ASC2020 - 16-19 Feb, Melbourne

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Supercomputer Communication – A Website Redesign Case-Study

In 2019, Australia’s peak supercomputing organisation, the National Computational Infrastructure, redeveloped its website in anticipation of significant public and government attention. This presentation will provide a case study for how careful decision-making, attention to context and audience, and communication instincts helped produce a refreshed and functional website suited to a high-profile digital science infrastructure facility.

 

What will participants gain from attending your presentation?

This presentation aims to give a concrete insight into the process of developing, designing and managing a website redevelopment for a scientific organisation.

 

Presenter

Adam Huttner-Koros, Communications Officer, National Computational Infrastructure

 

When: In session Wednesday 19th February, 1:50pm-2:35pm
Where: Room G02, Learning and Teaching Building, 19 Ancora Imparo Way, Clayton
Hashtag: TBC

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Changing environmental behaviours, using ABC’s War on Waste as a case study

The first season of ABC’s War on Waste led to an immediate funding boost of $1.2 million dollars to organisations that rescue food, Responsible Cafes increased from 400 registered cafes to 1,400 almost overnight, and KeepCup reported a 400% increase in sales the week after War on Waste aired.

So how did the series do it?

One of the most interesting findings of the ABC’s 2018 War on Waste survey found that millennials—those aged between 18 and 34—produce more waste in their households compared to all other generations. This survey was one of Australia’s largest ever studies on waste behaviour change and was completed by 36,722 participants around the country.

Millennials were more likely to have thrown out rotting food, thrown food scraps into the general waste, placed recyclables in the general waste and purchased fruit and vegetables in plastic bags or trays. Yet when it came to using BYO coffee cups instead of disposable and non-recyclable coffee cups, millennials outperformed all other generations.

So why, out of all the environmental behaviours in War on Waste, was the BYO coffee cup adopted more than others? And how exactly did the War on Waste provoke this change in behaviour in millennials?

We asked Melbourne millennials their thoughts in a one-hour focus group.

Engaging storytelling, non-preachy tones, gentle learning curve, a joint-learning experience with the host, relatable contexts, targeting consumers, businesses and government and step-by-step guides on how to change behaviour, all played a key role.

But one of the main findings was that these preferences aren’t unique to Melbourne millennials—other generations make decisions in the same ways. Findings demonstrate overall consistencies with existing theories about edutainment interventions and cognitive processing.

We’ve put together some practical tips to help waste education practitioners engage communities in waste issues, using War on Waste as a case study.

Learn about new insights on:
-striking the right tone in a waste education campaign
-choosing pro-environmental behaviours that are most likely to be adopted -inspiring change on issues perceived to be too overwhelming
-the psychology on how we make decisions

Entertainment-Education (edutainment) interventions are communication strategies that have a predetermined educational or persuasive outcome, and aim to motivate and inspire social change.

 

What will participants gain from attending your presentation?
Attendees will learn about new insights and practical tips on how to engage communities on complex topics, and learn the latest on edutainment communication research. The presentation will outline a practical step-by-step framework that attendees can take home on how to create a communication campaign that will lead to social change.

Specifically the audience will learn about insights on:
-striking the right tone in a waste education campaign
-choosing pro-environmental behaviours that are most likely to be adopted -inspiring change on issues perceived to be too overwhelming
-the psychology on how we make decisions

 

Presenters

Rachael Vorwerk, Communications Consultant and RMIT Research Assistant, Self-employed and RMIT

https://www.linkedin.com/in/rachael-vorwerk/

When: Monday 17th February, 2:00-3:30
Where: Room G02, Learning and Teaching Building, 19 Ancora Imparo Way, Clayton
Hashtag: TBC

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Sustainable Stand Up: Cultivating laughter to save humanity

All too often conversations about sustainability become negative and accusatory, and alienate the very people we need to connect with. In this session we’ll talk about Sustainable StandUp, a different way to approach communication, using a highly compassionate form of comedy.

