The early bird registration for Helsinki WCSJ2013 ends next Friday

(click on the image to go to the registration page)

The Early Bird registration for the WCSJ 2013 conference is still open – for a few days! Hurry up. Please spread the word!

You can, of course, still register for the conference in June, but it will cost you more.

The last day for the Early Bird registration is Friday, 24^th of May.

Also please spread the word, you are welcome to join the conference even when you are not a working journalist. We are not closing non-journalists out. We need discussion between the journalists and the people they are working and communicating with.

This is because there has been false information about the non-journalists not being able to participate.

The program is being  finalized and printed. You find most of the program in the internet now.

Come and meet your colleagues from all over the world.

The Erice School of Science Journalism grants 30 fellowships

The Erice International School of Science Journalism grants 30 fellowships for members of EU-countries to attend the 2013 edition (May 25th-May 29th, 2013) on Brain Imaging and Cognitive Neuroscience.

Fellowships are aimed at science journalists, science communicators and students in science journalism and communication.

Fellowships will cover:

- The fee of the School
- Travel expenses to and from Erice
- Staying in Erice

The deadline for applications is March 1, 2013.

Full details about the school and the application process are available in the website of the Erice International School of Science Journalism.

Virus Attacks, la pandemia prossima ventura tra scienza e fiction

Lo swimmer Edoardo Rosati, caporedattore del settimanale OGGI, modera a Milano (giovedì 21 febbraio, ore 18, alla libreria Feltrinelli di Piazza Duomo) un incontro tra due scienziati e due scrittori sul tema della minaccia della pandemia prossima ventura, tra le prime iniziative della neonata associazione Peripato, che si prefigge l’obiettivo di ravvivare il rapporto tra medicina e cultura.

Le dieci domande di Dibattito Scienza ai candidati Premier

Scienza e politica: ecco le risposte dei candidati del centrosinistra

Come ci auguravamo, i cinque candidati premier che prendono parte alle primarie del centrosinistra hanno fatto avere le loro risposte alle domande elaborate dal gruppo Dibattito Scienza.

Invitiamo tutti a consultarle e a commentarle sul sito della rivista Le Scienze, che ha aiutato a coordinare l’iniziativa:
http://www.lescienze.it/news/2012/11/15/news/domande_candidati_primarie_pd_politiche_ricerca-1369318/

 

Scienza e politica: le domande ai candidati Premier

Il sito della rivista “Le Scienze” ospita le sei domande rivolte ai candidati Premier (a partire da quelli del Centrosinistra: Bersani, Puppato, Renzi, Tabacci, Vendola) da Dibattito Scienza, un’iniziativa ideata e promossa dagli Swimmer Moreno Colaiacovo e Marco Ferrari.
In un gruppo creato appositamente su Facebook sono state messe a punto con un lavoro collettivo alcune domande con cui si intende introdurre anche nel panorama politico italiano l’abitudine anglosassone di interpellare pubblicamente i candidati su questioni attinenti alla scienza.
L’iniziativa Dibattito Scienza, che viene inaugurata in un momento in cui l’attenzione dell’opinione pubblica è focalizzata sulle primarie del Centrosinistra, è rivolta a tutti i candidati Premier di tutti gli schieramenti.
L’associazione Science Writers in Italy è orgogliosa di figurare tra i promotori di Dibattito Scienza, che ha già raccolto un gran numero di adesioni (e altre ne sta raccogliendo attraverso il sito www.lescienze.it) e si augura che tutti i candidati ne comprendano l’importanza.

Ecco la lista delle domande, di cui via via pubblicheremo le risposte in parallelo con la rivista “Le Scienze” e i molti altri media e blog che si stanno mobilitando per promuovere l’iniziativa:

Le sei domande

1. Quali politiche intende perseguire per il rilancio della ricerca in Italia, sia di base sia applicata, e quali provvedimenti concreti intende promuovere a favore dei ricercatori più giovani?

2. Quali misure adotterà per la messa in sicurezza del territorio nazionale dal punto di vista sismico e idrogeologico?

3. Qual è la sua posizione sul cambiamento climatico e quali politiche energetiche si propone di mettere in campo?

4. Quali politiche intende adottare in materia di fecondazione assistita e testamento biologico? In particolare, qual è la sua posizione sulla legge 40?

5.Quali politiche intende adottare per la sperimentazione pubblica in pieno campo di OGM e per l’etichettatura anche di latte, carni e formaggi derivati da animali nutriti con mangimi OGM?

6. Qual è la sua posizione in merito alle medicine alternative, in particolare per quel che riguarda il rimborso di queste terapie da parte del SSN?

Gli hashtag per seguire l’iniziativa su Twitter sono #dibattitoscienza #primarieCSX.

