It may involve a range of communication styles and disciplines. This field also includes the academic study of communicating science. Students who wish to make a career in science communication can consider specializing in this subject. It also draws on various disciplines in humanities and social sciences. This may involve critiques, research, and debates on different science communication models.

The need for science communication

Science communicators specialize in explaining science to the non-scientists in ways that are easy to understand. This increases the awareness of science among the common public. As a result, they enjoy or show interest in science, engineering, and technology. The methods involved in scientific communication inform and inspire the audience.

Let’s say you have an audience of young individuals who are aspiring to be scientists. To pique their interest, you might explain how science and technology has elevated people’s lifestyles over the years. A science communicator can also make something scientific understandable to a policymaker.

The origins of science communication

Although experts consider science communication to be as old as science, this field became popular in the 1930s. Its popularity has been growing every since. It is essential that science communicators understand what science is. They must know how to comprehend its complex and vast technical information.

The Science and Technology Studies contain most of the works associated with this field. All of them are in the form of academic literature. While introducing school students to science, the textbook definition of the scientific method might be enough.

However, the definition may seem quite broader when it comes to communicating science widely. Of course, there are some extremely useful resources like A.F. Chalmers’s book ‘What Is This Thing Called Science?’. Such books help the students to a great extent in understanding the scientific method.

The need for training or specialist knowledge in science communication

The individuals interested in pursuing science communication often begin with a question. It’s whether they really need specialist knowledge or training in order to learn this discipline. The shortest and the most simple answer to this question would be ‘No’.

It depends on the ability of the science communicator to explain science in a simple and effective manner. Training or education definitely helps to some extent, but it’s not a requirement. Those aspiring to become science communicators do need certain prerequisites. One of them is a university degree in science communication or a scientific discipline.

It’s quite possible for anyone to communicate science effectively with practice. This is also true in case of communication in general. What’s truly required is the willingness to learn about quantitative or technical subjects. Excellent skills in storytelling or mass communication are, of course, extremely useful for a science communicator.

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It was for his role as a supporting actor in the movie The Aviator. He has some memorable performances in films such as Everyone Says I Love You and Manhattan Murder Mystery. The more recent appearances of the actor include the one in Steven Spielberg’s 2015 film Bridge of Spies. From 1990 to 2005, he was the host of an American science television show called Scientific American Frontiers.

Early years

Alan Alda was born on the 28th of January 1936 as Alphonso Joseph D’Abruzzo. When he was a child, he was frequently traveling with his parents around the United States. His father, Robert Alda, was a performer in Burlesque theaters. His mother, Joan Browne, was a former winner of a beauty pageant and a homemaker. When he was seven years of age, he had to combat polio.

To cure his disease, his parents had to administer a painful treatment regimen. It involved applying hot blankets made of wool to his limbs. After receiving his Bachelor of Arts degree in 1956, the actor entered the United States Army Reserve. Later he went through a year’s service at Fort Benning. He also had a six-month service in Korea as a gunnery officer.

Theater

Alda was a member of ‘Compass Players’ in the 1950s. It was an improvisational theater revue and Paul Stills was its director. This was the beginning of Alan Alda’s acting career. From 1958 to 1959, he was a member of an acting company at the Cleveland Play House. This gave him the chance to appear in productions, such as Monique and To Dorothy a Son.

In 1964, he made an appearance opposite Diana Sands in the stage version of The Owl and the Pussycat. The Apple Tree, a musical series on Broadway, gave him the chance to perform with Barbara Harris in 1966. For his role in the series, he had a nomination as Best Actor for the Tony Award.

Television and Hollywood

From 1964 to 1965, he was a part of the television version of That Was The Week That Was. In this American television show, he had the chance to act with David Frost, Buck Henry, and Henry Morgan. His Hollywood debut was in Gone are the Days! as a supporting actor. This was the film version of a Broadway play called Purlie Victorious.

In 1968, Alda appeared as George Plimpton in the movie Paper Lion. He had the chance to perform with Jacqueline Bisset and Barbara Parkins in the occult-murder-suspense thriller The Mephisto Waltz. During this time, he also appeared in What’s My Line? as a panelist. This was the revival of a game show from the CBS Television Network.

M*A*S*H

An audition in 1972 resulted in his selection for the role of Hawkeye Pierce in the television series M*A*S*H. This was the TV adaptation of a 1970 black comedy film MASH. For his role in this television series, he had 21 Emmy Awards nominations. He won five of them. Alda also had the opportunity to write 19 episodes in this series.