Belina Raffy teaches stand up and improv practices to sustainability champions (environmental and social) to help them to talk about important and scary ideas in delightful ways that bring people in, instead of frightening them away.

Based in Berlin, Belina has now run Sustainable Stand Up courses and shows over 33 times across 10 countries and has also written a book Using Improv to Save the World (and me) .

The talk will feature some excerpts of live comedy from Melbourne-based Sustainable Stand Up teacher and comedian, Tejopala Rawls.

 

What will the audience get out of it?

Insights on a new way to approach difficult conversations, a smile and some optimism!

 

Structure
A live cross to Belina Raffy in Berlin, and some examples of comedy from Tejopala Rawls, along with a discussion of how he develops material and some audience Q&A.

 

Producer

Phil Dooley, Phil Up On Science, and Sustainable Stand Up teacher, Canberra

 

Presenter

Belina Raffy, Empress, Maffick Ltd and Founder, Sustainable Stand Up

 

Presenter/Performer

Tejopala Rawls, Activist and stand up comedian

 

When: Monday 17th February, 12:00pm-1:00pm

Where: Room G21, Learning and Teaching Building, 19 Ancora Imparo Way, Clayton

Hashtag: TBC

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Coastal resilience on the front-line of climate change: visual communication

Coastal communities on low lying islands, such as in the Pacific Ocean, are facing increasing impacts relating to global warming. Research and aid is increasingly focused on helping these communities adapt to significant coastal change through local adaptation strategies and methods of engagement that promote resilience.

What role can science communication play in helping communities deal with the impacts of sea level rise?

This presentation introduces a case study of the development of a mangrove vulnerability assessment in Micronesia to explore:

– the role of visual design and imagery in communicating cross-culturally with vulnerable communities;
– the importance of using local knowledge and expertise to help formulate communication approaches and tool/products;
– how multiple partners and stakeholders can be engaged effectively; and
– ways to overcome the challenges of presenting information to a remote and varied audience.

 

What will attendees gain from this session?

This presentation will provide attendees with:
– a broad overview of the work Michael has done to communicate coastal impacts and adaptation methods to promote resilience in vulnerable island communities;
– reflections on the work completed to date in Micronesia;
– an understanding of some of the challenges of presenting information to a remote and varied audience; and
– examples of images produced for the project, including technical illustrations, diagrams and maps.

 

Presenter

Michael Helman, Director, Communicatrium

 

When: Tuesday 18th February, 2:00pm-3:30pm
Where: Room G21, Learning and Teaching Building, 19 Ancora Imparo Way, Clayton
Hashtag: TBC

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Tweed Sand Bypassing – evoking an emotional response in coastal science communication

Tweed Sand Bypassing is a long term coastal engineering solution located on the border of NSW and Queensland. The two objectives of the Project are to restore and maintain the natural coastal sand drift to the southern Gold Coast beaches; and to establish and maintain a safe, navigable entrance to the Tweed River.

The Project has been in operation for almost 20 years and during this time has implemented a wide range of communication strategies to inform and educate the various stakeholder groups about the science and engineering work that the Project does.

To determine how effective implemented strategies had been, in 2015 a community consultation and engagement assessment was carried out. The results found that while basic communication and information exchange has worked – engagement and trust building hasn’t. This result was clearly evident through the ongoing confusion, mistrust and misinterpretation about the Project’s impact, management and main responsibilities among stakeholder communities.

In 2016 an innovative three year communications strategy was developed. The strategy had the overall vision of promoting the Tweed Sand Bypassing identity, engaging a younger demographic, and communicating the science in a more meaningful, emotive and accessible way.

Several contemporary communication techniques were used. These involved creating a visual identity, a magazine, Instagram account, smart phone application, a presence at the Quiksilver Pro Surfing Competition at Snapper Rocks, and a High School student resource package.

Community feedback has indicated that the communications strategy has been highly successful, and overall has achieved its objective of educating and changing the perceptions of a diverse range of Tweed Sand Bypassing stakeholders.