A Silvia Bencivelli il Premio Piazzano 2012

Silvia Bencivelli

Complimenti alla tesoriera di Swim Silvia Bencivelli, cui è stato assegnato il Premio intitolato alla memoria del giornalista scientifico novarese Piero Piazzano, riservato a “un giornalista segnalatosi per la sua capacità di divulgazione di temi scientifici ed ecologici”.

Prima di lei, nel 2011 l’importante riconoscimento era andato allo swimmer Jacopo Pasotti.

Claudia Di Giorgio descrive il sito de Le Scienze alle Journées Curien di Nancy

La swimmer Claudia Di Giorgio, managing editor del mensile “Le Scienze”, sarà la prossima settimana al congresso di Nancy sulla comunicazione della scienza (International Conference on Science Communication, “Journées Hubert Curien”), dove il giorno 5 settembre illustrerà il lavoro che ha portato alla realizzazione del nuovo sito della rivista.

Ecco l’abstract del suo intervento:

We will present a a novel approach of information architecture used in the design of the new website of Le Scienze, Italian edition of Scientific American. To reduce the editorial effort, we had to find a connection architecture that could correlate, aggregate and filter contents both manually and automatically. We choose to hold together the contents only on tags defined by the editors, developing a dynamic taxonomy, scalable and adaptable. Tags offer the system a semantic base for mashing up automatic correlations within contents. As the tag set is a visible form of the editorial schedule, listing the subjects the magazine editors will deal with and with which degree of definition, building its list was an opportunity to discuss and rethink our approach to science communication. Such a “liquid” taxonomy led us to remove the classic “menu à la carte” approach (everything the chef can cook) in favor of an editorial one (what the chef recommends today). This solution allows to create quickly and effortlessly new pages of aggregated content when current events require it.

Proposals for the World Conference of Science Journalists end on May 15th

Send your proposals for next year’s World Conference “Science Journalism: Critical Questioning inthe Public Sphere” of the World Federation of Science Journalists.

Hurry up!

(and don’t hesitate to ask Fabio Turone – who is in the Programme Committee – in case you need any help).

8th World Conference of Science Journalists,
Helsinki, Finland, June 24 – 28, 2013

A few days left to propose your dream session

Call for proposals for WCSJ  2013, Helsinki

CLOSES 15 May 2012 !

To propose a session you have always dreamt about
but have not found in science journalist conferences so far,
please hurry and submit a brief description of the proposal through the
conference management system on 15 May 2012 at the latest.

The conference days are 25.-27 June 2013, with the themes

Our common values
Our exciting work
Our vulnerable world

The conference will include a pre-conference day (24 June) with skills building workshops,
three full conference days and one day  (28 June) for tailored post-tours.
The conference language is English.

More information can be found here:
http://wcsj2013.org/call/

See you in Helsinki!

Ulla Järvi
Programme Committee Chair

Eeva Pitkälä
Conference Director

www.wcsj2013.org
facebook.com/wcsj2013
twitter.com/wcsj2013

Anne Glover will be in the panel on Science Media Centres at PCST 2012, in Florence

The newly named Chief Scientific Adviser of the European Commission, professor Anne Glover, will take part in the panel of the PCST Conference in Florence on Science Media Centres organised and moderated by Swim President Fabio Turone, that will address the issue of bad coverage of scientific controversies in the general press and the possible countermeasures that can be adopted, and specifically on the results obtained by the British Science Media Centre in its first ten years of activity, characterised by considering itself at the service of the science journalism profession.

Along with Professor Anne Glover, the panel will see the presence of Fiona Fox, director of the UK Science Media Centre, Charlotte Wien, researcher from the University of Southern Denmark, and Morten Busch, head of the project for a Danish Science Media Centre at the Experimentarium in Copenhagen.

The panel will be on Thursday from 14:30 to 15:45
Mad Cow Disease, Franken-Food and Killer Vaccines: this sensationalistic approach to scientific controversies typical of British tabloids – but often a prerogative also of more serious and respected media – caused in recent years a long-term damage not only to the image of science, but also to health policy and science research itself.
The first ten years of activity of the UK Science Media Centre have shown that authoritative and independent scientific sources can be helped not to shy away from media storms, so that they can timely and effectively intervene in the debate about sensitive issues by establishing a relationship with representatives of the media in an open and collaborative climate during and especially between media crises.
Now an international network of such centres has taken impulse from the successful British experience and has started operating to build trust and dialogue between the scientific community and the media, knowing that each country will pose specific challenges but a coordinated network can be useful on several accounts, as it was the case with the emergency following the nuclear accident at the Fukushima plant, in Japan. The panel will discuss the Science Media Centres model, its strenghts and its weaknesses from the point of view of the proponents and of the professionals working in science communication and in the media.

The Foundation Ente Cassa di Risparmio di Firenze provided a grant to make the panel possible.
Several other panels have been produced by members of Swim.