Building a Collaborative, University-Based Science-in-Action Video Storytelling Model that Translates Science for Public Engagement and Increases Scientists’ Relatability
By Dena K. Seidel, Xenia K. Morin, Marissa Staffen, Richard D. Ludescher, James E. Simon, and Oscar Schofield
Collaborating scientists and storytellers successfully built a university-based science-in-action video storytelling model to test the research question: Can university scientists increase their relatability and public engagement through science-in-action video storytelling? Developed over 14 years, this science storytelling model produced more than a dozen high-visibility narratives that translated science to the public and featured scientists, primarily environmental and climate scientists, who are described in audience surveys as relatable people. This collaborative model, based on long-term trusting partnerships between scientists and video storytellers, documented scientists as they conducted their research and together created narratives intended to humanize scientists as authentic people on journeys of discovery.