Among them were the series finale Goodbye, Farewell and Amen, which he also had the chance of directing. For the series, he would commute from Los Angeles to New Jersey every weekend. As he didn’t know at the time how long the show would last, he didn’t move his family to Los Angeles. Alda’s father and half-brother also appeared along with him in one of the episodes.

The first five seasons of M*A*S*H was more of a traditional ‘service comedy’. Alda began gaining control over the series as the original writers of the series started leaving gradually. He had become a creative consultant and producer towards the final seasons. The series, which had its foundations in comedy, began assuming a more serious tone under him. It gradually began addressing some political issues.

As a communication trainer

Alda was the founder of Alan Alda Center for Communicating Science in the Stony Brook University. He became a visiting professor at the university in the following year. He also serves on the advisory boards of the Future of Life Institute and World Science Festival. In 2014, he also won recognition from the Society for Technical Communication.

This was in recognition of his work at the annual Flame Challenge and the Center for Communicating Science. While helping scientists communicate more effectively, he had the chance to use his expertise in acting and communication. For his excellent work in science communication, he also won the James T. Grady-James award.

As an actor, he was constantly honing his skills in communicating science on television and stage. He had the opportunity to apply these skills while teaching scientists some innovative communication techniques. In 2021, his pioneering work won him the Distinguished Kavli Science Communicator award.

With this award, the Kavli Foundation recognized his skills in communicating the excitement, marvels, and mystery of science.

Alan Alda Center for Communicating Science

This cross-disciplinary organization helps scientists in learning how to communicate more effectively. Their training at this center helps them immensely in their communications with the media, funders, policymakers, and students. As an actor, writer, and science advocate, Alan Alda was the inspiration behind the founding of this center.

It came up with the ‘Flame Challenge’ in 2012. As a part of this challenge, the scientists had to come up with the best explanation for a flame. It was intended for an audience comprising kids who were 11 years of age. The center also honored Alda in 2013 by giving the center his name.

Alan Alda Center for Communicating Science offers programs that have their roots in the Alda Method. This is a form of communication training, which uses the exercises of improvisational theater. The improvisational workshops are highly beneficial for scientists and researchers and had 15,000 attendees by 2020.

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As a result, the employees often fail to communicate as expected. It’s not always the fault of the casino employees. Many times, the guests are responsible for communication failures. This happens because some players are more sensitive and there’s frustration in them due to losses in games.

So, it’s absolutely essential for the casino employees to understand this and perform their duties responsibly. Among these duties is interacting with the guests politely and resolving their issues.

Training the employees in communication

A gaming company is believed to have given the dealers of table games the first-ever formal training. Casinos and real money online casinos never really understood the importance of purposefully training their employees until then. Most of the training in communication was on-the-job or OJT. The combination of close supervision and mentoring with OJT can be quite successful.

Besides, the employees also need to learn from their mistakes and daily interactions. Dealers with just a basic game knowledge at the table games can fall into difficult situations. Even worse are the table game dealers with bad job habits and behavior. They’ll end up teaching things the wrong way to the new employees.

In many cases, OJT can be extremely helpful. However, it’s not sufficient for developing the required communication skills. Providing comprehensive classroom training is also necessary before the employees enter the live gaming environment.

The need for an excellent training curriculum

New casino employees will communicate better and avoid difficult work routines with an advanced preparation program. This is only possible with a standard and comprehensive communication training curriculum. It must teach the new hires how to communicate with guests as well as their senior co-workers. Such a superlative preparation program can also benefit the table game dealers.

When the new employees improve their communication there’s a considerable improvement in business as well. This will increase job satisfaction in the new hires and they’ll get better with time. Guests visiting the casino will get to experience a much more professional, personalized, and satisfying gaming experience. This will turn them into loyal customers and they’ll keep visiting the casino in the future.

Online casino

There are plenty of advantages that land-based casinos can have with an online platform. One of the biggest advantages is that they can save their employees from irate customers. The only exception here is live dealership games, where there’s almost a real table-game environment.

Casino establishments can also save a significant sum. This is because there’s no need for training curriculum and classroom sessions to improve employee communication. They only need to spend a certain amount on training the support staff for the online casino.

Players can also have a vast selection of games to choose from. There’s absolutely no need for them to travel to the casino establishment.

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Alda and his brilliant colleagues have been of great help to 15,000 scientists. These were individuals who had the opportunity to learn the Alda Method. Alan Alda and his colleagues have been teaching this method for more than a decade.

