23/04/03

Better communication is in everyone’s interests

By: Elizabeth J. Tait

We encourage you to republish this article online and in print, it’s free under our creative commons attribution license, but please follow some simple guidelines:

You have to credit our authors.
You have to credit SciDev.Net — where possible include our logo with a link back to the original article.
You can simply run the first few lines of the article and then add: “Read the full article on SciDev.Net” containing a link back to the original article.
If you want to also take images published in this story you will need to confirm with the original source if you're licensed to use them.
The easiest way to get the article on your site is to embed the code below.

For more information view our media page and republishing guidelines.

The full article is available here as HTML.

Press Ctrl-C to copy

<div class="article-wrap">
<div id="article-introduction">
<h1>Better communication is in everyone’s interests</h1>
<h4>By: Elizabeth J. Tait</h4>
</div>
<br />
<br />

<div id="article-body">
<p>Scientists will find it’s worth making the effort to explain what they’re doing to the public, says Elizabeth J. Tait of the Smithsonian Institution, Washington DC, in this letter to <em>Nature</em>.<BR><BR>She argues that effective science communication requires a jack-of-all-tradesmanship uncommon in other, more specialised fields.<BR><BR>Scientists, press officers and science writer and editors must work together to make science more accessible and more highly valued by the people it informs and serves, she says.<BR><BR>Source: <em>Nature</em> 417, 221 (2002)<BR><BR><a href="http://www.nature.com/login/scidev_login.taf?ref=/nature/journal/v417/n6886/full/417221a_fs.html" target="_blank" onclick="pageTracker._trackPageview('/tracking/external/'+this.href);" rel="noopener noreferrer">Link to full text</A><BR><BR><a href="/ /frame3.asp?id=040420021120267&t=C&c=1&r=1" target="_blank" onclick="pageTracker._trackPageview('/tracking/external/'+this.href);" rel="noopener noreferrer">Communication should not be left to the scientists, 4 April 2002</A></p>

</div>
<div class="quick-links-wrapper">
<h3>You might also like</h3>
[related-articles]
</div>
<p>This article was originally published on <a href="https://www.scidev.net" target="_blank">SciDev.Net</a>. Read the <a href="https://www.scidev.net/global/opinions/better-communication-is-in-everyones-interests/" target="_blank">original article</a>.</p>
<script type="text/javascript">
(function(e,t,n,r,i,s,o){e["GoogleAnalyticsObject"]=i;e[i]=e[i]||function(){(e[i].q=e[i].q||[]).push(arguments)},e[i].l=1*new Date;s=t.createElement(n),o=t.getElementsByTagName(n)[0];s.async=1;s.src=r;o.parentNode.insertBefore(s,o)})(window,document,"script","//www.google-analytics.com/ga.js","ga");var _gaq=_gaq||[];var _gaq=_gaq||[];_gaq.push(["_setAccount","UA-3223906-8"],["_trackEvent","article interaction","republished","https://www.scidev.net/global/opinions/better-communication-is-in-everyones-interests/",null,true])
</script>
</div>

Scientists will find it’s worth making the effort to explain what they’re doing to the public, says Elizabeth J. Tait of the Smithsonian Institution, Washington DC, in this letter to Nature.

She argues that effective science communication requires a jack-of-all-tradesmanship uncommon in other, more specialised fields.

Scientists, press officers and science writer and editors must work together to make science more accessible and more highly valued by the people it informs and serves, she says.

Source: Nature 417, 221 (2002)

Link to full text

Communication should not be left to the scientists, 4 April 2002