We protect ourselves from #SARSCoV2 with hand-washing & self-isolation. To protect others, we must challenge virulent #misinformation.

“We are all science communicators now: #COVID19 has conscripted us.” My piece today @TheAtlIdeas https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2020/03/how-talk-about-coronavirus/609118/

I have no patience with #scicomm advice that says “You’re doing it wrong.” I wrote this piece for friends who feel helpless or overwhelmed.

There is SO MUCH good you can do in fight against #COVID19. It’s part science, part information hygiene, part psychological first aid.

My whole career has been in science communication. I’ve focused on applying the science of #scicomm - research on how people search for information, form judgments, and decide what to do.

There are few easy answers and no magic bullets. But here’s what helps me:

1. The messenger matters. I am most effective among people who know and trust me, and among people whose context, culture, or values I share. #scicomm is about service. It requires building trust. Instead of judging my impact by audience size, I focus on quality over quantity.

Importantly, I don’t need to be the one with the microphone. Effective #scicomm requires humility. Sometimes the best thing we can do is amplify someone else. Figuring out who to trust is also a skill. For me, on #coronavirus, it’s @edyong209 https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2020/03/how-will-coronavirus-end/608719/

2. I remember to pick my battles.

When the stakes are so high, we often aren’t arguing about science at all. There are urgent political fights to have. Do not conflate issues.

Effective #scicomm understands cognitive biases & motivated reasoning - in others and ourselves.

3. This is a big one: repeating #misinformation risks inadvertently reinforcing it.

It feels righteous and fun to dunk and shred and ridicule. Unfortunately, you are contaminating an even larger audience.

Don’t allow science claims to go unchallenged, but counter effectively.

Here is figure 1: “A graphical summary of findings from the #misinformation literature” from Lewandowsky et al (no paywall, https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/1529100612451018)

Solution is repeated, simple rebuttals that emphasize the correct information, framed to affirm worldview/identity.

4. We must accept & acknowledge the limits of our own knowledge, even as we work to expand them.

No one is - or can ever be - an expert on every facet of #COVID19 or anything else.

Our humility makes us more trustworthy while improving the quality of the information we share.

Writing this piece tied me up in knots. Communicating about the science of #scicomm gets fantastically meta - and academic - fast. It’s feels so inadequate to the task. We have grim facts in front of us, about the disease and the racial & social injustices it amplifies.

How do we stay afloat, when the science we share is so heavy?

I think of it as carrying a light inside me so I can explore the dark. I do it to protect the people & the planet I love. My fear gives me clarity. My clarity quiets the noise. That is how I find & keep hold of hope.