To: Aaron Wiegel <aawiegel@gmail.com>, Clark Robinson <robinsonchicago@gmail.com>
Hi, Aaron-
Thanks for getting in touch. A letter from your advisor won't be necessary, nor will a resume; a PhD candidate at Berkley is more than qualified to do what we ask of our scientist participants as it involves merely assisting a freelancer or staff writer with producing an accurate and insightful layman-targeted article. Also some of our people are working scientists who have already completed their doctoral work and whatnot, some are autodidacts as well, so you're perfect for this.
We have a spreadsheet with several dozen scientists and journalists; we enter in the particular areas of interest and/or expertise for both sorts of contributors and then use that to determine the best pairs. I'll put you down for the several you've expressed here (and if there are any other fields in which you would feel comfortable thinking up good sources and ensuring accuracy, let me know) and then introduce you to a good match via e-mail, at which point the two of you may decide on how to proceed. As to your question of time commitments, that will vary based on the length of the article, how familiar you and the writer are with the subject, how quickly you can identify a good interview subject (if needed) for quotes as well as source material, and how much explanation the writer needs from you about the subject. Having said that, I think that on average the scientist need not spend more than a couple of hours on his end. This could be even less if, for instance, the piece is some 200-300 word sidebar on some new study or the state of a field summarized, which would probably only take 20 or 30 minutes total on the scientist's part in the course of finding good material and explaining a few things to the writer and thereafter reading it over and perhaps making a note or two. Also remember that we'll happily provide editorial assistance and otherwise assist however we can in getting these articles produced and published.
I've cc'd my associate Clark Robinson on this; he helps me to orient new participants for our sub-programs such as this as well as Project PM in general, and he supply you with more information on what we're doing and why in case you'd be interested in providing your input on the project at some point or merely have an interest in experimental methodologies of information flow. Meanwhile, I can also answer any questions you may have at this point or later.
Thanks again, Aaron, for inquiring about this. I'm gratified at the response we've gotten on the Sci/Journ Program and am particularly happy to have you and a few other League of Gentlemen readers/writers working with us on this project, and I'm also glad to know that this sort of thing is important to you.
On Mon, Dec 6, 2010 at 11:11 PM, Aaron Wiegel <aawiegel@gmail.com> wrote:
Hello,
My name is Aaron Wiegel, and I'm a 5th year PhD candidate in physical chemistry at University of California - Berkeley who does research on chemical cycles in the atmosphere. I am a frequent reader of the League of Ordinary Gentlemen, and I was interested in your science journalism improvement project. In particular, the quality of news articles in regards to issues where science intersects with environmental policy such as climate change, ozone depletion, and photochemical smog could be greatly improved. I generally keep up on journals in both physical chemistry and geophysics so I could help a freelance reporter who was interested in those topics as well. I was wondering, however, how much of a time commitment being involved in this project entails and what documents you might want from me. I can send you a copy of my CV/resume if you are interested in my qualifications. Because I have not yet obtained my PhD (although I will in about 1-1.5yrs), I can also obtain a recommendation from my PhD adviser if you are concerned about my qualifications. Thank you, and let me know if you have any questions for me.
Cheers,
Aaron Wiegel
-- Aaron Wiegel PhD Candidate Boering Group 419 Latimer Hall College of Chemistry, University of California - Berkeley, Berkeley, CA 94720