How the Alda method works

At the heart of the Alda Method is building relationships to create trust. When there’s an absence of trust, it becomes very difficult to persuade the public to take some important actions. In the absence of trust, one also can’t persuade people to change their behaviors under certain social situations.

The best example of this is the communications from the community of scientists during the COVID-19 pandemic. Many individuals still didn’t wear masks, they didn’t maintain social distancing, and were avoiding vaccination. This was mostly the result of a lack of trust in the methods that the scientists were suggesting.

The Alda Method helps scientists in explaining their work in a more relatable and clear language. This involves certain training exercises. One of them is improvisation, which is incredibly powerful. It has some valuable lessons that the government agencies, scientists, and healthcare professionals can benefit from.

Initially, the ones attending the training think that it’s all about acting or being on a stage. After all, it is a Hollywood actor who was instrumental in developing this method. However, this is far from the truth. Now let’s take the example of the exercise of improvisation.

It’s all about being present in the moment, listening, and empathy. This is one of the powerful exercises that Alda had the opportunity to learn during his theater training.

The ‘YES, AND’ principle

Many individuals don’t really listen as well as they think they do. They are simply waiting for their turn to begin their speech. As a part of the improvisation training in theater, an actor has to ‘hear’ what the other actor is saying. Hearing here implies paying attention to the words of the speaker. It’s like saying, “Yes, I’m listening to what you’re saying, and I’m going to act on it”.

This is the ‘YES, AND’ principle. The best example of this putting this principle to practice is the remarks from Jerome Adams, the US Surgeon General. He acknowledged that there was a lack of trust in the vaccines among certain communities. He also pointed out why there was a vaccine hesitancy. Then, he added something to ease the concerns of people.

Making the other look good

This is one of the prominent aspects of improvisation. It’s one of the responsibilities that people need to have in the world of interpersonal interactions and communications. They must make the other look good during the communication. Building trust is more about how one makes people relate to what he or she is saying.

People relate well only if they feel valued and uplifted. According to Alan Alda, communicating effectively involves treating people with respect. Listening to their objection and finding what they care about is extremely important in communication.

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Fans of this show find it difficult, even today, to choose a season they liked the most. One of the reasons why this show was such a popular one was because of its ensemble cast. It had some awesome actors who portrayed colorful characters. Sadly, some of them are no more today. Let’s take a look at some of the M*A*S*H actors who passed away:

1. David Ogden Stiers

The M*A*S*H fans remember him for his character of an extremely gifted but snobbish surgeon. Stiers was Major Charles Emerson Winchester III in this famous television show. In a way, his character was a contrast of the main character, Hawkeye Pierce. However, it was essential for maintaining the nuance of Winchester III.

No matter how arrogant he’d appear on the show, he did have a good heart. Stiers was the voice of Cogsworth in the film Beauty and the Beast, which was released in 1991. He passed away in 2018 after struggling with bladder cancer.

2. McLean Stevenson

He was Lieutenant Colonel Henry Blake in M*A*S*H. His character was that of a great doctor who appears to be affable and hapless. Despite this, the character is one of the most lovable as an inept commanding officer. His farewell episode was absolutely great, but hit the fans hard.

Stevenson had great aspirations of transitioning to lead roles elsewhere. Unfortunately, it didn’t work out well. He did get some guest-starring roles, but didn’t find anything that he truly liked. In the year 1996, he died of a heart attack.

3. Larry Linville

You’d love to hate his character of Frank Burns in this show. This character was bigoted, incompetent, hypocritical and obsessed with status. Although the character was awful, it was a masterpiece. According to Linville’s co-star, Gary Burghoff, he was the direct opposite of the character he portrays in the show.

Frank Burns seems delightful in some scenes while he is intolerable in others. Larry Linville had a successful theater career and he gave several Broadway performances. After a long-term complication arising out of cancer and one related surgery, he suffered from pneumonia. This resulted in his death in 2000.

4. Harry Morgan

In the episode ‘The General Flipped at Dawn’, he was a one-off character called General Steele. As Morgan was, perhaps, the only funniest person in the entire cast, they had to bring him back. He was then cast as Colonel Sherman Potter, which was a fatherly character. In one of his interviews, he had said that his work in M*A*S*H made him a better human being.

Even before the show, he was already enjoying a considerable reputation. According to Alan Alda, Morgan didn’t have an unadorable bone in his body. The show’s colleagues continued to have a close bond with him. When he was 96, Morgan passed away peacefully in hospice care.

