[Editors] Free "communications" CD!

[Elizabeth Thomson]

Hello,

I just got back from a workshop in New Mexico sponsored by the 
National Science Foundation's Office of Media Relations. The workshop 
brought together about 30 university News Office science writers from 
around the country with 6 counterparts from NSF's Media Relations 
office. The goal: we're hammering out how to work together more 
efficiently to get the word out about NSF-funded university research. 
(I'm personally pretty excited about this because the results will 
also be useful for interacting with other funding agencies.)

During part of the meeting, the NSF crew shared with us a multimedia 
CD they created that explains how a researcher can work with his/her 
university News Office and the NSF team to communicate cool research 
to the public. After viewing the CD, I immediately asked if I could 
get copies.....for you. End result: I took home about 12, and NSF is 
happy to send me loads more.

So: send me a note if you'd like one of these CDs. If I run out, I'll 
pester the NSF for more.

One caveat: because NSF created this CD, it understandably emphasizes 
getting researchers to contact NSF's media relations office. I would 
strongly suggest, however, that you (or your researchers) FIRST 
contact me (or someone else in the MIT News Office). Obviously, much 
of the research around MIT is NOT funded by NSF, but I thought that 
this CD was an EXCELLENT primer on the communication process in 
general.

Cheers!

Elizabeth
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Elizabeth A. Thomson
Assistant Director, Science & Engineering News
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
News Office, Room 11-400
77 Massachusetts Ave.
Cambridge, MA  02139-4307
617-258-5402 (ph); 617-258-8762 (fax)
<thomson at mit.edu>

<http://web.mit.edu/newsoffice/www>
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