Sign up to save your podcasts
Or
Share FIR on Higher Education #66: Perhaps You Should Communicate Your Research via Instagram?
Share to email
Share to Facebook
Share to X
Share to email
Share to Facebook
Share to X
Or
FIR on Higher Education #66: Perhaps You Should Communicate Your Research via Instagram?
Communicating research visually can be challenging. I have struggled to find really compelling examples of academics / researchers who are effective at using Instagram to communicate research. I was therefore grateful to come across the world of Paige Jarreau, a science communication specialist for the Louisiana State College of Science and previously a postdoctoral researcher studying and teaching science communication. She also leads Instagram training workshops, and on episode 66 of FIR on Higher Education, I interviewed her to discuss best practice and tips to consider.
Paige Jarreau
Here are some of the insights she shared.
Why Instagram
To preface her remarks, Paige makes the important point that perhaps you shouldn’t use Instagram. You need to be selective. But here are some points to consider:
– If your target audience is students, Instagram is potentially a great way to reach them. It allows you to make your science and research more accessible.
– It is not as much of a commitment as blogging, allows you to provide more depth than Twitter and is not as private as Facebook.
What if the Research Isn’t “Visual”?
“It takes practice,” says Paige. “You need to look around yourself in fresh ways and think about how to make what you do visual.”
One example is a reflection image a scientist took to make their data look unique. Paige has come across researchers who use data visualization in unique ways, or a researcher who communicated compound chemistry through drawings of molecules.
“Think about how to humanize your work,” advises Paige.
Tools to Consider Leveraging
Examples of Other Researchers Who Use Instagram
Paige recommends taking a look at the work of PondLife_PondLife who uses Instagram to take amazing pictures and videos of microscopic organisms in ponds. “At the surface, she might have said I just sit in front of a microscope – what is their to show? Instead she has chosen to use the device of science – a mircoscope – to take pictures and it never gets old. It is amazing!” Also of note is the account of StylishStreaking which visually communicates research about diseases.
Instagram Live and Stories
The opportunity to live stream and/or leverage Instagram Stories may be intimidating and certainly isn’t for everyone, but it is an option. Two individuals Paige noted who use Instagram Stories and Instagram Live are Science.Sam and BiologistImogene.
“They are both effective at taking people on a journey of doing science every day,” Paige said.
Practical Tips
Instagram Research Project via Experiment.com
Experiment.com is a platform for funding scientific discoveries (it is similar in nature to Kickstarter). Paige and some of her colleagues are looking to receive funding to research the topic of how the public perceives scientists who use Instagram. It aims to provide hard data on if people will trust scientists more, for example. The team will conduct some experiments to get to the core of how Instagram pictures can help predict people’s perceptions of scientists. More information is at experiment.com/scientistselfies. The hashtag they are using to generate community around this is #ScientistsWhoSelfie.
The post FIR on Higher Education #66: Perhaps You Should Communicate Your Research via Instagram? appeared first on FIR Podcast Network.
View all episodes
5
33 ratings
Communicating research visually can be challenging. I have struggled to find really compelling examples of academics / researchers who are effective at using Instagram to communicate research. I was therefore grateful to come across the world of Paige Jarreau, a science communication specialist for the Louisiana State College of Science and previously a postdoctoral researcher studying and teaching science communication. She also leads Instagram training workshops, and on episode 66 of FIR on Higher Education, I interviewed her to discuss best practice and tips to consider.
Paige Jarreau
Here are some of the insights she shared.
Why Instagram
To preface her remarks, Paige makes the important point that perhaps you shouldn’t use Instagram. You need to be selective. But here are some points to consider:
– If your target audience is students, Instagram is potentially a great way to reach them. It allows you to make your science and research more accessible.
– It is not as much of a commitment as blogging, allows you to provide more depth than Twitter and is not as private as Facebook.
What if the Research Isn’t “Visual”?
“It takes practice,” says Paige. “You need to look around yourself in fresh ways and think about how to make what you do visual.”
One example is a reflection image a scientist took to make their data look unique. Paige has come across researchers who use data visualization in unique ways, or a researcher who communicated compound chemistry through drawings of molecules.
“Think about how to humanize your work,” advises Paige.
Tools to Consider Leveraging
Examples of Other Researchers Who Use Instagram
Paige recommends taking a look at the work of PondLife_PondLife who uses Instagram to take amazing pictures and videos of microscopic organisms in ponds. “At the surface, she might have said I just sit in front of a microscope – what is their to show? Instead she has chosen to use the device of science – a mircoscope – to take pictures and it never gets old. It is amazing!” Also of note is the account of StylishStreaking which visually communicates research about diseases.
Instagram Live and Stories
The opportunity to live stream and/or leverage Instagram Stories may be intimidating and certainly isn’t for everyone, but it is an option. Two individuals Paige noted who use Instagram Stories and Instagram Live are Science.Sam and BiologistImogene.
“They are both effective at taking people on a journey of doing science every day,” Paige said.
Practical Tips
Instagram Research Project via Experiment.com
Experiment.com is a platform for funding scientific discoveries (it is similar in nature to Kickstarter). Paige and some of her colleagues are looking to receive funding to research the topic of how the public perceives scientists who use Instagram. It aims to provide hard data on if people will trust scientists more, for example. The team will conduct some experiments to get to the core of how Instagram pictures can help predict people’s perceptions of scientists. More information is at experiment.com/scientistselfies. The hashtag they are using to generate community around this is #ScientistsWhoSelfie.
The post FIR on Higher Education #66: Perhaps You Should Communicate Your Research via Instagram? appeared first on FIR Podcast Network.