Panel Making Your Messages Stick Thinking Differently About Communication Online

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>> JOANN: Thank you, very much, Heather. I'm  so amazed at how much information people are   really able to share in a relatively short  time and you definitely did that, too. We do   have a little bit of time for discussion after  your session than we did the previous session.   So first, I would like to invite the reactors  to turn on their web cams and I'll do a little   more full introduction than I did last time. The reactors we have Paul Baker, PhD is Senior  Director of Research and Strategic Innovation   at Georgia Tech Center for Advanced Communications  Policy and Interim Chief Operations Officer Center   for the Development and IOT Technologies.  He’s also a Principle Research Scientist  

within the School of Public Policy and Operations  Manager of the NIDILRR funded Rehabilitation   Engineering Research Center for Wireless  and Inclusive Technologies or Wireless RERC.   He is researching the role of innovation  networks in workforce development and policy   approaches for advancing technology and universal  accessibility goals for persons with disabilities   and the operation of communities with  practice and online communities and public   sector use of information and  communication technologies. Marta Garcia is bilingual Information  Media Specialist for NARIC, which is   a NIDILRR contractor. Marta has experience in  the development of digital content in English   and Spanish, social media analytics and account  management. As NARIC’s bilingual information media  

specialist Marta oversees NARIC Spanish language  social accounts and creates content that is seen   in the Spanish speaking disability community  around the world. Her strong background in   recreation therapy for the geriatric and  pediatric communities has instilled a   deep love for evidence based and innovative  interventions. One of her specialties is being   able to translate research and evidence-based  materials into Spanish social media bites. Hilda Smith is a queer, trans, and disabled  person who is a vanguard of radical social   justice work focused disability,  addiction and knowledge mobilization.   They recently finished their doctorate in  critical disability studies at York University.   This passion led them to explore how  knowledge moves between grass roots movements,   academics and policy makers. Hilda's research led  to work the school boards, research institutions,  

knowledge mobilization units, social planning  councils and community organizations.   Hilda became an expert in knowledge mobilization,  clear language, event promotion and relationship   building. An essential part of Hilda's  work has been exploring how anti oppression   can work alongside inclusion and accessibility  within knowledge mobilization. So we have a varied   group of reactors as you can see. And we have a  lot of interesting topics to see if we can cover. Marta let's start with you. Which of  the strategies that were mentioned   for creating engaging messages were most  important for you in your work at NARIC? >> MARTA GARCIA: Believe it or not, all of them.  

But, really all of them, but I would say probably  making it more making things more personable. For   example, when I speak about when I'm sharing  information from let's say the wireless RERC   I say our friends at instead of our colleagues.  Because that is just more humanizing,   I find. And I find that a lot of in the Spanish  speaking community, they go, oh, they are friends.   It makes the science and scientists more not  that they are not people, but more personable.   So, I think that is one of the biggest  ones that I have used as far as strategy. >> JOANN STARKS: Great. Thank you,  very much. Paul, in your role I'm  

sure you have to share information about  your work to a wide range of audiences.   And given that social media encompasses such  a wide range of platforms, audiences and use,   can you tell us how you choose the appropriate  platform for a given output and how do you assess   the efficacy of the approach? Are there  specific analytics tools that you employ? >> PAUL BAKER: During the last session  I talked about the analytic tools and   the same thing would hold true here. So I'll  focus on the first part. A lot of what we do,   a lot of what wireless RERC see and  advanced communication policy and CDATE does   is serve as interface for translational, much  like the center, translating technology to   policy makers and policy makers concerns  to technologist. It goes both directions.

One of the things that we use, we tend to  use social media again, as I said there was   social media as a data collection, social media  as recruitment, social media as dissemination.   The whole concept of networking was something  I neglected to mention because it wasn't as   pertinent to that particular presentation. One of the things that we do, for instance, is use   social media to draw attention. Like, we  do papers fairly frequently and Heather can  

probably tell you when you look at the building a  metrics of publication in scientific communities,   the typical paper that is published gets  one or two citations if you are lucky.  Partly is there is so much material published  people lose it. One of the powers of social   media is to take it and amplify. Our friends  at NARIC both in Spanish and English also   as part of what we are doing regularly we probably  disseminate across our different platforms   in different properties probably between  20 and 30 tweets a day for instance.   I do a lot of that across I manage or am  involved with eight different Twitter accounts.   You cross amplify them. For instance, let's say  we published a policy filing to NTIA or FCC.  

