Academic Ideas in the Public Sphere: Teaching Scientists and Philosophers How to Communicate with the ‘General Reader’

Scholars yearn to provide insights into some of the big questions. Yet, too often, they are limited in their abilities to communicate findings directly to a knowledge hungry public. The result is either that scholars write mainly for one another, placing important knowledge in insular academic journals that are beyond the reach and interest of the public, or rely on intermediaries to digest and transmit knowledge. If science and philosophy are to maximally enhance well-being and benefit humanity, scholars must have a way to more easily disseminate their discoveries to the public. Success in doing so requires learning not only how to tell a good story, and how to write in different styles, but also how to approach, pitch and work with editors at prominent publications. To facilitate this goal, we propose to conduct a second round of workshops consisting of the three two-day sessions led by James Ryerson, a senior editor at the New York Times Opinion Section. Within an informal context filled with real-time interaction and feed-back, participants will learn how to pitch stories to editors, as well as how to write pieces in several different formats. Participants will leave a workshop with improved skills for conducting a meaningful dialogue with the public.