"Writing for the Public" at ThinkTank

Late last week I was reading through the College of Engineering and Physical Sciences' newsletter and saw a "Writing for the Public" afternoon workshop at ThinkTank advertised. After enquiring, I discovered it was only for staff members, but then at the last minute I was told there was enough room on the course for me to go! The course was funded by the EPSRC, giving me yet another reason to be very grateful to them. So I eagerly headed back to ThinkTank for the second time in a week, keen to learn about how they make their science exhibits so appealing to the general public. 

Kenny Webster (@KennyWebster) was leading the workshop and began by showing us their "News Releases" exhibition. This is a touch screen which displays scientific news stories - the visitor sees a list of pictures and headlines, and then taps through to read the "article". I use quotation marks as they are less than 100 words long! These are usually 3 pages of around 30 words each and give a snapshot of current research, as they are one of the exhibits in the museum that can be updated very quickly. So quickly, in fact, that we were then told that the articles we wrote during the session would go live in the museum the next morning - very exciting, but also quite nerve-wracking! 

Luckily, before we started writing, we were given some tips on how to make our stories stick in people's minds once they had left the museum: how to make them "sticky". As with any workshop, there came an acronym, so hear is the path to SUCCESS:

• S is for Simple (although the word Clear is more appropriate, as ThinkTank are keen not to dumb-down science). The articles should be about one topic and the core message should be possible to explain in a sentence. 
• U is for Unexpected. Everyone loves a bit of mystery, and it's a great way to encourage people to read further, however it must be something that is surprising to the general public: it is important to think about what they already know. Is it possible to create a knowledge gap and then fill it?
• C is for Credible. Can you add details that show the information is from a trusted authority? Be wary of statistics and units: changing something from tonnes to elephants doesn't necessarily make it more accessible!
• C is for Concrete. Give people something tangible, that they can relate to. This led onto an excellent discussion on the use of nouns. (Now there's a sentence I never thought I'd say....!) For instance, "bicycle" is much easier to think about than "justice". The noun that prompted the discussion was "excellence" which we decided could mean whatever you wanted it to! 
• E is not for Excellence, but for Emotional. Why should someone care? Because they have self interest in the story? Because they can associate themselves with the characters involved? Or does it effect people like them?
• S is for Story. I remember reading an interview with Ed Yong, about the power of a story, and how they can always hold your attention, even when you're exhausted in an airport waiting lounge. Offer the reader a structure, allow people to "live" the article, and they'll be with you until the end. 

After hearing these words of wisdom, we were encouraged to go off and write our own piece for the museum. I say write, but most of my time was spent deleting! The course began with a quote from Pascal: "If I'd have had more time, I'd have written less", and this became very relevant once we began! 

I decided to write a piece not on my own research, but on a topic that had proved "sticky" for me in the past: bacteria that can sift through waste water and selectively collect palladium at their surface, forming metallic "jackets". A colleague of mine from the Doctoral Training Centre, James Courtney (@jmc991) spoke about it during his FameLab audition last year (you can watch it here) and I loved the idea of bacteria with bling. 

After about 45 minutes, and reading this article over and over, I managed to cut the story down, and this is what I ended up with: 

Bacteria with bling

Kevin Deplanche

Metals like palladium and gold are used a lot: from cars to jewellery. But supplies are running low and because of this, they are getting more and more expensive.

Researchers at the University of Birmingham have found bacteria that collect these metals at their surface and form a jacket of gold or palladium around them.

These bacteria can be used to collect precious metals from industrial waste, reducing the need for mining and lowering the cost.

So if you're wondering around ThinkTank in the next few weeks and see the above on the "News Release" screen, then you know where it came from! I definitely plan to write some more: watch this space!