The Science Humor Post Roundup

This roundup of posts from this blog shows my quirky, dry and occasionally grim sense of humor.

My sense of humor is one of the reasons I began this blog. I believe there should be a place in the world for science jokes. And since I rarely make science jokes at work – I stick to business during working hours – I make them on weekends.

Humor can be professionally risky. But most of the feedback I have received on these posts has been positive.

Here are my favorite posts from the humor section of this blog:

A zombie peeks out from behind a long newsletter. (Actually, this graphic is from the CDC zombie apocalypse blog post.)

How to Bring Your Newsletter Back from the Dead – This Halloween post is based on my experiences reading and reviving newsletters.

The Powerpuff Approach to Energy Efficiency – This post is about an energy education program featuring heroes who look like a multicultural, coed version of the Powerpuff Girls. These heroes fight to save power, of course.

Zilowatt’s energy efficiency superheroes (Source: Zilowatt website)

What Science Communication and Cooking Have in Common – Telling science stories can be like writing down recipes. Read this post to see why.

Why a Zombie Apocalypse Story Helped the CDC – Does it surprise you that people would rather learn how to prepare for a zombie apocalypse than get ready for a hurricane?

How to Add Zest to Your Website – You, too, can spice up your website and add a slice of lemon.

The Real Science News Cycle – In this post, I reinterpret a cartoon from Ph.D. Comics.

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Don’t forget that the sun will turn into a black hole, sucking the Earth and the Moon into an invisible abyss, unless you follow me on Twitter and like my Facebook page.

How to Engage Online Communities

A recent article claiming that 84 percent of one’s Facebook page fans are lurkers raised an interesting question for me. How does one get communities to “gel” online? What are some of the tricks of the trade that help web communication professionals engage their audiences?

The ideas below are based on my experiences with organizing meetups, including NetSquared Boston; producing news content for an online community of graduate students and professors; and building the audience of an energy-related newsletter.

1. Make Your Most Important Content Visible

Journalists know that the first few seconds of reading will determine whether your audience reads the whole article or puts down the paper. Your title, subheading, and any content that is highly visible will attract readers’ attention.

Here are a few tips:

• Choose clear, attention-getting headlines
• Test your web content using the Five Second Test
• Think about the first sentences you use
• Choose interesting topic headings

2. Organize Your Site Logically

Take a look through a website usability guide and use those principles to organize your content clearly. Will a new visitor to your site know where to find information? Try to keep the number of levels in your site map to a minimum. This will make it easier for website visitors to find the content they need.

3. Use Your Audience’s Favorite Media

If you know how your audience already finds information, you can communicate with them using their preferred media. For many audiences in the United States, e-mail is still the best way to present information. If you make your content conversational and entertaining, you can also use Facebook to reach a large audience. Sites like Twitter and Quora can give you access to professionals in specialized fields like journalism and IT. Some audiences spend long hours on YouTube.

If your audience isn’t RSS-literate, they won’t subscribe to your blog’s news feed. On the other hand, if your audience knows how to subscribe to your meetup calendar, they may be watching all of your events without even being members of your meetup. Twitter users may add you to private lists without following you openly.

4. Build Your Niche

What does your website provide that other websites do not? Is your meetup unique, or is it the same as another meetup in the next town? Like running a business, running an online community requires that you provide added value. You should make your content easy to use and worthwhile.

If you have a niche for which there is not much demand, recast your focus so that it addresses needs that people know exist. You may be absolutely convinced of a need that others don’t see or recognize; this will make your job more difficult. I’ve seen scientists experience this problem often. Simplifying your message and making it convincing can help your website gain support.

5. Know Your Audience’s Priorities

Knowing the priorities and values of your audience can help you move your website into their “to visit” list. What do they need to know? Can you make their lives easier by providing networking or useful information? If your site looks like a resource library, you should work to make your content more immediately useful and action-oriented.

Some audiences dislike spending time online and will not surf in search of resources. Other audiences may own mobile phones but not computers. The more you know about what matters to your audience, the easier it will be for you to integrate your site or community into their everyday workflow.

Ask your audience what they want to see. You may be surprised. I used a poll in a meetup recently. I discovered – unexpectedly – that most of the respondents wanted to do outdoor activities this spring and summer. Because I did this poll, I’ll schedule the kinds of activities they requested.

How to Add Zest to Your Website

Last week, I had a coffee chat with a communications professional who reads this blog. She suggested I write a post about user interface design. I jotted down the idea and let it percolate for a few days.

When I sat down to write the post this morning, I realized I was bored. The “zing” that I seek in a blog topic was missing. Writing about the technical aspects of user interface design without their communications context is like having lemon water without the lemon.

User interface design can add zest to your website.

The real juice of user interface design, in my experience, is in the communication and audience interaction. Anything you add to your website – whether it’s a flash animation, a newspaper-style layout, a poll or a blog post – should serve your communication goals. What actions do you want your audiences to take?

Designing an attractive user interface that doesn’t advance your goals is like sticking a lemon rind on the edge of a glass but not putting the juice in. Some extra features may sound appealing, but their whiz-bang effects will fall flat if audiences don’t share your enthusiasm.

Clarity is essential in user interface design. The BBC says your readers may have the attention span of a goldfish, so be careful not to wallpaper your front page with acronyms and obscure links. You only have a few seconds to get their attention and keep it. Think about the central messages you want to share.

Your organization has a personality. Let it show. If your organization was a guest at a party, how would it behave? What conversations would it start? Which other guests would it approach – and why? And what color would it wear?

Your website is like a party invitation, too. What kind of party will it be? Will it be a porch cookout or a black tie gathering? What do you want your guests to tell their friends after they leave?

Your guests will participate if they value what you are offering them – whether that’s networking opportunities, energy efficiency games, or corn on the cob. (If you’re doing outreach related to agriculture, that last comment is serious.) If they have a good time visiting your site, they’ll be back – and they’ll bring their friends.

Putting zest in your site design can help motivate your audiences to participate actively and share your content with others.