THE QUEST FOR CONTEXT

1. THE QUEST FOR CONTEXT Bruce Dorminey

2. WHAT IS MEANT BY CONTEXT?

3. CONTEXT IS THE LARGER PICTURE THE STATED SIGNIFICANCE THAT GIVES SOME MEASURE OF TRANSCENDENCE TO THE RESEARCH

4. THE BIG PICTURE • THE LARGER CONTEXT HINGES ON LINKING AN INDIVIDUAL DISCOVERY TO LARGER ASTRONOMICAL ISSUES • RESEARCHERS USUALLY DO SOME OF THIS AT THE BEGINNING OF THEIR REFEREED PAPERS

5. EFFECTIVELY LINKING INDIVIDUAL RESEARCH TO ASTRONOMY AS A WHOLE • HERE ARE THREE RANDOM EXAMPLES OF WHAT MIGHT GENERATE POSSIBLE NEWS STORIES: • NEW STELLAR SPECTRA; • DISCOVERIES OF NEW KUIPER BELT OBJECTS; • COLLIDING GALAXIES;

6. PUBLIC IS ALREADY SUFFERING INFORMATION OVERLOAD • PROBLEM COMPOUNDED BY THE FACT THAT DISCOVERIES ARE INHERENTLY REPORTED IN A PIECEMEAL FASHION THE UNIVERSE HAS PROGRESSED FROM AN INFINITE SINGULARITY TO THE COMPLEXITY OF PLANET EARTH UNLIKE A WELL-PLOTTED THRILLER, PUBLIC MUST PROCESS ASTRONOMY NEWS IN A NON-SEQUENTIAL FASHION

7. PROBLEM COMPOUNDED BY INHERENT TENSION BETWEEN MEDIA AND ASTRONOMERS • JOURNALISTS NEED COMPELLING COPY TO KEEP THEIR EDITORS AND READERS HAPPY • ASTRONOMICAL RESEARCHERS NEED TO KEEP THEIR PEERS AND COLLABORATORS HAPPY

8. CONFLICTING GOALS • ASTRONOMERS PRESENT THEIR PEER-REVIEWED WORK IN THE SCIENTIFIC LITERATURE • ARGUABLY, THEIR PRIMARY MOTIVATION IS TO FURTHER SCIENTIFIC DISCUSSION AMONG THEIR PEERS

9. An astronomer’s secondary goals in dealing with the Media • RAISING THEIR RESEARCH’S PUBLIC PROFILE, A PRIORITY FOR THEIR SPONSORING INSTITUTION • USEFUL WHEN SECURING FUNDING; • SOMETIMES EVEN USEFUL INSIDE THE SCIENTIFIC COMMUNITY, IF THEIR PEERS SEE THEM AS EFFECTIVE COMMUNICATORS AND LEADERS

10. SEARCH FOR LUNAR WATER

11. Lunar water coverage • Most coverage of Chandrayaan-1 spacecraft’s putative detection of water on the lunar surface failed to offer context. • SPECIFICALLY, about how the researchers actually believed the water was being formed – via interaction of solar wind protons and the lunar surface • But much of the media reported it as if this water was in such quantities that it would be plentiful just under the surface • Public was further confused by NASA’s decision to crash the LCROSS spacecraft into Cabeus crater to look for signatures of water when the Indians had already found water en masse • Media failed to give real context between these two types of water – one spread across much of the lunar surface; the other hidden in a permanently shaded crater as water ice

12. SHOULD BE A HIGH PRIORITY FOR SCIENCE JOURNALISTS SHOULD BECOME A HIGHER PRIORITY FOR RESEARCHERS THEMSELVES PROVIDING THE PROPER CONTEXT

13. MEDIA’S RESPONSIBILITY IN PROVIDING CONTEXT • IDEALLY, JOURNALISTS SHOULD PROVIDE CONTEXT TO HELP READERS UNDERSTAND RESEARCH’S SIGNIFICANCE THIS ISN’T ALWAYS THE CASE. • PRINT ARTICLES ARE SHRINKING BY THE DAY, AND ONLINE REPORTING IS OFTEN CURSORY AT BEST

14. HOW CAN ASTRONOMERS HELP? FIRST, RECOGNIZE THE NEED AND THE PROBLEM

15. FEAR OF OVERSTATING THEIR CASE • RESEARCHERS ARE INHERENTLY MORE RETICENT ABOUT ASSIGNING CONTEXT TO THEIR DISCOVERIES THAN JOURNALISTS PRESS RELEASES OFTEN INTERPRET THE SCIENTIFIC DATA AND RESULTS BEYOND WHAT IS ACTUALLY STATED IN THE REFEREED PAPER

16. GETTING TO WHY • PUBLIC AFFAIRS OFFICERS NEED A STRONG NEWS HOOKS TO ATTRACT MEDIA • BUT WITH PROPER CONTEXT, ALMOST ANY DISCOVERY CAN BE MADE FASCINATINGLY RELEVANT

17. WHAT WILL THE PUBLIC ACTUALLY READ? IS IT REALLY SUCH A CONUNDRUM?

18. Black holes & SETI • Editors seem to think the mainstream public is only interested in a few hot button topics: • Black holes of any stripe • Mars • SETI (Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence) • I disagree…

19. SPLIT FOCUS • PUBLIC’S FOCUS IS SPLIT IN A THOUSAND DIFFERENT DIRECTIONS ALREADY. • HOW DO YOU GRAB THEIR ATTENTION? GIVE THEM CONTEXT…

20. Astronomy holds a winning hand • Astronomy is wonderfully multi-disciplinary • Mind-boggling in a way that beats the best science fiction • What can trump the fact that we are still evolving from an event happening 13.7 billion years ago?

21. SELLING THE ESOTERIC • What about more esoteric studies? Examples: • spectra of low metallicity stars; • chemical composition of lunar regolith; • new spectra from solar analogs at end of main sequence

22. ANSWER • One answer might be: • Each contributes to our knowledge of the chemical evolution and enrichment history of the universe, our galaxy and in the case of the lunar regolith, the composition of our inner solar system 4 billion years ago.

23. RISKS OF REPORTING WITHOUT CONTEXT • FAILURE TO FIND THE PROPER CONTEXT CAN RESULT IN THE MEDIA MISINTERPRETING ASTRONOMICAL RESEARCH • OR IN THE CASE OF A PRESS RELEASE LACKING CONTEXT; IGNORING IT ALTOGETHER

24. THE REAL WORLD • JOURNALISTS MUST WRITE COMPELLING EASILY-DIGESTIBLE COPY • ASTRONOMERS WRITE FOR THEIR PEERS • TO BRIDGE THE GAP, JOURNALISTS MUST COAX RESEARCHERS INTO EDUCATED SPECULATION

25. WHY SPECULATE? • JOURNALISTS NEED RESEARCHERS TO OFFER SPECULATION THAT GOES BEYOND THE BOUNDS OF THEIR IMMEDIATE RESEARCH • TO OFFER TWO OR THREE SCENARIOS ABOUT THE IMPLICATIONS OF THEIR RESEARCH

26. Context at Rainbow’s end • Public better served by article with some amount of real context • In providing it, astronomers give the public insight into their research’s actual limitations • And their research’s real implications