[indices] Training in Science communication

["Rochat Carolyn" <rochatc@nbi-kzn.org.za>]

Dear colleagues
 
While the article (see link for full article) below is not something
directly associated with drug information or essential drugs,
communication is key in the role we play as information providers.  This
article really peaked my interest especially from the point of view of
how we view our communication skills.  We become so familiar with
terminology we don't often stop to evaluate whether our message will be
understood correctly.  As we deal with more informed patient groups, the
language we use in communication will need to be  modified.
 
Any comments?  Any similar programs being adopted in other countries?
 
Regards
Carolyn Rochat 
National Bioproducts Institute

South Africa

S. Africa offers first training in science communication 
Christina Scott
20 May 2005
Source: SciDev.Net
(http://digbig.com/4dnqk)

[CAPE TOWN] Students on southern Africa's first academic course in
science communication will play a dual role, evaluating its quality and
relevance while learning new skills.

Announced last month, the pilot course is being run by the South African
Agency for Science and Technology Advancement (SAASTA), an offshoot of
the country's National Research Foundation. Its aim is to teach
researchers and policy specialists working in science how to communicate
about their work to non-scientists.

The English-language course is being run in conjunction with US-based
Cornell University, which will be organising 12 interactive
video-conferenced sessions at the US Embassy in Pretoria. Local
lecturers will, however, teach much of the course. 

The pilot project is free, but the 20 participants will have to find the
time (and if necessary, the price of airfare and accommodation) to spend
three full days each month in the capital, Pretoria, from August to
November this year.

Among the applicants is Sarah Mathou, who works in the research
translation office of the Medical Research Council of South Africa (MRC)
in Cape Town. 

Mathou says South Africa needs such a course to bridge the divide
between ordinary people and the scientific community. "The MRC does
research for the people and it is important to feed back information to
them in a language that they understand," she says.

Science communicators face special challenges in South Africa, as it is
a multilingual, poverty-stricken country where few people have the
opportunity to study science at any level.

Mathou is currently editing and translating a technical document - on
nutrition in a Cape Town squatter camp of 40,000 people - into a
brochure and posters that can be used at workshops and clinics.

Bavesh Kana, a research scientist with the Johannesburg-based Centre of
Excellence for Biomedical Tuberculosis Research, is another applicant.
Kana's interest in science communication was sparked when he took a
one-day SAASTA workshop on writing for the public earlier this year.

Kana's piece for the workshop was criticised for trying to educate
instead of inform. "My interest was tweaked when they hacked my article
to pieces - it was a real eye-opener," he says. 

"The problem is that, as scientists, we are trained to write in long
sentences, using scary words and jargon, so that journals accept our
work ."