Delving into Scientific Communication: Broadcasts, Astronauts, and Video Editing
By Michael Champion, BS in Communication
I started the summer semester with but one goal in mind: to raise my overall GPA. However, I didn’t realize what was in store for me this summer. My summer class consisted of not only learning how to write about science, but my peers and I also received hands on experience. The hands on experience consisted of interviewing former astronaut Captain Winston Scott, conducting an in-flight (ISS) interview with CDR Chris Cassidy, USN, and touring Kennedy Space Center, which culminated in meeting with KSC director, Col. Robert D. Cabana, USMC, Ret.
In the latter half of the class, half of my peers went off to Eindhoven, Netherlands, while the other half remained behind for various reasons. Those of us that remained behind were granted the opportunity to tour FIT’s radio station, WFIT. We are currently gathering our information and will put on a radio broadcast to showcase our work.
I learned from this course a great many things. I am a person that is heavily ingrained with science and technology, but not with writing about the science or technology. When it comes to writing about science and technology, I learned that just like all journalism, we need to keep our personal bias out of our writing and simply give our reads all of the information.
The knowledge that I gained from my exploits will allow my professional work to exhibit a more refined quality. For example, as part of the project, I created a 90 second video brief recap/overview of our adventure to Kennedy Space Center; specifically the interview with astronaut Chris Cassidy and the meeting with KSC director Robert Cabana. To create such a video, I am utilizing both iMovie and Adobe Premiere Pro, both of which are excellent video editing software.
My personal consumption of news in relation to science and technology has not changed all that much like I expected it to. Currently, I enjoy reading voraciously (when not working on my pet project), things like research being done on new medical treatments, brain research, organ research, cancer research, and much more. Truth be told, I find technological advancements to be much more engaging in that I am heavy on the technology that I use. If anything else, my consumption of technological news has gone up more than scientific news. Perhaps I’ll make some scientific or technological advancement of my own one day, who knows.
