Scientific illiteracy

One message of my address as President of the Botanical Society of America was that the problem with science literacy isn't only with the public. It's partly with us, us being scientists. Now I see that Peter Kareiva, chief scientist at The Nature Conservancy, has picked up the same theme at Cool Green Science. Here's his advice:

• You have to first listen, observe and scope out your audience and know how they look at the world.
• Then, using those data, you have to frame your talk in terms to which the audience relates.
• Then you have to have the courage to select only the few most salient numbers and facts or results, and discuss those facts in a way that makes the point you seek to make. Yes, you need real numbers and metrics -- but they have to be chosen and talked about in a way that suits the audience, not the way scientific colleagues are comfortable talking about.

Understand your audience and frame your message in a way that will reach them. I know that a lot of science bloggers don't like the whole idea of "framing", but I'm with Peter. Framing is an essential part of reaching any audience. And boring them is a really bad idea.