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He won five of these nominations, including three for acting, one for direction, and one for writing. Alan Alda is also famous for his stage work. He had three Tony nominations for his performances in The Apple Tree, Jake’s Women, and Glengarry Glen Ross. Here we present some of the best films that he has starred in:

1. Crimes and Misdemeanors

This film stars Martin Landau as a leading ophthalmologist. He is behind the killing of his mistress as she is about to tell his wife about their affair. Alan Alda plays the role of a successful television producer in the film. Several film critics were full of praise for his performance as a narcissist. Despite all the admiration from the critics, the Academy Awards panel overlooked him.

2. The Aviator

Alda had his one and only Oscar nomination for his role in this film. It had Leonardo DiCaprio playing the lead role of Howard Hughes, an eccentric billionaire. Alan Alda was Senator Owen Brewster in the film. The Aviator had 11 Oscar nomination and won five of them. Cate Blanchett won the Best Supporting Actress award for her role of Katharine Hepburn.

3. The Four Seasons

Before making his debut in feature filmmaking with this film, he was already quite popular. His popularity had come after a dozen episodes of M*A*S*H. Alda was also the writer of The Four Seasons. This film is about three couples who go on vacations together. He had a WGA nomination for this 1981 film. It comes as a surprise that he didn’t have any Oscar nominations.

4. Same Time, Next Year

An adaptation of Bernard Slade’s play, this movie had Alda acting alongside Ellen Burstyn. Same Time, Next Year is about a man meeting a woman by chance in 1951. They meet at a California inn and agree to meet there once in a year. This is despite the fact that they both had their own spouses.

While carrying on their affair for 25 years, they see a lot of cultural changes in the country. Burstyn had an Oscar nomination for this film.

5. Manhattan Murder Mystery

Woody Allen and Diane Keaton appear as a middle-aged couple in this 1993 film. They’re investigating the mysterious death of their neighbor’s wife. Alda and Anjelica Huston play the friends of the investigator duo. The audiences were happy to see Woody Allen and Diane Keaton together once again after many years. Angelica Huston had a BAFTA nomination for this film, but the Academy ignored her.

6. California Suite

This 1978 film has four skits. They all take place in a luxurious hotel in Beverly Hills. Alda plays the role of a successful screenwriter in the film’s first segment titled Visitors from New York. He appears to be constantly arguing with his ex-wife. Their argument is about the possession of their teenage daughter. For her supporting role in California Suite, Maggie Smith had won the Best Supporting Actress award.

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If you neglect this important part of science communication, you’ll fail to create an impact. It is, therefore, extremely important that you keep your audience in mind. You must do this while writing and practicing for your speech.

1. Know who is your audience

While you’re writing and preparing yourself for the speech, you must think about who you’re going to speak to. If they’re a group of elders, talking to them about topics for the youth won’t really help. Although this may sound a bit too obvious, many speakers do make this mistake. There are some brilliant science communicators out there who often give some wonderful speeches.

However, they are completely out of context with regards to their audience. It is important for you to learn how to customize a speech for different audiences. You can enroll for a highly effective training program, which teaches you how to make this happen. Today, some of these programs are available online.

2. Don’t miss the context

Another great aspect of any form of communication is context. This helps especially in science communication, where understanding your audience is extremely important. Consider the venue where you’ll be speaking. It can be a corporate office or a classroom in one of the colleges. This will help you in deciding how to make your speech appealing to that particular audience.

Let’s try to understand this with an example. A woman giving a speech at the wedding of her best friend won’t need to try too hard. What she says can be personal, humorous, and entertaining. Now, let’s say the same woman is to speak in one of the corporate conferences. Here she needs to be more formal and speak in a structured manner. Of course, this will need a certain amount of preparation before the speech.

3. Understand what the audience might already know

Imagine that you’re about to speak to the students of molecular biology. Now, they might be already knowing many things related to the topic. So, if you spend quite some time explaining things that they already know, they’ll obviously lose interest. To prevent this from happening, it’s essential that you know how much they know about molecular biology.

You can ask their professors about the topics they’re well versed with. This will help you to come up with topics you know that might be fairly new to them. When you come across certain things that they might already know, don’t explain them in detail.

4. Consider the size of your audience

Your way of speaking to larger audiences will be somewhat different from how you speak to smaller groups. When you speak in front of a small crowd, you’ll not even need a mic. You’ll have the opportunity to be a little more informal. There’ll be more of a personal connection with your audience.

When you’re speaking in front of a large crowd, things will be quite different. It is important, therefore, to consider the size of your audience before you practice your speech.

