ConMunity Engagement: Bringing science to the con

Science outreach is an important part of all cons, whether convention or a conference. There should be different goals at each but both should have it represented somewhere. Outreach is a common part of science and in many cases there are ‘tried and true’ methods for outreach, such as the public lecture or the museum demonstration day. Unfortunately, these events involve the same thing as teaching a class, with the academic deciding the agenda and the pupils, or public, looking at them in awe. With the plethora of platforms for scientists to take advantage of now and the attacks on science at the Federal level, these are not enough for sciences to stay engaged with the public.

Therefore, I encourage scientific conferences, or meetings, to have outreach as an regular,n ongoing, topic of discussion. At professional meetings, I suggest scientists discuss new methods for outreach, what ideas or topics should be the focus of outreach, and identify the importance and/or value of outreach to the academic and to the field. These are important to explore amongst other academics because it allows whole disciplines to consider what aspects are the most important to convey to the public. It also allows us to explore the pros and cons of different outreach methods as well as tailor certain platforms to particular types of outreach.

I’m pursuing this through a forum I organized that will be held at the Society for American Archaeology meetings in April. Another group that is doing something is the newly established and first #AnthropologyCon that will happen at the American Anthropological Association meeting this year. Forums and events like these provide platforms to explore innovative methods for other academics to figure out what methods will work for them and their work. These interactions between academics also allow us to create networks of professionals that, after the conference or meeting, will be able to help navigate bumps down the road with particular methods and help to provide a group to workshop ideas with at a distance.

Of course, the goal of meetings, forums, and events such as those mentioned previously would be to do the actual outreach. One place that I highly recommend doing this is at conventions, comics or just “geek” ones in general. These are places where you can have panels of scientists or scientists and creators open to the public; hands on activities relating to your science (or the rest of the TEAM); and demonstrate new teaching materials like board games or other outreach platforms like video game visualizations.

Come see me moderate @geniusbeee @backthatelfup @syrrann @sarahmiyoko @GeekGirlCon In fifteen in Furiosa talking about mixed race characters

— Paulina the PhD Candidate (now w/ more character) (@punuckish) October 1, 2017

This is something I have already started doing. While anthropology makes this pretty easy, because conventions are cultural events, blending the expertise of creators and scientists of all types hold great potential for outreach. At comics or science fiction conventions, panels can be organized by anyone and can include scientists, creators, critics, and anyone else who is interested in putting people together to talk about a topic. Conventions represent a unique place to bring scientific topics to a willing audience and we can do our best academic public outreach by involving a wide range of stakeholders. Additionally, almost all panels have a dedicated time set up for questions and answers so dialogue with the public is more open, rather than just having one person lecture. While the topic is often up to the organizer, that person is not always the scientist and panels allow for more discourse to flow between the panelists who may be from different backgrounds.

It is important to have dialogue about science outreach at both conventions and conferences because often as academics and as professionals we’re put on pedestals. Primarily, our work happens “under the hood” or behind a curtain because of academic publishing paywalls. So, unless people enroll in college classes or buy much to expensive access to academic databases, the dissemination of scientific knowledge is rather limited. Conventions allow us to go beyond the classroom to bring our knowledge to a wider audience because it brings us to the public and puts them, to a degree, in control over what gets discussed. It is important also for us to develop better teaching methods to cater to new generations and take advantage of many ways of learning and as temporary events, they allow us to see if certain methods work and which ones don't.

Lastly, it’s important in these discussions to be aware of the representation that your group is portraying. This means remembering diversity in regards to age, gender, race, and regional knowledge when organizing forums, meetings, or panels. This is because when it comes to outreach at public events that those we are trying to inspire physically see themselves represented. For example, it may be hard to convince the public that you are “de-colonizing” an issue if all of your presenters come from colonizing backgrounds or on cultural appropriation if a majority of you participants are white. Keeping this in mind will help to promote diversity in whatever field is being discussed and help make sense more accessible to all.

Attending without Attending: Twitter as replacement for attending a conference

I may have mentioned this before but I’m an archaeology PhD student and I’ve been using this blog to explore my interests in sci-fi and anthropology. In the last few days, or more by the time anyone reads this, my two interests collided on my twitter feed. Although I was probably the only person excited to be missing both Emerald City Comic Con and the Society for American Archaeology meetings, it was actually a great way to experience both events simultaneously.

While I considered attending both events, I went to neither but found that twitter provided much of the excitement of attending without shelling out the dough to do so. The only reason that was possible though was because there were a dedicated group of individuals at both convention and conference that were tweeting about the goings on at each. So, while I haven’t heard a single panel or attended a paper talk, I got to experience and comment on some cool new things happening in both areas.

I really enjoy comic conventions but they always a mix of awesome and horrible. Awesome to see comics creators, look at or wear cosplay, and buy exclusive art. Horrible to be in crowds, the price of food, and the lack of places to sit when you are tired. So I’ve “been” to a few comic cons now using twitter, following friends or creators through their attendance. And it’s been great, I get a cross section of the panels that were highlighted, see great cosplay of characters , and see the great commissions and prints that people pick up along the way. This of course doesn’t replace the feeling of actually being there and getting a duck-face selfie with a favorite writer but it’s a more relaxing and cheaper way to stay involved with the comics community.

I had become accustomed to this with comics conventions but this was the first time that I used twitter to "attend" a major archaeological conference. I went to and presented at three conferences within the last year so the idea of another seemed absurd. So I vicariously attended by following a great group of archaeologists who tweet and following the #saa2016.

Although it doesn’t replace being there and getting to share a beer and talk about the moon, it did give me a great way of interacting with new archaeological research and issues in archaeology. And in some ways, it was better than attending the actual conference. I got to see tweets about a lot of new research and examine how the archaeologists I followed absorbed those talks. It also highlighted some interesting things about archaeologists on twitter. Namely, the ones who use it to livetweet are also the ones who care about many of the same things I do: education, ethics, digital mediums, and preservation in archaeology.

It was awesome to see so many people interested in changing the culture of the field talking with each other and collaborating via Twitter. It also made me realize how rich the SAAs could be if more archaeologists collaborated via this social media platform. It is a very easy way to get research into the public sphere, which is part of the mission of archaeology, and allows direct discussion amongst peers in a relaxed environment. I have many classmates who have twitter accounts but few of them use it to share their research and conference experiences. Maybe it’s not important to them that their research gets this sort of press but it does tend to skew the social media, twitter-sphere, of archaeology to those already interested in digital mediums rather than representing a true cross section of the discipline.

That self-selection both in comics and in archaeology makes me wonder what I missed from the two cons but it gave me a great chance to experience both without leaving my home. While it would have been better to attend one or the other, seeing the other on twitter, their representation in social media is important to keep those who can't attend informed and use it as public outreach.