has to perform a certain function, its design must support that function to the fullest extent possible.

So in terms of poster presentations what exactly is the function of poster presentations? I think most would agree, when you are the creator of the poster, you are most interested in valuable feedback and detailed discussion of the science—you want constructive interaction with others to help you improve the work and take the science to the next level. In short your aims are feedback and professional networking. From the point of view of a poster viewer, you are usually most interested in understanding what others in similar areas (and perhaps not so similar areas) are doing in hopes of shedding new perspectives on your own work.

So this begs the question, is a traditional poster presentation the best means to achieve these goals?

I know many people would say, yes, poster presentation sessions do create the opportunity for interaction. Viewers can not only ask questions but also share ideas and experiences; much more so than oral presentation and therefore posters are wanted and needed in science. In fact, some might argue that for preliminary work, the poster presentation is perhaps the most favorable format.

However, I do not believe that traditional poster sessions, alone, are the best approach, that is not anymore. We are all familiar with the drawbacks of poster sessions, particularly crowded long sessions with hundreds if not thousands of posters. How does one effectively sort through choosing the “right” posters and ensure the presenter is available and keenly alert for conversation when, you, the viewer are ready for that conversation; not to mention the strain of information overload in the conference setting. Wouldn’t it be better to be able to hear directly from the scientists at your convenience? Perhaps before the conference, during the conference, during the poster session, and any time after? Wouldn’t it great to be able to electronically search not only the abstracts (like a few conferences now provide) but also to have the ability to search either on key words or more importantly the actual words delivered by the scientists themselves when describing the posters? Wouldn’t it be great if you could walk up to a poster or view a poster on line and hear the verbal description directly from the researcher, weather or not he was actually physically present or not?

My vision may take some time to unfold in the world of science (I originally wrote this article in September of 2006 - see note below), but I am confidant that “poster presentations” will look and feel a lot different in the very near future and will be better able to meet the goals of both the creator and the viewer.

So what exactly do I have in mind?

Before I share the details, I want to draw attention to the fact that there is revolution going on—a media revolution. In this new era, consumers of content want the ability to easily seek out content and consume it when and how they want it. This combined with the use of time-shifting technology (think TIVO) and the trend of individuals producing content at broadcast quality (think podcasts and vlogs) at little or no cost is having profound effects on everyone, including the world of science.

It’s already happening. Many prestigious scientific journals, including New England Journal of Medicine and Nature have podcasts available for download and blogs for interactive discussion and comment.

Companies (ePosters, Scifor, rnai, etc.) are starting to offer electronic galleries of posters with both public and restricted access. Other scientific professionals are creating “wiki-like” (peer-reviewed in some cases) sites to providing a collaborative environment that maintains the rigor of science but most importantly brings the science to their colleagues “faster” than the traditional routes (See Useful Chemistry - to learn more about open notebook science see the Scholar2Scholar Friday April 18, 2008 post).

Why did I point all that out? Because poster presentations will be influenced by this “revolution” and we will be seeing changes soon.

Exactly how am I envisioning the use of these latest technologies specifically for “poster presentations”?

Let’s start with the initial development and refinement of the poster. Participants in my poster presentation workshop (and my public speaking workshop) use an electronic collaborative blog site for posting content and receiving feedback (both video and text). This provides a unique platform for candid, time-shifted, detailed review. For sure, using this electronic review process clearly facilitates and improves the interaction itself resulting in an improvement in the overall design and content of your poster (or presentation). I would encourage everyone to do the same thing by posting your poster drafts to a private blog and asking for feedback. You could post not only the poster itself in PDF form. An alternative, is to convert the poster image to a .jpg image and post to flickr (or other photo sharing site) and ask for feedback there.

Once you have taken advantage of today’s technology to create a well-designed, visually appealing, effective poster the next step is to develop and practice delivering your key messages. In addition to posting the PDF of the poster itself, you will also want to post audio and/or video recordings of you presenting the work.

You will want to capture and deliver these messages via a “poster podcast” (audio or audio/video downloadable content ). Why? Because a poster podcast provides a low or no cost route of additional communication allowing for time-shifted review, interactivity and searchable content. Besides it simply is easier and more interesting to hear scientific information in interview format (think NPR’s Science Friday or CBS’s Quirks & Quarks).

To get an idea of what I have in mind, listen to the following two podcasts.

The first podcast while interesting for a general audience, may be a bit too simplistic for an advanced scientific audience. Have a listen.

CBS’s Quirks & Quarks

For the second example, I created this podcast with a poster presentation workshop participant! (Thanks Debra!) The workshop helps participants to first develop and then deliver concise, clear, effective messages via “posters”. This is what is typically done in science today, but I wanted to take poster presentation to the natural next level.

So, after the in-person portion of this workshop, I worked one-on-one with a few people. I asked a few basic questions, that, in essence, weaved together their practiced messages into a 3 minute story about the work. I wanted to show, by example, how effective a podcast poster can be and also how easy it is (using low to no cost technology) to create a “poster podcast”.

Debra’s Poster Presentation
(To listen to the podcast, click on the link below then once you are on the page click on one of the streaming links on the left to listen, or download the MP3 from the Other Files section of the page).

Ok, I know, I know…Debra’s portion is pretty good, but my questions were lame; generic and not well thought through. However, rest assured, with more time, more interesting and appropriate questions could be asked. I just wanted to create a quick sample so that you had a better idea of what I was referring to. Notice you can include other files like the PDF of the poster as well as perhaps the full text of the paper and perhaps a copy of your CV. Notice the comments section that could be used to encourage feedback and discussion. Of course, you could embed this on your website and protect with password if necessary until the work can be published publicly.

So how do I envision that these podcasts will be used at an actual conference? Stay tuned…I’ll be writing more about that tomorrow! This is where we’ll put to good use existing technologies that truly will take “poster presentations” to the next level. In addition, I’ll hope to convince you podcasts and my vision will be the standard operating procedure in the very near future and you need to start learning how to become a leading edge communicator using these technologies.

Special Note: I originally wrote this article in September of 2006 and I don’t think scientists were quite ready for my message at the time. However, l am also old enough to remember when I first told scientists that they would one day be using PowerPoint and I was also “poo-pooed” then too! Today, however, I think the younger generation of scientists not only recognize the importance of “on-demand” communication but will demand it. It is time to take these ideas seriously and begin creating your poster podcasts.