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These women have become role models for those who are aspiring to become science communicators. Here, we’ve listed some of the popular women in this field that you must know:

1. Emily Calandrelli

She hosts an educational television streaming series, Emily’s Wonder Lab. Calandrelli is an American science communicator and former engineer from MIT. She is also the producer of the show. When she was a student, she was a winner of several academic awards. While she was in college, she was working as an intern at NASA. Her work involved simulation design. This was a part of the soil testing experiment for the Phoenix Mars Lander.

While at NASA she was also doing research on using lasers for reducing jet engine emissions. As a professional speaker, she gives presentations on important scientific topics.

2. Aoibhinn Ní Shuilleabháin

Aoibhinn Ní Shuilleabháin connects the youth with key topics related to science. She does this through The Science Squad. This RTE television series has been successful since 2012. She is one of the show’s hosts. She is also among the most popular scientists of Ireland.

Ní Shuilleabháin graduated in 2005 with first class honors in Theoretical Physics from University College Dublin. In 2014, she completed her PhD from Trinity College Dublin. Currently, she is a lecturer in the college, from where she had graduated.

3. Sylvia Leatham

She is the co-founder of Scibernia. It is an award-winning podcast of Ireland. Leatham is also the coordinator of the STEPS program at Engineers Ireland. This non-profit program educates students of the primary and secondary level in STEM careers. STEPS works on Smart Futures. It is a collaborative government industry education program. It does this in strategic partnership with Science Foundation Ireland.

Smart Futures highlights STEM careers to Ireland’s post-primary students. The volunteers at STEPS dedicated over 15,000 hours to the program in 2014. As a part of this initiative, they had around 80,000 interactions. They interacted with parents, teachers, and students. She also organizes Engineers Week. It promotes engineering and its importance to children in Ireland.

4. Niamh Shaw

This award-winning STEM communicator wears many hats. She is an engineer, performer, writer, and scientist. Shaw has also nurtured the dream of going into space since her childhood. In 2014, she created a multimedia theatrical piece called To Space. It was a part of the Tiger Fringe Festival.

Shaw’s work was an astounding success, which allowed her to travel across Ireland. She is truly passionate about igniting the curiosity of people. She also has a book with the title Dream Big – an Irishwoman’s Space Odyssey to her credit.

5. Ive Velikova

Velikova is a podcaster and video host who is extremely passionate about science communication. She is makes scientific topics fun, accessible, and quirky. She is currently studying for her Masters of Science Communication at Laurentian University in Ontario, Canada. On her radio show called ‘Science Sucks’, she explores the latest scientific research.

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Today, there are many science communicators across the world. However, their level of scientific knowledge and expertise in science communication varies to a considerable extent. In the process of communication, they usually use a lot of humor, metaphors, persuasion techniques, and storytelling. Scientists can also undergo training for improving their communication with the application of some of the techniques.

In recent times, there’s a lot of potential in science communication to generate support for scientific education and research. Here, we’ll try to understand the utilization of contemporary media for science communication.

Print, radio, and television

Communicating science to larger audiences is easier with the help of newspapers, magazines, radio, and television. People came to know about science in the past with the help of newspapers and magazines. These forms of traditional media were more reliable in producing high-quality information.

The people behind their production were professional journalists. As a result, everything had a significant degree of perfection in writing and presentation. The traditional form of journalism was quite effective in setting agendas and impacting the government policies. It was a one-way communication, where no dialogue with the audience would take place.

Even with the advent of radio and television, there was no participation from the public. Once a story appears in the mainstream media, the scientists have no control over how the communication takes place. So, there are high chances of misinformation and misunderstanding among the audience.

Online media

Online interactions are possible through websites, blogs, social media platforms, and podcasts. They can be cost-effective means for science communication. With the recent technological advancements, there have been significant improvements in handheld devices and internet speeds. This has increased the potential of online media to reach a wide audience.

Dialogue between the scientists or science communicators and the public is also possible with online interactions. The content is always accessible and the scientist can control it to a great extent. It facilitates one-way as well as two-way communication. How the audience picks up the content is always difficult to control in this case.

Live events

Public lectures, speeches, and other face-to-face events give science communicators the opportunity to interact with their audience. Research shows that these live events also encourage active participation of citizens. They can also be a lot more entertaining, depending on the amount of skills that the communicator has in this field.

Non-professional or untrained speakers won’t be as effective as the professional or trained speakers. The biggest advantage of live events is that they allow a two-way dialogue. The scientists or science communicators can interact personally with the audience and clear their doubts.

They also have full control over the content of their speech. Of course, there are certain disadvantages of live events. They’ll not have much reach unless they’re live on television or on social media. Setting them up also involves significant costs.

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