eENR 3300 – Introduction to Forestry, Fisheries, and Wildlife
Summer 2019 – Due June 14, 2019
(Adopted from Dr. Suzanne Gray, Assistant Professor, School of Environment and Natural Resources, Ohio State University)
Objective
Scientific communication, providing outreach and engagement with the public, is essential to the understanding and appreciation for our forests, fisheries, and wildlife. Increasingly, scientific communication (#scicomm) is facilitated through social media outlets such as Twitter, Facebook, personal or lab blogs, etc. The goal of this assignment is for students to use multimedia formats to present a story about Forestry, Fisheries, or Wildlife that is accessible to the public and relevant for the people of Ohio. These can take the form of written blogs, sound clips, videos, animations, etc. Each student is required to create one post for the class website (https://u.osu.edu/enr3300summer2018/). Students are encouraged to direct the public to their posts via social media. Posts will be graded based on accuracy of content and accessibility to a diverse audience. If a student posts an additional time (i.e., two times), the second post will be considered for bonus points (Details on #SciComm Instructions sheet). All posts, including those submitted for possible bonus points, must be submitted by 11:59p on Friday, June 14.
Bonus posts are eligible for 10 bonus points to your overall grade. Bonus posts will only be considered once your initial assignment post has been submitted.
Content
You can create a post on any topic relevant to Forestry, Fisheries, and Wildlife, with an emphasis on Ohio FFW or topics that would be relevant for Ohioans. Your post could also focus on an environmental issue or human activities that directly impact FFW; however, it must be made clear how any particular issue relates to forests, fish, and/or wildlife (whatever theme you choose). Any articles or sources used to create your post must be referenced. If you are unsure if a topic is relevant feel free to ask!
Additionally, infringing on copyright is illegal. Therefore, please appropriately acknowledge copyrighted material for all posts. This is your responsibility, and I provide you with a quick guide on how to do this in the third week of the course. Any posts without appropriate acknowledgments and citations will not be accepted.
Format
One of the keys to successful scientific communication for a public audience is to be creative and to present the facts in an engaging manner. This means you can be creative with your posts! A traditional blog post (i.e. a written description of an idea or issue) accompanied by images or simple diagrams can be a very effective means of communicating science to a broad audience. Other formats, such as videos or podcasts are also very popular. Whatever format you choose, it
is pertinent that the facts you present are correct and that you provide a list of the references used to support your post. Note that images and diagrams are often copyrighted and must be accompanied by a citation or attribution to the original author or creator. Posts will not be published until all diagrams, images, etc. have been given appropriate attribution.