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1/22/2007</title></head><body>
<div>MIT EDITORS' CLUB<br>
<br>
*Meeting Notes from January 22, 2007*<br>
</div>
<div>At Monday's meeting we discussed everything from News Office
publicity of a breaking MIT story on geothermal energy to key
resources for finding stories about MIT in the news. Let the New Year
begin!</div>
<div><br>
*Geothermal Report*<br>
<br>
Over the last few days you may have read in the news about a major
report on geothermal energy as a key US energy source. The
international panel that prepared the report, released Monday, was led
by Professor Jeff Tester of MIT.<br>
<br>
Here's the inside scoop behind how the News Office helped publicize
the report.<br>
</div>
<div>I learned about the report last month (Tester called me in
advance! Yay!), which gave us TIME to develop a public relations plan.
First, I coordinated writing a press release (several drafts, in this
case), and asked our photographer, Donna Coveney, to get a picture of
Tester. Then, with these background materials in hand (plus 15 hard
copies of the 70-page summary of the report and CDs containing the
full 400+ pages), my colleague Patti Richards went to work.</div>
<div><br>
Last week Patti in turn identified, then called, a dozen or so of the
nation's top energy reporters, told them about the report, and
fed-exed them the materials (which were embargoed until this past
Monday). She also worked with Tester's office to book interviews.<br>
<br>
And then.....we waited.<br>
</div>
<div>Monday the stories started to pour in (that day we also sent the
press release to our full mailing list). The notable exception? The
New York Times. But in a lovely piece of timing, Patti briefly
interrupted our Editors' Club meeting to say that the Times was indeed
doing the story...it would be in the next day's issue
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/23/business/23thermal.html?ref=science.</div
>
<div><br></div>
<div>A final quick note: Susan Curran, who runs the MIT homepage
"spotlight," ran the story as the spotlight Monday, complete
with an awesome graphic. We'd alerted her to the story in advance,
too.<br>
</div>
<div>*Finding Stories*</div>
<div><br></div>
<div>Every time Robyn Fizz, editor of the i/s newsletter, attends this
meeting, we always learn some Useful Stuff. This time, Robyn told us
about a talk later that afternoon at the Libraries on toolbars and
tips for doing web searches. I meant to get these minutes written up
on Monday in time to alert ya'll to the talk, but....oh well.</div>
<div><br></div>
<div>Just bringing up the subject of searches led to some Editors
talking about their favorite tools. For example, Robyn and Jen Carr, a
postdoc in civil and environmental engineering with an interest in
science writing, told us about google scholar. This tool allows you to
access about 500 times more information on a specific topic than its
famous parent, including journal articles and proprietary information.
For everything you need to know about google scholar, go to<font
face="Lucida Grande" size="-4" color="#000000">
http://libraries.mit.edu/help/google-scholar/</font>.</div>
<div><br></div>
<div>The News Office also uses google to search for MIT stories in the
news. Simply go to "Google News" at
http://news.google.com/nwshp?hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8<span
></span>&tab=wn&q=, and do a search for "Massachusetts
Institute of Technology" OR MIT</div>
<div><br></div>
<div>You can also narrow the field to find stories on a particular
subject by adding another search criterion, such as</div>
<div><br></div>
<div>"Massachusetts Institute of Technology" OR MIT AND
Tester</div>
<div><br></div>
<div>That last search brought up 79 news stories on the geothermal
study.</div>
<div><br></div>
<div>*Tiger Story*</div>
<div><br></div>
<div>I actually didn't share this story in Editors' Club, but a member
to whom I sent it earlier in the day suggested that I append it to
these minutes. It's about a phone call I got last Friday.</div>
<div><br></div>
<blockquote type="cite" cite>This afternoon I returned a call on my
voicemail from a woman interested in MIT "nanotech
work."<br>
<br>
When she answered the phone and I identified myself, she transferred
me to her husband. He asked whether MIT needed any volunteers to test
our new nanoparticles for treating cancer
(http://web.mit.edu/newsoffice/2006/prostate.html).<br>
<br>
"Oh, I'm sorry, sir," I said. "That work isn't yet
ready for use in humans."<br>
<br>
"Oh, I don't mean for me," he said. "We've got a tiger
we'd like to enroll."</blockquote>
<blockquote type="cite" cite><br></blockquote>
<blockquote type="cite" cite>Silence on my end, then: "Oh, I'm
sorry, sir. That work isn't yet ready for use in animals,
either."</blockquote>
<div><br></div>
<div>*Next Meetings*</div>
<x-sigsep><pre>--
</pre></x-sigsep>
<div>Below are the dates for the remaining MIT Editors Club Spring
2007 meetings. All</div>
<div>meetings are held in the News Office (11-400) from 12-1 PM. Feel
free</div>
<div>to bring a lunch.</div>
<div><br>
Wednesday, February 14<br>
<br>
Tuesday, March 20 (with guest Kirk Kolenbrander, Vice President
for<br>
Institute Affairs and Secretary of the MIT Corporation)<br>
<br>
Thursday, April 19<br>
<br>
Monday, May 21<br>
<br>
Friday, June 22</div>
<div><br></div>
<div>Cheers!</div>
<div><br></div>
<div>Elizabeth</div>
<div><br>
================================<br>
Elizabeth A. Thomson<br>
Senior Science and Engineering Editor<br>
Massachusetts Institute of Technology<br>
News Office, Room 11-400<br>
77 Massachusetts Ave.<br>
Cambridge, MA 02139-4307<br>
617-258-5402 (ph); 617-258-8762 (fax)<br>
<thomson@mit.edu><br>
<br>
<http://web.mit.edu/newsoffice/www><br>
================================</div>
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