Bridging the Gap Between Scientists and Policy Makers: Whither Geospatial?
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Presentation given at the Geospatial World Forum, Rotterdam, the Netherlands, GI Policy session, 15 May 2013
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Bridging the Gap Between Scientists and Policy Makers: Whither Geospatial?
- 1. Bridging the Gap Between Scientists & Policy-Makers Dawn Wright Esri Chief Scientist Affiliate Professor, Oregon State University, USA Whither GIScience? Geospatial World Forum, Rotterdam, May 15, 2013
- 2. By Charles Saxon | Published March 21, 1983
- 3. The Age of Science . . . next 40yrs past 400yrs less than 2% of US Congress has science background or training Shawn Otto, Fool Me Twice: Fighting the Assault on Science in America, 2011
- 4. Ocean and Coastal Health Energy Pollution and Waste Management Climate Change Vulnerability and Adaptation Longstanding Societal Challenges
- 6. Societal Drivers of Science How the Earth should look. How we should look at the Earth. Increasing fundamental scientific understanding Enabling stewardship of the environment Promoting economic vitality Protecting life and property How the Earth works.
- 7. Governments Are Changing Reflecting Evolving Policies and Trends Global Trends Economy Globalization Environment Social Conflicts Policy Initiatives Fiscal Restraint Increased Efficiency Open Transparency Citizen Focus Better and Faster Decisions Improved Collaboration Data Trends Open Data Online (services) Shared (services) Sharing and Collaboration Computing Trends Data Center Consolidation Cloud Services Leveraging Investments Enterprise Mobility Big Data
- 8. Background Supporting Details Result COMPASS, 2011 Policy Makers A Result A Public Good So What? Supporting Info. Scientists
- 9. Audience: Policy maker? Journalist? General Public? Benefits? Problem? So What? Solution Issue
- 11. Climate change is triggering disease epidemics. From Patz et al., Nature, 2005
- 12. Audience: Policy-makers Problem? A warmer world is a sicker world. Warming allows diseases to spread further, develop faster, become more severe. From Patz et al., Nature, 2005 Climate change is triggering disease epidemics.
- 13. Audience: Policy-makers Problem? A warmer world is a sicker world. Warming allows diseases to spread further, develop faster, become more severe. From Patz et al., Nature, 2005 So What? This is one of the most significant impacts of global warming, but we’ve paid little attention to it. We are not prepared for the future. Climate change is triggering disease epidemics.
- 14. Audience: Policy-makers Problem? A warmer world is a sicker world. Warming allows diseases to spread further, develop faster, become more severe. From Patz et al., Nature, 2005 So What? This is one of the most significant impacts of global warming, but we’ve paid little attention to it. We are not prepared for the future. Benefits? • Predict and prevent disease outbreaks • Lessen the impact of future epidemics Climate change is triggering disease epidemics.
- 15. Audience: Policy-makers Benefits? • Predict and prevent disease outbreaks • Lessen the impact of future epidemics Problem? A warmer world is a sicker world. Warming allows diseases to spread further, develop faster, become more severe. From Patz et al., Nature, 2005 So What? This is one of the most significant impacts of global warming, but we’ve paid little attention to it. We are not prepared for the future. Solution • Short-term: Prepare lines of defense (research, disease protocols) • Long-term: Reduce emissions (monitor) Climate change is triggering disease epidemics.
- 20. Bridging the Gap: Suggestions Identify your own reasons for engagement & time available to invest. Pick outreach that advances research. Twitter, blogs can work wonders. Time reduced with assistance in outreach administration. (Ecklund et al. 2012; Andrews et al. 2005) Warning: Engagement requires interdisciplinarity which is still difficult. Use existing “bridge organizations” and their resources Hellmann and Williams, AAAS, 2013
- 21. storify.com
- 22. “We don’t want geospatial data to be an afterthought. If you’re not engaged in policy discussions, we’re missing the boat. In trying to solve policy problems, geography can be used as an actual policy driver.” Mike Byrne, GIO of the Federal Communications Commission FedGeo Day 2013, Washington, D.C. as reported by FCW.com Implications
- 23. leopoldleadership.stanford.edu, storymaps.esri.com, compassonline.org, adaptingnature.blog spot.com, esriurl.com/6029 Bridging the Gap: Conclusion Consider implications for education, training, cert ification? Consider potential of stories via maps, tweets, message boxes, more Consider implications for GIScience contribution to society Dawn Wright dwright@esri.com @deepseadawn
- 24. Extra Slides
- 25. Audience: Journalist for science & policy magazine Benefits? More informed assessment of risks to whales from human activities, including oil spills. Problem? We can’t save the whales without understanding their movements and social relationships in time and space. So What? Cruelty to such inspiring, charismatic creatures is unacceptable, extinction is forever. Solution The geneGIS toolbox improves spatial analysis of whales as identified by DNA profiling. This along with photo-identification, telemetry and “eco-marker” biopsies can turn whales into powerful oceanographic, ecological monitors. Saving the Whales with geneGIS
- 26. Training Future Generations Gerber and Bennett, AAAS 2013 Graduate training in science communication Workshops on confronting the media, engaging in policy, strategic thinking Encourage students to engage in K-12 outreach, new media, blogging, etc.