It's well and good, but five people will see  that. The other people who commented, the FCC,   but there may be things that you want. For  instance, we will publish the paper on your   website and start running through with Twitter.  We post it on LinkedIn and then tweet that it’s on   LinkedIn and that posts back to the website and  there is an amplification process that occurs. One of the things that we do regularly is to  follow and retweet colleagues or as Marta says,   our friends. If you don't have one of the  things one of my pieces of advice is for  

my colleagues is it doesn't matter if you  don't have new stuff to put up all the time.   Curate stuff. What you are doing is signaling not  just that you are experts by what you publish,   you are experts in a sense of that  which you understand and are able   to communicate. The curational  role is a very powerful role.   Different platforms are able to convey different  amounts and different flavors. Know your audience. When speaking to policy makers these days,  scientists and certain political parties   tend to make data based arguments which cause eyes  to glaze. You have to link telling a story to the   data. The hybrid approach tends to be effective.  The story catches their attention. The data, if  

you will, is what provides political ammunition.  Again, primarily my audience is policy makers.   I have gone on way too far. I hope  that at least addressed some of it. >> JOANN: I think that was great. I  like the way you tied the story telling   to the data and making it double useful that  way. Let's talk to Hilda now. This presentation  

really seems right up your alley as a knowledge  mobilization and clear language specialist. So in   your work with research institutions and community  organizations, how do you gauge the appropriate   tone and content messages for diverse audiences? >> HILDA SMITH: One of my things when comes to   messaging I believe in targeted messaging as  Heather mentioned. Trying to create something   for a general audience is really very difficult  and typically doesn't get picked up very well. So, when the resources exist, I  really like to kind of identify   kind of the top three to five kind of audiences  that you want to connect with. And then,   identify platforms or ways to connect with  them best. Of course, always if you can having   engagement and input by those people  into what the products will look like.

I will admit, especially when working with  community organizations or a researcher there   is not a lot of funds to do that broad, really  extensive piece. One of the things I like to do is   similar to what Paul was just talking about  is creating kind of different pieces that   interconnect and bring people in in different  ways. So if there is a published paper   or a presentation and you want to promote that,  I really like there being some kind of clear   language summary, easy to read document and that  can be what is shared on your social media and   becomes kind of this in between piece which  is easier for people to access. If they want   more information they can go to the larger journal  article or to the presentation that you have. Just   using these kind of steppingstone pieces that all  integrate and work together can be really great. >> JOANN STARKS: Thank you. We have a  couple questions coming from the audience  

directed to Heather. Wondering if you can comment  on the literature that shows support for the   deficit model in the better understanding  of the science and improve science literacy   can change attitudes towards science? >> HEATHER MANNIX: So I'm not familiar with  that research about sorting the deficit model,   but I will say that definitely having more  support I was just answering someone's question,   too, typing it along these lines.  There is a scope and place for   more education sort of about the  scientific process and about why   evidence matters and how science works and why it  works the way it does to build trust in science. I do think a lot of that comes from the  messengers as well. We live in a world where  

the messenger and the message  matters. It goes back to making it   clear and concise and making it understandable  to people. I think that is what we want to do   as good communicators and that is something we  should be focused on. There was a question earlier  

and I'll answer both of these at the same time.  Someone said, how can we become more a person   but avoid the personification of scientists? I  think by having that message that is what we can   do. You don't have to be super personal in how you  communicate if that is not your style. But it goes   back to some of the research I shared about jargon  where if you were giving someone something that   is hard to understand that has a lot of jargon  that causes people to have backlash against you,   they feel like they are on the outside looking  in instead of feeling like you are bringing   them into this conversation with you or into this  research or showing them why it matters to them. I think simply by doing that, by bringing them  into it and making them feel like a part of it   because they can understand what you are saying,  can go a long way to breaking down some of these   barriers and building trust, but not necessarily  having to be super personal or share personal   stories if, again, that is not your style.  Hopefully that can help answer your question.