 

What will Attendees gain from this session?

Attendees will hear about the investigation, design, implementation and review stages of a complete coastal science communication strategy for Tweed Sand Bypassing.

Tools that were used include photography and language to evoke an emotional response and communicate the aesthetic, recreational, place and social values of the coast. A contemporary magazine, website, smart phone app, Instagram account, and High Schools Package.

Attendees will leave with a science communication methodology that they can apply to their own work, particularly in the natural and environmental sciences.

 

Presenter

Catherine Angela Kerr, Coastal Management Specialist, NSW Department of Planning Industry and Environment

 

When: Tuesday 18th February, 2:00pm-3:30pm
Where: Room G21, Learning and Teaching Building, 19 Ancora Imparo Way, Clayton
Hashtag: TBC

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Novel and risky: designing for young adults

An increased affective attraction to experimentation with risky behaviour during adolescence is understood as an adaptive, biologically-driven need to gain the experience required to assume adult roles and behaviours. This surge in sensation seeking, coupled with an underdeveloped ability to evaluate risks, coincides with rising dopaminergic activation in brain regions heavily involved in recognition and anticipation of reward. As a consequence, a young adult’s brain is extremely sensitive to the learning that can occur during this period and has cognitive capacities that are primed to take advantage of the experience gained.

MOD. designs for young audiences aged 15-25 years. In our first exhibition, we developed two exhibits nicknamed the “pain chairs” in collaboration with researchers at Body In Mind Institute. The spot-lit, hard-edged metal chairs, complete with seat drains, were placed centre-gallery under dramatic lighting. Dark screens invited visitors to challenge their perceptions of pain and warned against under 15 year-olds using the chairs. The two interactive chairs delivered electric and heat stimuli, modelling different factors known to affect pain perception like attention, distraction, and the placebo effect. Framing the situation as scary and potentially dangerous, and placed within a public building, allows young adults to push the boundaries of what is safe in an environment free of danger.

Evaluations revealed that visitors spent time at interactive exhibits (91% of visitors engaged with the pain chairs), rated them highly in terms of enjoyment and learning, and that this approach also led to two thirds of visitors being able to identify key concepts that we wanted to communicate about the brain and its role in pain perception.

 

What will participants gain from attending your presentation?

That understanding social and cognitive development can underpin approaches to designing for a young target audience to make their experience better, but also to give the museum permission to include risk and push the boundaries of what might be appropriate.

 

Presenter

Dylan DeLosAngeles, Exhibitions Coordinator, MOD.

When: Wednesday 19th February, 12:05pm-12:50pm
Where: Room G21, Learning and Teaching Building, 19 Ancora Imparo Way, Clayton
Hashtag: TBC

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Using behavioural insight strategies to improve the effectiveness of community engagement programs for bushfire safety

In this session, Jodi Braszell (DELWP) and Julia Meis-Harris (BehaviourWorks Australia) introduce a behaviour change method that is being explored for community bushfire risk management in Victoria.

In the emergency management sector in Victoria a major focus is bushfires given this area is one of the most bushfire-prone places in the world. For the agencies working to reduce bushfire risk, it is extremely important that communications help people to stay safer around bushfire events.

Communicating bushfire risk by providing information alone does not lead to as much change in community behaviour as agencies would wish to see. Oftentimes something seems to get in the way between providing information and the actions requested.

Behavioural insights can provide answers for the tricky conundrum of ‘why people do the things they do’ and shed light on ‘what else’ influences people’s behaviour besides information. We share our findings so far, discuss how our thinking can benefit science communication strategies and are interested in our audience view on behavioural insights in science communication.

 

What will audience gain from attending this section?

