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Welcome to Econnect Communication’s August 2003 newsletter.
The theme for this month’s newsletter is “KISS – Keep It Simple Stupid”. We asked Nick Goldie – CSIRO’s communicator extraordinaire – to share his insights into simple language and have added some thoughts of our own. We hope you enjoy… and as a good colleague of ours always says: “Challenge them with your ideas rather than your language”.
If you have any feedback or ideas you’d like to add to our newsletter, we’d love to hear from you.
Regards, Econnect Communication Jenni Metcalfe, Louise Ralph, Michelle Riedlinger
THIS MONTH – AUGUST 2003 KISS: Keep it Simple Stupid 1. ESCHEW POLYSYLLABIC MERDA TAURI! 2. DISTILLING THE ESSENSE – LUMPERS VERSUS SPLITTERS 3. INSIGHTS INTO COMMUNICATING WITH MOVERS AND SHAKERS 4. STAY ON THAT CHAIR! 5. TIPS FOR ASPIRING SCIENCE WRITERS 6. SUBSCRIBE TO OUR NEWSLETTER 7. CONTACT US 1. Eschew polysyllabic merda tauri!By Nick Goldie, CSIRO Media It is impossible for an Englishman to open his mouth without making some other Englishman despise him, said Bernard Shaw, but that was in another galaxy, far away and long ago. Today the great linguistic divide is not so much based on class or culture, but the gap between those who actually speak to one another, and those who use jargon to confuse and rule.
This may be military bullshit (as fed to ‘embedded’ journalists), managerial (and who hasn’t been bombarded with strategic outcomes at the focus group feedback-directed stakeholder workshop) or scientific.
Scientists have always fancied Latin, and not just for scientific names of flowers and animals. It’s nicely polysyllabic, and long rolling Latin-based words are a very satisfactory way of impressing a lay audience or covering an attack of nerves while doing a presentation. Most scientists are bilingual: listen to them discussing their research, at a barbecue or in the pub, with a beer in their hand and no microphones, and they will sound just like you or me. But put them in a formal situation, and their language changes.
Foreigners learning English have difficulty with the number of words that seem to mean the same thing. This multiplicity of iterations is because English is a hybrid – with hybrid vigour! – mainly of Latin and French and Anglo Saxon, and for every long Latin word there’s a simple Anglo Saxon one.
It’s Anglo Saxon which we use amongst friends, in ordinary conversation. Anyone giving a speech, or appearing on radio, or giving a presentation, should remember that these are spoken forms, not written. A speech is called a speech, not a lecture (‘reading’) for just this reason. And the spoken form of English is largely Anglo Saxon.
Here’s a short list to illustrate the point: say, out loud, the simple one-syllable Anglo Saxon word for each of these Latinisms: excavate, expectorate, elevate, illuminate, indicate, liberate, concatenate, obnubilate, incarcerate, masticate, copulate, iterate … and obviate the merda tauri! Finis 2. Distilling the essence – lumpers versus splittersBy Jenni Metcalfe The world can be divided into two camps, lumpers and splitters. Lumpers want the big picture. They want summaries, overviews, generalisations, broad implications. Almost all journalists fall into the lumper camp. Splitters want details. Degrees are important to splitters. Almost by definition, scientists fall into the splitter camp.
A lumper statement might be: "Scientists invent the crystal ball. They have developed a new computer program that gives them a glimpse of what our forests will look like in the future."
A splitter would want to describe the same computer story this way: "A test version of a linear computer program available to desk-top computers with 100GB storage capability has been developed that can project the diameter growth of dominant commercial timber species in the inland mountain west. This model does not consider ground cover, nor the effects of changing vegetative conditions resulting from management activities to wildlife or water quality."
Learn to be a lumper when you talk to journalists! Use simple language. Churchill once said: “I like short words”. 3. Insights into communicating with movers and shakersIn June, the Queensland Australian Science Communicators (ASC) organised a great panel session about communicating with movers and shakers. The session included the inimitable Prof. Ian Lowe and Greg Lee from the Queensland Department of Innovation and Information.
Some of the best quotes from the night were collated by QLD ASC Coordinator, Colleen Foelz – and we have included some of these below. Unfortunately, we’re not sure which panelist said them, but they are all very worthy.
Quote from Einstein: “It should be as simple as possible but not more simple than that.”
“Simplifying science should not sacrifice the facts… Neither under-estimate nor over-estimate your audience when communicating science. Strictly speaking the way scientists communicate science is part of science itself. We are always dealing with hypotheses that can be falsified, probabilities that our findings mean what we think they mean and theories yet to be confirmed. This is one of the important differences between science and superstition. When we start making definite statements we are no longer being scientific… the problem of communicating uncertainty goes to the very heart of what science is.”
“Selling the uncertainty inherent in much of science to decision makers and politicians can be a challenging task.”
“Politicians will always prefer a body of well thought out superstition with an expert who makes a definite statement, because this allows those politicians to make a decision without having to take full responsibility – even if the expert statement turns out to have been wrong… with decision-makers we have to hit on that degree of certainty which will allow them to make a decision, without going so far that we offend the science we are communicating – quite an art!” 4. STAY ON THAT CHAIR!By Michelle Riedlinger Clear
writing requires planting your bottom firmly on your chair and staying
there until it’s done. With my PhD, I’ve been doing a fair bit of
that lately! The Economist offers some general tips for those of us
needing to stay seated and get the job done. 4.
Check for jargon and replace with words that have meaning for all
5. TIPS FOR ASPIRING SCIENCE WRITERS A handbook: ‘So you want to be a science writer?’ is available on-line at http://absw.org.uk/SYWTBASW.htm. This handbook was written by Natasha Loder, Science and Technology Correspondent with The Economist and has been published by the Association of British Science Writers.
As Rod Lamberts from ANU says: “it offers
practical ideas, advice and information on being a Science Writer.
Information like this can be useful to anyone involved with the
communication of science, even if you don't aspire to write science
for the general public.” 6. SUBSCRIBE TO OUR FREE MONTHLY e-NEWSLETTER Subscribe/unsubscribe: send email to admin@econnect.com.au with “subscribe” or “unsubscribe” in subject line. View past newsletters: http://www.econnect.com.au/news_newsletter.htm 7. CONTACT USEconnect Communication works with science, environment, ecotourism and natural resource management agencies to:
Contact us: phone 07 3846 7111; email admin@econnect.com.au Website: http://www.econnect.com.au New tips: http://www.econnect.com.au/news_qt.htm
Copyright: Econnect Communication Pty Ltd, 2003 Articles in this newsletter can be reproduced if Econnect Communication Pty Ltd is acknowledged as the source
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