If I Had to Do It Again…

In a recent post, I talked about the upshots of my indirect path to a science communication business.

But, let’s say I knew, early in my education and work life, that I’d want to do the work I do today. What sorts of training and experience might I have pursued from the beginning? Or, to make this less about me getting in a time machine and more about my readership, what would I encourage aspiring scicommers to do early in their training and career?

1. Train in science.

My social science PhD program served me well in terms of providing a background in theory, experimental design, and statistics. Do I think aspiring scicommers should pursue a science PhD solely in support of that goal? Probably not. But, I do think some level of science education is helpful…probably an undergraduate STEM major at the very least.

2. Cross-train in journalism.

As I’ve mentioned before, I was a cartoonist for my college newspaper. Although it gave me the unprecedented opportunity to draw a condom shaped like the bell tower of the iconic Sir Christopher Wren Building, it didn’t give me an opportunity to practice sharing science with the general public. I’ve since taken a journalism course, and that was helpful, but I suspect that the best way to develop public-facing writing skills is to write actual articles for actual editors. I’d encourage aspiring scicommers to find opportunities to write about science in school and community publications.

3. Cross-train in visual design.

I’ve always been into art and crafts. I like to think that I’ve always had a decent sense of whenther a design (brochure, room decor, academic poster) is attractive or not, but I couldn’t always pinpoint the underlying reasons for my opinions. Shortly before launching Data Soapbox, I enrolled in a graphic design certificate program. I learned about principles of, and terms for, good design. Alignment! Contrast! Hierarchy! Now I can articulate the reasons why a design seems “off” and, more importantly, identify ways to fix it. If you want to do any sort of visual scicomm, take design courses that are offered at your high school or university, or enroll in a low-cost adult education program.

4. Explore scicomm organizations and events.

As a little-late-to-the-party scicommer, I’m a jealous of the opportunities out there for students and early-career professionals. Take advantage of them while you can! The American Association for the Advancement of Science has an amazing mass media fellowship program. ComSciCon offers workshops by and for graduate students. You may also have a local scicomm organiation that can support your goals; mine (Science Communicators of North Carolina) has an internship program and offers funding for professional development opportunities.

5. Incorporate scicomm learning opportunities into school assignments.

When appropriate, taking a scicomm approach to broad school assignments and requirements could be a great way to build your knowledge base. Need to write a paper on a historical figure? Consider William Playfair, W. E. B. DuBois, or Florence Nightingale. Need to do a book report? Pick up a sciomm book. (There are some suggestions on our blog!) Need to present an article at Journal Club? Find one about the science underlying communication best practices. (Did you know that emojis can help an audience remember communication?)

6. Build a portfolio.

By the time I started Data Soapbox, I’d developed a *lot* of research communication products…reports, posters, infographics, etc. However, I had very little material to include in my professional portfolio. The products were often developed in teams of writers and designers, which meant the products weren’t exclusively “mine.” Even if they had represented just my work, my previous clients and employer technically “owned” them.

Seek out opportunities to create independent work samples: Write articles like I suggested above. Volunteer to create communication products for research studies at your university. Enter contests and challenges like the Storytelling with Data Monthly Challenge or North Carolina State University’s Envisioning Research contest.

Seasoned scicommers, would you add anything to this list? Comment below!