{"id":397,"date":"2019-07-02T11:39:51","date_gmt":"2019-07-02T18:39:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/webspace.royalroads.ca\/jhodson\/?page_id=397"},"modified":"2019-09-17T11:50:17","modified_gmt":"2019-09-17T18:50:17","slug":"not-my-job","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/webspace.royalroads.ca\/jhodson\/communication-in-the-public-interest-resources\/science-communication\/chapter-1-toc\/not-my-job\/","title":{"rendered":"1.1. Not My Job: Why Scientists Should Also Be Communicators"},"content":{"rendered":"

As a scientist, you may feel as though you have your hands full conducting your science, and that it is other peoples\u2019 jobs to communicate about it. After all, your department, university or lab already has communication personnel, so why can\u2019t they do it?<\/p>\n

We\u2019ve heard this comment before, and even though professional communicators possess a lot of knowledge about communication, there are very good reasons why every scientist should learn to communicate about their work. For example, studies have shown that people are less likely to trust information they receive about climate science if that information is shared by politicians or professional communicators, however, people will be more likely to trust the same information if it is shared by scientists themselves.<\/p>\n

This blog post by Scientific American<\/a> gives some compelling reasons why scientists should talk directly with the public, rather than going through intermediaries. The main reasons it suggests that scientists are the best possible communicators for their own work are the following:<\/p>\n