Editor's Notes
- I focus here on the theme of moving beyond our own sector (including academia) and reaching out to policy (and the media) during a critical time where I think this is needed in our society. - Many of us have put our toe in the water already, but I’d like to encourage some thought and discussion on this- So thank you to the organizers and to you the audience for allowing me to share with you some PRACTICAL ideas that have been on my mind for the last couple of years, and have been influenced heavily by my involvement with the Leopold Leadership Program at Stanford, and the science communication organization known as COMPASS.
- Many friends and colleagues have teased me over the years about this now classic New York cartoon, given my own research specialty, but it has also become a powerful metaphor for why we need to communicate better about our science.Cartoon licensed personally to Dawn Wright by The New Yorker Cartoon Bank, TCB-86966, Invoice Number: L12480
- 40/400 refers to both basic AND applied (or use-inspired) scienceThis is expanded upon greatly by Shawn Otto, CEO and Cofounder of ScienceDebate.org and author of Fool Me Twice: Fighting the Assault on Science in America:“We are poised over the next 40 years to create as much new knowledge as we have in the past 400 years. At the same time, our major unresolved policy problems, from climate change to science education to biodiversity loss, increasingly revolve around science, while less than 2 percent of Congress has any professional background in it. As a result, we are becoming increasingly paralyzed at the science gap—the gap between science and democracy. Can democracy survive as a means of self-governance in an age of science?”
- So the communication of science is quite critical now if we are to solve the main societal challenges before us, all of which revolve around science. …
- The communication of science is quite critical now if we are to solve the main challenges posed to us by the NATURAL environment, often in the wake of human-induced climate change
- As GIScientists we certainly care about the world, care about engagement. In addition to being motivated by understanding how the Earth works or how the Earth should look, we want to advance society’s understanding.We want to make the world a better place (e.g., decision support, science informing resource mgmt)Science is also now much more than just about “how the Earth works.”How the Earth works… (process)How the Earth should look… (design)How we should look AT the Earth… (data)
- Scientists need to invert their mode and progression of communication (left triangle shows what we would communicate in a scientific paper, which is not what a policy maker (or journalist for that matter) will receive well or understand.Scientists want to explain how the world works but policy-makers needs us to inform their decision, and we can inform their decision by telling them a good story. Journalists want us to tell them a good story too.
- Introduce concept of the Message box as taught by COMPASS and in Nancy Baron’s book, Escape from the Ivory Tower, http://www.escapefromtheivorytower.com/about/author---------“The message box is a tool to help you organize your thoughts and identify key points. It is designed to be flexible – you can use it to help structure a presentation, organize a lecture, outline a proposal or prepare for an interview. Your audience – a journalist, colleagues at a professional meeting or a group of second graders – can only absorb a limited amount of information. Your goal as an effective communicator is to identify the information that is critical to your audience. What really matters to them? What do they need to know? Distill your information into concise messages by answering the following questions: Problem? What is the main problem, conflict, or decision to be made? So What? Why does this matter to my listener?Solutions? What actions do I want my listener to take or support?Benefits? How would my listener benefit by resolving this problem? Consider these questions as your starting point. If the questions don’t exactly apply, rework them to get at the heart of your story. Keep asking yourself: So What? Why? Always keep your audience’s needs in mind. Pare down your ideas so that each of these four questions can be answered in one or two concise sentences. If you still have a paragraph, keep working. Once you have honed in on your key points, list anecdotes, sound bites, and facts that reinforce your messages. The principle is easy but it takes time to develop messages that work for you and your audience. Keep working to refine your messages, and keep practicing your delivery - both will evolve and get better over time.”
- A 7-page journal article in Nature, obviously for a scientific audience but on a topic clearly important to both science, and beyond, the Ivory Tower to society….Patz JA, Campbell-Lendrum D, Holloway T, Foley, JA. Impact of regional climate change on human health. Nature 2005; 438:310-317.
- … simplified to a message box that a policy-maker can quickly understand, and hopefully act uponPatz JA, Campbell-Lendrum D, Holloway T, Foley, JA. Impact of regional climate change on human health. Nature 2005; 438:310-317.
- … simplified to a message box that a policy-maker can quickly understand, and hopefully act uponPatz JA, Campbell-Lendrum D, Holloway T, Foley, JA. Impact of regional climate change on human health. Nature 2005; 438:310-317.
- … simplified to a message box that a policy-maker can quickly understand, and hopefully act uponPatz JA, Campbell-Lendrum D, Holloway T, Foley, JA. Impact of regional climate change on human health. Nature 2005; 438:310-317.
