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The Spoken Word: An adaptable model for science communication and lab outreach in the language sciences
Poster Session D, Saturday, September 13, 5:00 - 6:30 pm, Field House
Portia Washington1, Emily Myers1,2, Hannah Mechtenberg1; 1Department of Psychological Sciences, University of Connecticut, 2Department of Speech, Language, and Hearing Sciences, University of Connecticut
INTRODUCTION. As language scientists, how does our work percolate out to non-academic audiences? Here, we introduce The Spoken Word—a research magazine designed to make language research more accessible to non-scientists—and provide an adaptable model to improve our field’s connection with a curious public. This publication began as a short newsletter in 2018 and has since grown into a full-fledged magazine published yearly in print and online. The articles transform language research—including basic research into the neurobiology of speech, language, and aphasia—into vibrant stories of hope, wonder, resilience, curiosity, and discovery intended for non-expert audiences. The motivations for this publication are two-fold. While we aim to create content that is broadly accessible, our primary audience are people with aphasia and their caregivers. Each issue has several foci: highlighting cutting-edge research on aphasia and ‘how language works’ to help our readers advocate for themselves in clinical settings and beyond and to show that engaging in language research leads to tangible and interesting discoveries that improve lives. Just as importantly, every article in The Spoken Word is written by undergraduate students invested in language science. Complex communication is a skill, and one that is essential for future academics, clinicians, and thinkers. Purposeful training in communication better prepares our students to engage their audiences with nuance and compassion. The Spoken Word continues to grow as it finds new ways to serve our readers, giving the neurobiology of language the spotlight it deserves. METHODS. As part of our goals with our research digest, we have developed a science outreach model that makes our materials publicly available for other labs to create their own magazine, which is currently hosted on OSF. These materials include previous issues, a two-semester curriculum that provides week-by-week instruction and assignments that leads novice science communicators from start to a polished public-facing article, and example assignments. We recognize that labs, and individual scientists, often want to engage with public audiences about their work but often don’t know where to start. This open-source model provides a beginner-friendly framework that labs can use to kick-start their own outreach efforts—one which we hope to share with SNL attendees. We have also solicited feedback from readers, via survey and interview, to better understand if our research magazine covers language science topics that our readers are interested in. From that feedback we have made several changes, including making audio recordings of each article available on Spotify and our lab website. SIGNIFICANCE. From basic science exploring the neurobiology of speech perception to evaluating clinical treatments for aphasia, communicating what we discover and how we discover it is an essential component to science. Amidst a growing anti-science culture, especially in the United States, scientists will need to invite the public to engage with science and be sure to listen to their questions and concerns. By increasing the ease of outreach, we can all work towards a society that values scientific insights writ large; including those made in the language sciences.
Topic Areas: Development of Resources, Software, Educational Materials, etc., Disorders: Acquired