Happy Winter Solstice everyone!
We’d like to take a moment to let you know what’s happening here on the Borealis Blog and on our social media channels over the holidays.
This will be our last Borealis Blog post for 2016. We’re taking a few weeks off to give our volunteer writers and blog editors a well-deserved break before we launch into the 2017 editorial cycle. We’ve got a great line-up planned for the new year. You’ll hear from our veteran bloggers as well as from new voices. We’re also thinking about testing some new forms of scicomm (poetry anyone?), so stay tuned.
But, taking a break from blogging doesn’t mean Science Borealis is going into hibernation. No, our Outreach Team never sleeps. In fact, social media mavens that they are, they’re launching a new set of hashtags across all of our social media channels this week.
Here’s our Social Media Coordinator, Jesse Rogerson, with more on that —
With great Instagram comes great repost-ability
When we finished posting our #scicomm100 images on Instagram, we started looking for a new image-based project. We realized Instagram’s power is to give viewers a window into someone else’s world, so why not use it as a window into a scientist’s world? Through Instagram we could tell the story of Canadian scientists — who they are, what they do, and how they spend their free time.
So with that in mind, we invite everyone involved in the Canadian science and art sphere to try out these new hashtags:
#realCdnSci, #scientistsAtWork
Erin Zimmerman, #realCdnSci, #scientistsAtWork (used with permission)
Canadian science happens in labs and offices, fields and swamps, mountain tops and valley floors, clean rooms and messy tents, in our oceans and lakes, on our prairies and tundra. The science we do and the people who do it are as diverse as the landscape of Canada itself. Through Instagram, we want to showcase Canadian science in action. So if you’re a Canadian scientist, or a scientist doing science in Canada, use #realCdnSci and #scientistsAtWork to show people what science is really like in the true north.
#scientistsAtPlay
Kira Hoffman, #scientistsAtPlay (used with permission)
Although we work hard, we also play hard. The perception that scientists are forever hunched over a lab bench or endlessly writing code does not do justice to the multi-dimensional people who have made science their career. Use #scientistsAtPlay to show the world what Canadian scientists do when they aren’t sciencing.
#sciArt, #sciArtistsAtWork
Peggy Muddles, The Vexed Muddler #sciArt #sciArtistsAtWork (used with permission)
Science and art are truly two sides of the same coin. Whether attempting to learn why atoms behave the way they do, or developing a choreographed dance, what you really need is the creative spark. Scientists and artists share this creativity so it’s not unusual to find scientists who are artists and artists who are scientists. If you create science art, share your creations via #sciArt or let us see you in your creative process using #sciArtistsAtWork.
We’ll be monitoring our social media channels and will happily repost all of your awesome images on our own Instagram account. So make sure you tag us in your post wherever you post it — Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram.
Find us here:
- https://www.instagram.com/ScienceBorealis/
- https://twitter.com/ScienceBorealis
- https://www.facebook.com/scienceborealis/
From all of us at Science Borealis, we wish you a peaceful holiday season and look forward to bringing you more great Canadian science communication in 2017.
*Header image: Kira Hoffman #scientistsAtPlay
