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She knows if she can captivate readers past the headline on a clear, dry day, she\u2019s doing something right. If there\u2019s a storm system rolling in\u2014an occurrence that happened all too frequently this fall with the near record-breaking hurricane season— then readers making it to the third paragraph is considered a success.<\/p>\n
In short\u2014because that\u2019s all the character space she has\u2014Angela Fritz, editor and forecast meteorologist for Capital Weather Gang , knows \u201cthe kinds of things people want to be hearing about\u201d with regards to science communication.<\/p>\n
On Sept. 28, Fritz decided to impart some of that knowledge to the faculty and students of the Atmospheric Oceanic Science department in ATL 3400. She demonstrated through website statistics how different stories either got readers to scroll down to the bottom of the page \u2013or how the cluttered sense of jargon lost them right from the top. \u201cAs they say in Silicon Valley,\u201d Fritz quipped, \u201cFail fast\u2014and then learn from those mistakes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cDon\u2019t be afraid of the feedback,\u201d Fritz advised. For this reason, Fritz will often use the comments section as a gauge to how well her readers perceived a weather phenomena story. \u201cSome of our best stories have originated from the fact that three people will ask the same question in the comments section,\u201d Fritz said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI learn new things from our commentary every day,\u201d said Fritz, \u201cEveryday.\u201d<\/p>\n
A recent challenge was the communication of this season\u2019s trajectory of hurricane storms with the most recent ones including Harvey, Irma, Jose, and Maria and Nate. \u201cIt\u2019s really difficult to explain to people a hurricane is a new storm every time,\u201d said Fritz. Explaining how Irma and Harvey were two different beasts was \u201ca communication challenge to be sure.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI wrote a forecast about Irma and someone said \u2018Lies!\u2019 underneath it in the comments section,\u201d said Fritz.<\/p>\n
Dr. Tim Canty asked Fritz if it is a group decision whether to respond to a comment.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was an editorial post decision that we are going to do comments,\u201d said Fritz, \u201cWe want it to be an active and civil and engaging community. And you can be funny and engaging without being disrespectful.\u201d<\/p>\n
Kevin Dougherty, a senior and writer for UMD Weather\u00a0asked Fritz how in this day and age to capture readers\u2019 attentions when headlines, such as the Kardashians, proliferate the media. \u201cYou\u2019re competing with juicy tabloid headlines\u2026how long does it take you to come up with a headline that competes with that?\u201d he asked.<\/p>\n
\u201cI will say that I don\u2019t know if necessarily my audience overlaps with Kim\u2019s audience\u2014maybe during a hurricane,\u201d said Fritz. \u201cBut sometimes I think of a headline right off the bat. I think of a story idea and that\u2019s my headline. Sometimes I think this is a really interesting story but I cannot for the life of me think up any headline in 80 characters by the way, that\u2019s our limit.\u201d<\/p>\n
In these situations, Fritz suggests holding headline workshops or on a more informal scale just sharing headlines with a peer.<\/p>\n
\u201cPass your titles around, pass your talks around,\u201d Fritz advised.<\/p>\n
Fritz also suggests talking to non-science majors or professions about science phenomena at least once a day to improve communication skills. She also advised giving a talk at conferences even if \u201cit\u2019s so nerve-wracking.\u201d<\/p>\n
These are all stepping stones towards improved communication regarding forecasts and research.<\/p>\n
“We need to be covering science in an interesting way,” said Fritz.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
She knows if she can captivate readers past the headline on a clear, dry day, she\u2019s doing something right. If there\u2019s a storm system rolling in\u2014an occurrence that happened all too frequently this fall with the near record-breaking hurricane season—…
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