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Science Communication Internship - Module 4 | ||
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From 1 to12 October 2007, three participants travelled to Milton
Keynes, UK, to take part in the fourth and final Module of the
Med-Vet-Net Science Communication Internship. | ||
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Concepción Porrero from UCM in Spain, Elizabeth Marier from VLA in UK, and Anne-Mette Kirkemo from the Norwegian Zoonosis Institute continued on from the previous Modules’ training to gain some insight into the web and use of virtual communications. The two week course – ‘Virtual Communications’ was devised by the Med-Vet-Net Communications Unit, Teresa Belcher and Jennie Drew. The course involved a mixture of in-house tuition as well as external companies providing expert training. The interns were first introduced to HTML and the basic principles of web design. They were taught how to programme basic web pages using HTML and the importance of using cascading style sheets. Following this, they were shown how to identify strategies, guidelines, and resources to help make the Web accessible to people with disabilities, and looked at the fundamentals of creating websites that are easy to use. The last two days of the week were spent learning how to create, edit and deliver podcasts that allow audio to be published in an easily downloadable format. Many of us are already downloading popular or scientific podcasts onto our iPods or MP3 players and are listening to them during our journey to work. ‘Using Web 2.0 tools for communicating’ was the first course of the second week. Web 2.0 refers to the second generation of web-based communities and hosted services which aim to facilitate collaboration and sharing between users. Examples include social-networking sites such as MySpace and Facebook, blogs, wikis and RSS news feeds. The interns were then taught the basics of digital photography and how to take images that are a bit more than a ‘snap-shot’. They looked at how the digital camera works, picture composition and appreciation, and basics about lenses and flash. The course concluded with a brief overview of image editing in Adobe Photoshop. In the evening, the interns travelled to London to attend a seminar about working with the media to produce TV series and documentaries. Organized by STEMPRA, The Science, Technology, Engineering and Medicine Public Relations Association, speakers included a science documentary producer; a leading scientist recently involved in Channel 4’s Animal Farm series, and press officers with experience of various TV projects, from popular TV series to more serious documentaries. They shared their experiences and offered practical tips to help ensure filming – and the broadcast result – goes to plan. Mid-week, the interns examined the principles of writing for the web, as compared with print publications. A trip was then made to London to visit the offices of Nature Publishing Group and to meet Matt Brown, the editor of Nature Network, London. Nature Network, an online companion to the journal Nature, aims to connect scientists globally and locally. We also met a member of Nature whose job is to investigate Second Life, an Internet-based virtual world. Residents can explore, meet other Residents, socialize, participate in individual and group activities, create and trade items (virtual property) and services from one another. Serious business is being done in Second Life, and initiatives within Nature Network include virtual talks and space for scientists to undertake projects on the ‘Second Nature’ Island. We also had the opportunity to meet the staff who produce the regular Nature podcasts. Finally, we looked at electronic public relations and the interns were shown how to use an online newsletter-generating programme. Teresa Belcher | ||
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Page Contact: Jennie Drew - Last modified: 2007-10-31 |
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