- … simplified to a message box that a policy-maker can quickly understand, and hopefully act uponPatz JA, Campbell-Lendrum D, Holloway T, Foley, JA. Impact of regional climate change on human health. Nature 2005; 438:310-317.
- … simplified to a message box that a policy-maker can quickly understand, and hopefully act uponPatz JA, Campbell-Lendrum D, Holloway T, Foley, JA. Impact of regional climate change on human health. Nature 2005; 438:310-317.
- What are the implications for scientific researchers in the geospatial realm? Scientists are normally concerned with how the Earth works. But the dominating force of humanity on the Earth begs the question of how the Earth should look, especially with regard to landscape architecture, urban planning, land use planning and zoning, and ocean/coastal management. These involve decisions that must be made by policy makers and require the use geospatial data and geographical analysis. And along these lines GEODESIGN, will continue to make an impact in the sustainability world, leveraging geographic information and scientific modeling so that future designs for urban areas, watersheds, protected areas, and the like will more closely follow natural systems and result in less harmful impacts.
- “People are moved by emotion. The best way to emotionally connect other people to our agenda begins with “Once upon a time…”Science backs up the long-held belief that story is the most powerful means of communicating a message.Over the last several decades psychology has begun a serious study of how story affects the human mind.Results repeatedly show that our attitudes, fears, hopes, and values are strongly influenced by story. In fact, fiction seems to be more effective at changing beliefs than writing that is specifically designed to persuade through argument and evidence.” http://www.fastcocreate.com/1680581/why-storytelling-is-the-ultimate-weaponHow should GIScientistscommunicate with policy makers?Scientists are often encouraged not to publish their work until it constitutes a complete story.Why not combine BOTH, especially to take advantage of the power of maps and geography to educate, inform, and inspire people to action as well?Storymaps is about using maps in new and innovative ways to get people excited and involved in the world.Thanks to continuing changes in the Internet, cloud computing, mobile and tablet platforms, and to constant improvements in the software itself, we can now put the power of GIS into the hands of managers, CEOs, reporters, school kids—even policy makers.
- From Hellman, J.J. and Williams, J.W., 2013. Strategies for engaging outside the Ivory Tower and how to find the time to do it. Proceedings of the AAAS Annual Meeting, Boston, MA, http://aaas.confex.com/aaas/2013/webprogram/Paper9629.htmlReferences:- Andrews et al. 2005. Scientists and public outreach participation, motivations, and impediments. Journal of Geoscience Education- Ecklund et al. 2012. How academic biologists and physicist view science outreach. PLoS One 7(5): e36240- Kim & Fortner 2008 Great Lakes scientists’ perspectives on K-12 education collaboration. Journal of Great Lakes Research 34: 98- Morrow 2000 The diversity of roles for scientists in K-14 education nd public outreach. White paper cited by Kim & Fortner- Poliakoff & Webb 2007 What factors predict scientists’ intentions to participate in public engagement of science activities? Science Communication 29: 242- Ray 1999 Outreach, engagement will keep academia relevant to twenty-first century socieities. Journal of Public Service and Outreach 4: 21
- “Storify is a cool visual way to tell social media stories using your (or other folks’) Tweets, Facebook updates, pics, and other social media bread crumbs. Storify is overwhelmingly a neat way to show how a story develops over social media — without you having to take screenshots and insert your own links.”
- Given the challenges that our planet faces, I hope the geospatial community will also ponder and discuss whether communicating with policy makers is now an ethical issue, and if science communication should be made a formal part of geospatial curricula and professional GIS certification.Many of us are moving beyond the ivory tower and have students who seek to do the same, or at least not wanting to be clones of their advisers in academic roles. In a world where success is still measured by publications and grants, there are institutional and cultural barriers to overcome.
- This message box a little more involved for a journalist….Going deeper…Whale excrement removes carbon from atmosphere helping greenhouse gas problem that contributes to global warming. Excrement fertilizes ocean plants that use carbon in the water, but also provide critical base for entire ocean food webExcrement also releases iron back into ocean, helping to reduce ocean acidification, acting as fertilizer for marine plant life, Whales carry nitrogen from depths where they feed back to the surface, functioning as upward biological pump. In some regions where nitrogen is really needed, this major nitrogen input is more than many rivers combined. Increase in nutrients helps fisheries and health of related ecosystems.Peter Roopnarine, Joe Roman, James J. McCarthy. The Whale Pump: Marine Mammals Enhance Primary Productivity in a Coastal Basin. PLoS ONE, 2010; 5 (10): e13255 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0013255 and http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/10/101012101255.htmBaker lab genetics data on 25 N. Pacific right whale individuals from the central population? Smallest population characterized to date, on threshold of extinction? These 25 animals are survivors of last century?
- From Gerber, L. and Bennett, E., 2013. Overcoming institutional barriers to science communication,Proceedings of the AAAS Annual Meeting, Boston, MA, http://aaas.confex.com/aaas/2013/webprogram/Paper9630.html