| My Philosophy & Thoughts on Science Communication |
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Eric B. Brennan
My Philosophy & Thoughts on Science Communication 
Link to my 2024 paper on science communication (“I” versus “the author”: The power of first-person voice when writing about science. Proc. Nat. Acad. Sci. 121:e2316966121.)
My science communication philosophy and approach can be summarized in three things, BAMBOO, OIL & ICE CREAM. Here's a short, thought-provoking video where I describe this. (See more details below).
(Bamboo, Oil & Ice Cream! Why Scientists Need to be on YouTube_
Here's a Link to my first peer-reviewed paper on effective science communication. This paper has lots of good science communication references and a detailed table that answers 27 practical questions to help scientists make DIY videos and manage them on YouTube.
To solve big challenges like sustainable food production, health care for all & human-caused climate change that are critical for the survival of our children & species, I believe that scientists like me need to do a much better job of communicating our research results. These efforts need to go far beyond the traditional peer-reviewed scientific publications that is often considered the gold standard for science communication. The need for more effective communication of science seems especially true for the agricultural sciences where farmers and the general public are primary stakeholders and adopters of the research.
I enjoy writing papers that describe my research results, and this is a critical part of my job, BUT few people read them other than scientists within my specific area of research. Therefore, much of my research was not being used on farms where it needed most. So in 2013 I decided to radically change how I communicated my science, & I began my journey to learn to make DIY videos for YouTube.
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I like to use video:
- to help farmers learn about my research in an interesting, efficient & convenient way so that they can improve their systems,
- to increase the impact of my research in colorful ways that go far beyond what is found in my publications
- to educate the public about the complexity of sustainable food production
- to try to nudge fellow scientists to move beyond DeathByPowerPoint that is unfortunately still common at most science conferences. See cartoon below :(
- to encourage scientists give more interactive presentations at conferences using the VLT (Video-Let's-Talk) presentation method that I developed.
- to encourage fellow scientists to use the first-person voice in their writing (here's a video I made on this :).
- to inspire young people to consider a STEAM career. This includes people like me with learning challenges (i.e., difficulty with reading) that may be visual, out of the box
thinkers. - to make my presentations accessible to people with disabilities.
- to make my science presentation Open Access.
- to reduce misinformation and encourage critical thinking skills.
I became a scientist to help farmers, inspired in large part by my experiences growing up in a rural, subsistence agricultural community in Papua New Guinea, and my subsequent work in with small-scale farmers in agroforestry in Thailand during my nearly 4 years of service as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Thailand. Video enables me to share my research with farmers, scientist and others throughout the world and have a much greater impact than if the research remained in libraries (physical and virtual) that are accessible to relatively few fortunate people. Learning to make videos has been a wonderfully creative & fun experience, & I've never looked back. My videos are not perfect & I'm constantly working to learn new methods.
If you're a scientist I hope you'll be vulnerable, get out of your comfort zone, and take the risk of sharing your good work with the world via video. I believe that it will make you a better communicator and scientist because you'll have to watch yourself, and it will make the world a better place because you'll be sharing your life's work with a much broader audience.
Thanks for reading this. Take care and I look forward to seeing you on 
.
Eric Brennan
P.S. To help you get started, and learn from my mistakes and unconventional approach to video making, I began this my new video series (DIY Video Making Tips for Teachers, Scientists & Others). Feel free to reach out to me with suggestions for topics for me to cover in future DIY videos.
