Session description: The conference timing may keep some attendees away in their hometowns participating in local MLK activities. Therefore, we are introducing a session to promote the principles of Dr King in the context of online science communication: promoting social justice and eliminating racism in areas ranging from healthcare to scientific career paths. We plan to take a different angle from the blogging about gender/race session: how do we cultivate emerging science writers from underrepresented groups to promote science, for example, in areas of health disparities (i.e., diabetes, substance abuse, prostate cancer) and in providing opportunities to increase the number of underrepresented minorities in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics careers. Locally in Durham, North Carolina, efforts are underway through the non-profit Kramden Institute to start by making newly-refurbished computers available to honors students in underserved school districts as a model for what can be done nationally. We'll also be represented by local IT and social media folks who are setting up the infrastructure to make internet access more affordable and accessible. Any advice, comments or ideas are welcome from attendees, especially if you engage with underrepresented groups in your respective line of online or offline work.
The session was led by David Kroll (@abelpharmboy) and Damond Nollan (@damondnollan).
Here's the session's wiki page.
Engaging Underrepresented Minorities in Online Science Media (David J. Kroll and Damond Nollan) #scio10
NC Central Univ chartered 1909 as "Nat'l Religious Training School and Chautauqua for the Colored Race";1 of 105 HBCUs/1 of 5 in UNC #scio10
"There's no economy in ignorance ... Ignorance & poverty are cures for nothing" - Dr. James Shepard #scio10
DR. Marjorie Lee Brown, NCCU Mathematics pioneer (Ph.D. in 1949 from U Mich) - got the 1st IBM mainframe at NCCU
Durham as city that developed true business based black middle class in the 1890s #scio10
MLK Jr spent time in Durham; in 1960s after Greensboro Woolworth's sit-ins, planning another (altho Durham had one 2.5 years b4) #scio10
Durham Woolworth's closed its counter for "public safety" during Dr. King's visit #scio10
Many historic bldgs in Durham lost to "urban renewal" (some documented in "Endangered Durham" website) #scio10
King on science: "Sci investigates; religion interprets. Sci gives man know which is power; rel gives man wisdom which is control" #scio10
What if King had Twitter? (Rick Duvall, The Relationship Economy, 23 July 2009) #scio10
Lots of low-income folks don't have access to broadband ; but in handheld devices, young Latino/a/s and blacks ahead of curve #scio10
The Kramden Institute working to bridge digital divide->refurbished computers to NC honors students; Geek-A-Thon volunteer days #scio10
Why use social media to do outreach, bldg diversity? Irv Epstein: by 2050 white males
Social media to bld critical mass that may not exist at home institutions (not on spot to be *the* rep of your race in your field) #scio10
Students will write if you give them the platform to do so #scio10
NCCU Office of Orientation and First-Year Experience - 1st year blogs #scio10
Pull social media expertise from community; build online posse or cabal #scio10
Brown bag session to see who's interested, what they're interested in doing. Students already on Facebook, what next? #scio10
Local social media events - how to make interested student pops aware of them so they can use them, network #scio10
Social media to bring students and faculty together (& give students more voice in the direction of the interactions?) #scio10
NCCU "Communicating to Succeed"; Center for University Teaching and Learning; NCCU Social Media Club edu #scio10
(Links to good info on Damond's blog www.damondnollan.com) #scio10
At NCCU, lots of faculty & administration interest, but once fears are addressed, "That's for you young folks" #scio10
Using social media to connect students with faculty and alumni #scio10
More depts setting up Facebook groups (partly motivated by fact that "email doesn't work"->reaching students where they live, FB) #scio10
Resistance to Twitter from administrators: "We can't control the message!" #scio10
Communicating w students on their own turf is good, but profs get to set parameters for online engagement w/in classes #scio10
Use of social media to put out the word about special programs/opportunity for students (work the RT) #scio10
Diff social media platforms->who's where, how to connect to FB, MySpace, et al.? #scio10
Culling resources (& using social media) to connect to students in REUs #scio10
Students tweeting freely abt drugs & sex; makes awkward for fac to stay too connected to students via social media #scio10
Tricky balance betw being paternalistic via social media and treating students as adults #scio10
Leveraging enthusiasm to build broader/deeper student involvement #scio10
Collecting data of social media reach v. determining whether it's reaching the pops you most want to reach #scio10
How to encourage students to txt Qs to librarians, etc.? #scio10
Give students a reason to txt you; then you have their digits for future outreach #scio10
Book rec: Liz Cole, From Toy to Tool #scio10
Students don't know when seminars are; txt reminders could be a way to keep them in that info loop #scio10
Big Q: will the student user want to get the info you're sending them? #scio10
Searchability might be impt when students are looking for info in a social media platform #scio10
What kind of mentoring to students you're encouraging to use social media, esp about "behavior", control of own online presence? #scio10
Protect your brand! If you don't respect yourself, at least respect your university #scio10
@drugmonkeyblog Probably duty is communicate clearly to students rxn online traces could have from potential emplyers & colleagues #scio10
@drugmonkeyblog Also might be good to communicate ways certain kinds of online behavior can impact climate w/in learning communities #scio10
@drugmonkeyblog My pref is to share info and possible consequences but let students exercise autonomy; administration may see it dif #scio10
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Janet, thanks so much for the summary - I know that people are jesting with you about your prolific tweeting at the conference but you show here exactly *how* to tweet a session. Your notes are content-rich with appropriate links and truly captured the spirit and discussion from the session as far as this moderator is concerned.
Please note to your readers that anyone, at the conference or not, are welcome to join our continuing discussions via a dual twitter hashtag: #scio10 #mlk. Just tweet "I'm interested" with those hashtags and I'll add you to the list.
I had a little hiccup in getting the slides posted in that I need to be sure that I have appropriate permissions for the MLK Jr photographs taken from the archives of our local paper. In the meantime, your aggregated tweets are superb.
Great job capturing the highlights of the session. Kudos!
What a wonderful resource. And an example to the Twitter-resistant (like myself) why it might be a good idea to jump in the Twitter stream one of these days...