  • We aim to raise awareness of an emerging and exciting method to increase the effectiveness of behaviour change communication and engagement strategies
  • We will share some of the drivers and barriers to community behaviour change, and will explore how behavioural insight techniques may assist in communication/engagement practices
  • We will also raise awareness of some community-led approaches to engagement and risk reduction being delivered in Victoria
  • Participant activities, informal Q&As, and a range of different communication mediums will be used, reducing the risk of the session being a ‘death by PowerPoint’ experience
  • We hope to build a community of interest and to learn from other interested practitioners working in this field

 

Structure

Part 1 – Introduction (ca. 15min) In this first part of this session, we introduce the challenge we’re working on, and give people a brief introduction to the behavioural insights discipline. We will use interactive quizzes and a range of different mediums to help demonstrate some of the key behavioural insights concepts. We will also ask participants to briefly share their science communications challenges and why they’re attending our session.

Part 2 – Method (5min) In part two of our session, we provide a quick overview of the specific methods that we used to conduct our research.

Part 3 – Findings (15min) In the third part of our session, we share the findings of our initial research question: “What are the drivers and barriers to community preparedness and response to bushfire emergencies?”We will also ask participants to share their thoughts on how these findings may, or may not, align with their own practice and knowledge.

Part 4 – Discussion (25min) In the final part of our session, we link our findings back to the challenges that communicators face in emergency management. We also discuss how behavioural insight methods may provide some useful strategies for other science communicators, regardless of discipline.Through an informal Q&A discussion, we will then explore with the participants where behavioural insights could be useful for the challenges that were shared with us at the start of our session. As behavioural insights is an emerging discipline, we are keen to learn about other projects using similar methods and to build up a community of interest.

Session Producers/Presenters

Julia Meis-Harris, Research fellow, BehaviourWorks Australia, MSDI

Jodi Braszell, Senior Science Engagement Officer, Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning

 

When: Wednesday 19th February, 11:00am-12:00 noon
Where: Room G21, Learning and Teaching Building, 19 Ancora Imparo Way, Clayton
Hashtag: TBC

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Communicating science content to blind and low vision audiences through multi sensory means

Diversity in STEM can lead, among other benefits, to better problem-solving and expansion of the talent pool. But whilst we recognise the importance of diversity, many communities still feel unable to engage with STEM subjects.

Participation by the blind and low vision (BLV) community in STEM higher education is below the national average, in part due to their perceived ability to engage meaningfully in the delivered content.

This workshop will look at how emerging technologies such as 3D printing can be used to engage diverse cohorts with scientific content. With examples from multi sensory, inclusive exhibitions and workshops, we have engaged diverse groups with varying degrees of scientific understanding.

Session participants will be able to bring their own discipline knowledge to the workshop and take part in an interactive component in which they consider how content from their area can be presented in a way that would be more accessible and inclusive.

 

What will participants gain from attending your session?

Attendees will have a better understanding about the difficulties the BLV community have in accessing scientific information. We hope they will be inspired by the possibilities of presenting science in non visual ways, and take away practical tips for how to harness emerging technologies to increase access to scientific information and broaden participation.

 

Structure

Introduction to the issue of exclusion for those with vision disabilities in discourses around science and biomedicine [10 min]

Presentation of two case studies on how emerging technologies such as 3D printing is currently being used to engage BLV people with scientific content [20 min]

Workshop activities on how this can be remediated through multi sensory exhibition, displays and audience participation [60 min]

Session Producer/Presenter

Lizzie Crouch, Senior Coordinator of Engagement, SensiLab, Monash University

Presenters

Matthew Butler, Associate Dean (Learning and Teaching), Inclusive Technologies, Monash University

Erica Tandori, Artist in Residence, School of Biomedical Sciences, Monash University

 

Session

Accessibility

 

When: Wednesday 19th February,  11:00am-12:50pm
Where: Room G02, Learning and Teaching Building, 19 Ancora Imparo Way, Clayton
Hashtag: TBC

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Applying Behaviour Change to Science Communication: Lessons from BehaviourWorks Australia

This is a two-part workshop on science communications using a behaviour change approach, sharing insights from BehaviourWorks Australia (BWA), a university-based behaviour change research enterprise that works with government and industry to find behavioural solutions to real-world problems.