>> JOANN STARKS: Thank you, very much. Another  question that came in and I'm sure everyone   would have a shot at answering this one. This came  in from the registration form. My organization   doubts the benefits of using social media.  How am I going to get them on board?   Would anyone like to take that question? >> PAUL BAKER: I just became chief operating  officer for a center and developmental of things.   It was old school. The newsletter that came out  and no social media. Very little engagement.   And, we brought up a Twitter feed that  went from zero right now it's only 150.  

But in a month and to be followed by the  Brooking Institute and some large people.   It's not how many followers, it's who is following  you is also important. One of the things I was   able to because I'm the COO, I get to decide  whether this is a good idea or not. We told our   board one of the things that was happening  was we were being picked up and amplified   and the awareness was going up. It was not  costing advertising money. It was staff time.

The thing is, the point I was trying  to make is what is the message   and what are you trying to get out?  There are a variety of ways of doing it   and putting all of your eggs in one basket  is not smart. In the real world it's not   smart with communication strategy and  not smart with research methodology. >> HEATHER MANNIX:   I can add something to that, too. I would be  curious to understand why they think social   media isn't effective. What is the hesitation?  Are they worried it's not a good use of time? In   my presentation I went through a lot of different  reasons why we hear why this might not be a good   fit or why people don't want to dive into social  media. I think pinpointing maybe a little bit  

where the hesitation is coming from and  why can help you kind of think about,   you know, providing examples or data to kind of  backup or say, maybe we can give this a try and   see at a different level at one of these lower  engagement levels and see how it goes from there.  But I would also say, again, it's where people  are, right? 72% of people use social media now.   By not using it I think you are missing  out on a big audience potentially. >> JOANN STARKS: I agree. Backlash is something  you just mentioned and that was also commented   on in our chat box. Is looking at the concept  of risk of those who identify them as female or  

LBGTQ or persons of color. The example you gave  was someone who identified as male. Who would   like to comment on the concept of backlash and who  might be more at risk of suffering from backlash?   Hilda, would you like to start? >> HILDA SMITH: So, we know that any time  there is backlash online it can happen   to anyone. But typically does happen to people who  are viewed or fit within marginalized communities   just because they are marginalized  already. That is something that is good to  

think about. One thing that in my  especially with my anti oppression work,   I recommend anyone who has a plan for engaging  with social media has some sort of training and   support for people monitoring or working on social  media, so they know who their coworkers are. They   can go and talk about issues and supervisors to  pull in for support. It's important to think about   what happens when backlash happens?  What happens when it's directed at   the organization? What happens if it's directed  at a specific individual at the organization? So, if it happens, you are not surprised.  You can automatically say, okay, this is   what we are doing to help sort the situation  and to support the people who are involved.  

And that is unfortunately just because of the  way social media is setup and something we need   to think about when we talk about social media  policies and projects when we work with them. >> JOANN STARKS: Thank you. Marta, do you have  anything you might like to add in this discussion? >> MARTA GARCIA: Yes. And I agree with Hilda.  Having those policies in place is definitely very   important. Thankfully, knock on wood we  haven't received any backlash at NARIC   as far as the Spanish language side or  English as far as I'm aware. We make sure to   have those policies in place if it does  happen I know I can go to my boss. Or  

Mark Odum is the director of  NARIC. I know where I can go to   talk about that. I know what I can do  to respond. But like I said, we have   been very lucky and haven't had that.  But we also try to support our followers. Let's say I tweet about something in  NARIC in Spanish and someone comments   and there is a backlash about that  comment. I know there are procedures I   can take within NARIC to support that person  or organization that got the backlash. >> JOANN STARKS: Right. There is a comment in  the chat box there are so many levels of approval  

before posting things on social media that it's  almost not worth the trouble. I can see where that   can definitely be an issue in some organizations.  So you are taking care of that risk, but it might   be right where it becomes more problematic  than the benefit that you are hoping to get.   We are just about out of time, but we do have  a couple minutes left. Heather, I wanted to ask  

you if you had any further comments you  wanted to make to close out the session? >> HEATHER MANNIX: I don't think  so. Please check out the resources   we have on our website. There is a lot  there that goes into more detail. And   I hope that you take some chances and maybe try  doing social media or some kind of communication   that you might not have done before. Because  I think that is where we learn and grow,  

and we are taking those risks. It's super worth  it. I think I'll just leave with that thought.

2021-02-19

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