Abstract:
“It is suicidal to create a society dependent upon science and technology in which hardly anybody knows anything about science and technology”, Carl Sagan, the eminent science writer once said. Today, with the rapid developments in science and technology impacting the society and environment we live in, the community at large is fast realizing the need and importance of science, technology and environment journalism and communication and public awareness and engagement in such issues.
Science journalism and communication is growing as a specialist field of scientific expertise and as a creative and lucrative profession/career option for science/engineering graduates, but this field suffers from a paucity of talent all across the globe - people who would bring facts to public and stimulate public debates over areas that have a direct effect on our world.
The workshop shall cover some basics of science/technology journalism and communication-
- What is science journalism and communication and what do science communicators do
- Various modes and means of effective science communication - interface of science and media
- Why is this field gaining importance in India and abroad
- What challenges exist and what are the career opportunities for science/engineering graduates in this field
- How can students get started into this field right away through freelancing or other means
Various modes of journalism/communication– print (magazines/newspapers/popular science books), video (documentaries/TV shows), audio (radio scripts), science cartoons, public debates shall be taken as examples to bring to light the need for different modes depending on the audience and the content.
About the speaker:
Mohit Kumar Jolly is the Co-founder and Student Coordinator of NERD – the campus science and technology magazine of IIT Kanpur. He is the only Indian engineering student to present a paper on science communication at the 6th International Conference on Hands-on Science (HSCI 2009). He has interviewed more than 50 eminent scientists/engineers all across including Dr. M. Chalfie (Nobel Laurate, 2008, Chemistry), Dr. R. Langer (the most cited engineer in history), Dr. R. Chidambaram (Principal Scientific Advisor, Govt. of India) and Dr. G. Padmanabhan (ex-Director, IISc Bangalore).
Registrations to be done on the spot
Date: February 13, 2010 (Saturday)
Time : Introductory Lecture – 11:00- 12:00 | Workshop : 16:00-18:00
Venue: WLE (Western Lab Extension) 301
