The Sensei, Garr Reynolds, recently blogged about the discussion around scientists being terrible communicators. It’s true, we are! And probably we are actually taught to be as bad as we are. He does have a message of hope though, Jean Luc Doumont, an engineer and a communicator who is passionate about sharing the knowledge we have as scientists and as well as teaching internationally he has written an highly recommended book Trees, Maps and Theorems. The video below is 60 mins of his wisdom shared at Stanford. He has so much to say on communication, both written and spoken.
http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=IFu3jaLmse0
Even better is a small, free pamphlet that can be downloaded that discusses the problems of making the break from the “old” ways, of handed down templates, of bosses who insist on death by powerpoint and graphical nonsense. Download it here, all you have to give him is your contact details. Then read it and save the link. Surreptitiously leave it lying around on lecterns in college, print it onto stickers to leave on desks, put it down as feedback in your next meeting and spread the word! Science DOESN’T have to be boring!!