On December 7th, CC-RAI and Knowledge Mobilization hosted the final event of the SSHRC public outreach grant on climate change. The last few weeks have involved a number of related events and activities, including a Conversation with Roger Street, and the 7&7 Graduate Climate Change Research Symposium not least the pan-ultimate event: the Crossing Boundaries, Communications Workshop. As the project draws to a close CC-RAI aims to build on the on the successes of the project and provide an opportunity to move an initiative like Crossing Boundaries forward.

CC-RAI approached this project from a few directions. Recognizing the power of social media and the growing importance of the blogosphere, we enlisted John Dupuis, York University’s resident ‘blogspert’ and head of the Steacie Science and Engineering Library to lead participants through an interactive introduction to DIY blogging. Armed with their MacBooks, a diverse range of faculty and graduate students from various disciplines set-up shop not only to learn the ins and outs of blogging, but also how to apply that learning to translating their research into an online posting. John’s presentation is now available at Crossing Boundaries – Blogging DIY

Between postings Kelly Parke, otherwise known as the ‘video-oracle’ spirited away would be bloggers for on camera interviews. Recognizing the importance of communicating with the media, these interviews would serve as basis for a post-interview analysis and critique (constructive of course) by the group at large. As participant’s faces were projected 15 feet high, Kelly, a broadcaster, cameraman and seasoned media veteran with more than 25 years in the business shared his insights and advice on how to most effectively tell your story. In addition to highlighting a series of top tips for interviewees developed by the DPK Public Relations, Kelly was able to provide individualized advice on how to most effectively communicate one’s message and hold one’s own in front of the camera.

While the medium and the message remain a key consideration for any communicator one cannot forget the audience. A very important constituent of that audience being the policy makers and politicians with whom we hope our research can make an impact.  CC-RAI was very grateful that Aaron Freeman, Senior Policy Advisor in the Office of the Premier of Ontario was willing to share some of his insights on most effectively communicating to policy makers and politicians. With a wealth of experience working in the academic, NGO and political area, Aaron elucidated some of the communication pathways within government and the most effective ways for researchers and the interested citizen to convey their message to politicians in a succinct, concise and meaningful way.

Crossing Boundaries was conceived of as a pilot project for hopefully a larger program aimed at equipping faculty and students with key skills to help them more effectively communicate to policy makers, other researchers from different disciplines and the general public, as to what it is that they study and why they are passionate about that subject. Our approach recognized that the nature of communications is both diverse and ever changing. While academic journals are important medium for research communication, social media is increasingly important, as is an ability to engage the media at large whether in print, radio, or even via You Tube. Building on the successes of Crossing Boundaries, the potential exists to explore options for communications training for faculty and graduate students with a focus on not only the blogosphere, but the policy arena itself.

 

Tags: climate change, Communications, Crossing Boundaries, Kelly Parke, Knowledge Mobilization, Martin Bunch, Norwan Yan, Social Media, SSHRC

This entry was posted on Thursday, December 15th, 2011 at 1:31 pm and is filed under Current Projects, Events, Knowledge Mobilization (KMb), News, Programs, Wrap-Up. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.