To make sure your message is heard, understood, and accepted by a wide variety of people, research shows it’s best to take a personalized approach. This means taking time to get to know your audience members, their unique needs, the communities they are part of, and their values, then tailoring your communication for people, making it slightly different to suit different audiences.
Multiple studies on the communication of science to a lay public show the benefits of personalization (for example, this 2013 article by Dahlstrom, and this 2014 article by Tateo).
Similarly, literature on climate science communication says community norms and values tend to have more of an impact on how people engage with science than the scientific evidence does.
Understanding people and their values, begins with having good-faith conversations with others who may not hold the same approach to scientific inquiry as you do. This can happen within your community, or in much broader communities that you reach via social or traditional media. To understand how values can help you communicate scientific topics, view this video by climate scientist, Katharine Hayhoe. Watch the embedded video here, or if you are using a device or web browser that does not support embedded video, you can access it directly on the TED website at this link.
Similarly, this video by Dr. Kendall-Taylor, explores the idea of framing communication to reach different audiences. Watch the embedded video, or access it directly on YouTube at this link.
Personalization may also mean using different formats of communication to reach different people. From in-person conversation, to YouTube videos, to audio podcasts, Facebook or Twitter posts, and more, you have many options for communicating your science. The media that you choose to use for communication should be determined in part by the audience you want to reach. In the next section, you’ll also be asked to consider how the use of different media formats can help make your science communication more broadly accessible.