The workshop will begin by taking attendees step-by-step through a model of behaviour change which can be applied to science communications (the “Comms Mini Method”). The second part of the workshop will focus on the practical side of communications, sharing learnings from BWA’s science communications experiences.

This workshop is based on BWA training to develop capability in science communications among new behavioural insights teams in government and industry.

 

Structure

The session will consist of three sections.
(1) The first section will focus on applying the BWA Method (https://www.behaviourworksaustralia.org/the-method/) of behaviour change to science communications. Kun Zhao or Mark Boulet will present this behavioural approach to communications, dubbed the “Comms Mini Method” and its three stages of “Exploration”, “Deep Dive”, and “Application”.

(2) The second section will focus on the practical side of BWA’s experiences in behaviour change communications with government and industry. Geoff Paine will present on BWA’s own communications activities and products, as well as learnings, issues, and challenges.

(3) The third section will be an informal Q and A discussion with the audience around the content in the first two sessions, plus some of the common issues that are encountered in this area of science communications (e.g., how do we manage expectations and communicate what behavioural insights can do?).

 

What will participants gain from attending your session?

The session aims to provide attendees with a practical understanding of how behaviour change methods can be applied to the communications planning process. This is done by taking attendees step-by-step through the Comms Mini Method.

The session also aims to share with attendees BWA’s own experiences from communicating about behaviour change with government and industry, including practical tips, learnings, and remedies for common problems. It is intended that attendees can draw from the BWA perspective and apply these to their own communications challenges and issues.

As the Comms Mini Method is relatively new, the session presenters also wish to receive some feedback from attendees on the Comms Mini Method (e.g., what could be improved, what other contexts it could be applied, what are some potential shortcomings with the approach).

 

Presenters

Kun Zhao, Research fellow, BehaviourWorks Australia, MSDI

Mark Boulet, Research fellow, BehaviourWorks Australia, MSDI

Geoff Paine, Content Curator, BehaviourWorks Australia, MSDI

 

When: Monday 17th February, 2:00pm-3:30pm
Where: Room G31, Learning and Teaching Building, 19 Ancora Imparo Way, Clayton
Hashtag: TBC

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The emergence of modern science communication: the Book

So there’s a book, with chapters from Iran, Pakistan, Jamaica, Estonia, Russia, and all the usual suspects. It charts the different pathways 39 different countries followed as they moved to modern science communication and it gets launched in May.

In this sneak preview, the editor talks it over with two authors and a member of the Editorial Board.

How did Russia hold the Guinness record for the highest circulating periodical? What derailed the polio campaign in northern Nigeria? What does mātauranga mean and why is it important in Aotearoa? What were the fifteen questions and is this a flawed concept?

Why do the Americans describe their experience as vibrant, jostling and complicated? How does fascism and colonialism influence the story? And what about Lake Como and Aberdeen?

Jenni Metcalfe is ringmaster, and it will take all her skill to control panellists Joan Leach, Michelle Riedlinger and Toss Gascoigne, PLUS handle audience participation.

 

How will your session be structured?
Well, Jenni will say something and then Toss says something different and Michelle will disagree and Jenni will ask a question and Toss tries to be serious but the others laugh and the audience gets involved

 

What type of session will this be?
Workshop: allowing participants to actively engage in exploring a project or concept in science communication., A discussion about a book with audience participation on how we can learn the lessons from 39 different accounts, written by 103 authors

 

What will participants gain from attending your session?

Ideas, mostly, for both practice and research. A cornucopia of ideas.

Australia has played tough, done good in science communication; and now we’re helping the world tell its story.

(After all, “those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” )

 

Presenters

Toss Gascoigne, Visiting Fellow, CPAS, ANU

Jenni Metcalfe, Director, Econnect Communication

Michelle Riedlinger, Associate Professor, University of the Fraser Valley, Canada

 

When: Monday 17th February, 2:00pm-3:00pm

Where: Room G21, Learning and Teaching Building, 19 Ancora Imparo Way, Clayton

Hashtag: TBC

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