[Editors] Oct. Editors' Club Minutes

[Elizabeth Thomson]

MIT EDITORS' CLUB

*Meeting Notes from October 18, 2005*

October was one busy month, as witnessed by the belated nature of 
these minutes. I'm glad I took notes at this past meeting, as 
otherwise I doubt I'd remember one wit of the exchange (except for 
Debbie Levey's show-n-tell of 66 feet of chain for surveying--but 
more on that later). Below are some highlights.

*Got Energy?*

MIT's newly formed Energy Research Council is keeping fellow-Editor 
Nancy Stauffer rather busy these days.....Among other things Nancy, 
of the Lab for Energy and the Environment, reports that the council 
will soon have a new web site. It will include a timeline of key MIT 
energy achievements from 1880 till now, plus stories about continuing 
energy research at MIT.

If you have a story related to energy research in your area, drop 
Nancy a line. She's always looking for story ideas, since the new 
site will include short features on ongoing MIT energy research. If 
you actually send her a completed piece she'll bake you cookies :)

Another key part of the ERC site: an education section that will 
include a searchable list of energy-related courses. If you have 
other ideas for items that should be included in this section, send 
Nancy a note at stauffer at mit.edu  For example, someone at this 
meeting asked if there are any MIT K-12 educational outreach 
activities involving energy.

*The Scoop on the Nobels*

A very kind fellow Editor sent me an e-mail the morning of Professor 
Schrock's Nobel Prize saying how amazed she was that I had a story on 
the News Office web site only an hour or so after the announcement.

Although I'd love to think that I could indeed cobble together such a 
piece on such short notice, I  must set the record straight. The fact 
is, and I talked about this a bit at this meeting, there is a great 
deal of advance planning by the News Office before the Nobels are 
ever announced. And in this case, my colleague Lisa Damtoft simply 
had to add "Schrock wins Nobel" to his bio, which I'd written a few 
weeks earlier "just in case," and popped it on the web from her home 
computer.

Everyone in the News Office is involved in preparing for the Nobels. 
In fact, a month or so before Nobel week I distribute a LONG memo to 
the staff listing everything that each person should do in advance 
and the day of the announcement (if we do indeed win).

In addition to preparing bios on folks whose work is of Nobel 
quality, for example, we also actually book a room for any potential 
press conference!

That said, nothing ever goes completely flawlessly, and we always 
learn from the experience. Here's an example from this year: while 
posting signs for the press conference, which was in building 6, my 
colleague Myles Crowley realized that the ruckus from construction 
below the room might interfere with the festivities. What to do? He 
called Facilities, of course, and asked them to delay operations for 
an hour or so.....Thanks Myles!

*Science Writing  Books*

By now some 25 of you should have received your copies of A Field 
Guide For Science Writers, the book I told ya'll about a few months 
ago. I ordered several extra copies, so anyone who'd still like one 
can simply send me a note at thomson at mit.edu PLUS an account number 
to bill for the $16 cost of the book.

*Debbie's Show-n-Tell*

Debbie Levey, editor of the newsletter for the Department of Civil 
and Environmental Engineering, receives regular correspondence from 
department alumni. Occasionally she also gets packages. Last month 
she received 66 feet of chain for surveying (complete with spider 
webs) along with 100 feet of steel tape (complete with a gorgeous 
metal handle to wind it back up). Once she also received a crate of 
grapefruit from a reader in Florida.....

*Next Meeting*

The next meeting of MIT Editors' Club is Thursday, December 17, in 
the News Office (11-400). As always, feel free to bring a lunch.

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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