Transcript World Meteorological Organization Working together in

World Meteorological Organization
Working together in weather, climate and water
WMO
Effectively communicating
science
By Clare Nullis, CPA
The reader: Empowered?
WMO
Changing media
• Media has changed beyond all recognition in past decade
• Massive shift away from print newspapers eg Associated Press
has made many writers redundant in favour of video journalists
• Increase in coverage of celebrities and sport has displaced
“serious” reporting on issues like climate change
Social media
• Current events in the Middle East have
highlighted the power of social media such
as Twitter and Facebook
• WMO partners and members increasingly
embracing such social media
Tweets from NASA
EarthVitalSigns
Lots going on in Egypt. Including this dust storm:
http://bit.ly/eNpgXg 4:45 PM Jan 31st via web
RT @jorge_salzar Exquisite corpses of 500-yr-old
Andean children http://bit.ly/gO1GWP revealed
from #climate change via @NobleIdeas
UK Met Office on Facebook
• Met Office If you're interested in the latest updates on hurricanes and
cyclones around the world you can follow our Twitterfeed
@metofficestorms
• Pat Paddy Whitaker Were there any reports of twisters in Mid or East
Lothian today?
• Met Office I've had a word with our forecasters and they think it was
unlikely they were tornadoes or funnel clouds as the weather
conditions weren't right - the pressure was too high. But it's always
worth checking with us and if you took any photos you can send them
in to [email protected]. Have a good weekend ^SL
Our audience
• We are not just communicating to journalists but to a
wider audience that includes policy makers and
potential donors.
• Transport or defence ministers can’t be expected to
understand complex meteorological terms, but they
often control the purse strings for spending on NMHSs.
We need to target our messaging accordingly if we are
to convince them to spend $1 million on disaster
prevention than $100 million on disaster relief.
Wider audience analysis
• Active Supporters
• Champions
• Passive Supporters
• Silent Boosters
• Passive Resisters
• Avoiders
• Active Resisters
• Blockers
The Home Firsts
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The defining characteristic of a Home First is that they are somewhat
interested in the world beyond their borders and what things ‘out there’ might
mean for their country. They are not consistently interested or informed about
global issues, but;
Home Firsts’ latent interest is sparked by clear opportunities or threats to
their personal or national interest.
Either the Cynics will touch their fear of change, or the Activists will fire their
imagination with opportunities. The potential and the dangers are immediately
obvious.
The Home Firsts make up the vast majority of every population dwarfing
both the Global Cynics and Activists. They are strongly influenced by the
media and by ‘commonly held’ views.
The Home Firsts are receiving both Global Cynic and Global Activist
messages – and they could fall either way.
Source: www.futerra.co.uk
From scientist to salesman
• According to Futerra, communicating climate
change is no longer a scientist’s problem - it’s now
a salesman’s problem.
• It says instead of focussing on the gloom and
doom of climate change catatastrophes, we should
concentrate on changing hearts, minds and even
behaviours.
• We need to demonstrate that alternatives do exist
GFCS
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Solid decisions about are based on solid
knowledge. The Global Framework for Climate
Services is to provide state-of-the-art climate
information to make the best choices to adapt to
climate change.
The GFCS is the GPS for our future.
Already a lot of climate information exists that
can guide communities and decision-makers.
We need more information and we need to make
sure it reaches people who need it most at
regional and local level.
Spreading the message
• Too many weather and climate products
are shrouded in a cloud of acronyms
and jargon
• We need to communicate climate
science, clearly for people to
understand what is in it for them.
Writing tips
Summarize first!
Readers feedback
• «I realize science is not easy to explain and
that you need to bring out dry facts.
However, since your important message
needs to reach average individuals, wouldn’t
it benefit from simplified terms or at least a
simple explanation of difficult terms »
A journalist’s comment
• The challenge lies in translating WMO
jargon into something that our readers can
understand
And another one
• “What is radiative forcing? Can you give me a one
line explanation that I can tack into my story?”
Keeping it simple
• Michio Caku, professor of theoretical physics at City University of
New York, on US winter storms and global warming, CNN
• “There are vastly different weather patterns around the world.
But realize that global warming causes swings in the weather, not a
uniform rise in world temperature. Think of pushing a child on a
swing. By adding more energy by pushing the child farther, the
child does not suddenly rise and stop in midair. Instead, the
oscillations and swinging increase.
• Similarly, the main consequence of global warming is not warming
at all but instead increasingly violent swings in the weather, with
droughts and famine in one area occurring at the same time as
flooding in another, and snowstorms in one region at the same time
as hot spells in another.”
Web site
• Web site should be regarded as a visiting
card rather than a document storage centre.
It is the public face of the organization and
should be groomed accordingly
Less is more
•
“The most important decisions in web
management are what you don’t do;
what you take away from your website, rather
than put up on it.”
Web minimalism, G. McGovern
A nice example
NASA / grabs attention from the first hit
http://climate.nasa.gov/
http://climate.nasa.gov/stateOfFlux/index.c
fm - a picture tells a thousand words
http://climate.nasa.gov/kids/climateTales classroom friendly climate communication
And finally………..
• The second Maldives consultation was particular
ly useful from the perspective of the third adhoc committee on road safety. Various nongovernmental players expressed unified support
through their official and unofficial representative
for a compact to promote the use of impactmitigating restraining devices. Consensus on the
most efficacious format for M&E for the
proposed campaign in different societal sectors
was not reached.