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IAN Press is committed to producing practical, user-centered communications that foster a better understanding of science and enable readers to pursue new opportunities in research, education, and environmental problem-solving. Our publications synthesize scientific findings using effective science communication techniques.
Publications
Australia
Caribbean
Chesapeake Bay
Guam
War in the Pacific National Historical Park
Gulf of Mexico
Atchafalaya and Vermilion Bays
Mississippi and Atchafalaya Plume
Hawaii
Ala Kahakai National Historic Trail
Kalaupapa National Historical Park
Kaloko-Honokohau National Historical Park
Pu'ukohola Heiau National Historic Site
Maryland
Maryland Coastal Bays
Mexico
Mid Atlantic
Antietam National Battlefield Park
Chesapeake and Ohio National Historical Park
Integration and Application Network
Monocacy National Battlefield Park
Mid West
North Atlantic
Kennebec and Androscoggin River
St. Croix River and Cobscook Bay
Pacific Coast
Bellingham and Padilla and Samish Bays
Central San Francisco and San Pablo and Suisun Bays
Palau
Panama
Philippines
Samoa
National Park of American Samoa
South Atlantic
St. Andrew and St. Simons Sounds
St. Catherines and Sapelo Sounds
St. Marys River and Cumberland Sound
South Caucasus
Virginia
George Washington Memorial Parkway
Manassas National Battlefield Park
Wolf Trap National Park for the Performing Arts
West Virginia
agricultural aquatic assessment australia battlefield chesapeake bay chester climate change coastal coastal bays communication conceptual diagrams conference conservation coral creek dissolved oxygen document ecological ecosystem environmental estuarine federation fisheries flood forecast global habitat harbor harmful algal blooms health impacts indicators loading maps marine menhaden monitoring nitrogen nutrient ocean overall oyster park partners patuxent pollution predicted reef report card restoration river seagrass sediment solving spatially studies study threats tidal water quality watershed workshop zone
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South East Queensland Floods 2011 (Newsletter) 
Seagrasses, turtles and dugongs
Author(s): Dennison WC, Udy, J
Publisher: SEQ Healthy Waterways Partnership
Moreton Bay is internationally recognised for its large population of green sea turtles and dugongs, and for its unique location next to a major capital city. Following the January flood, there has been serious concern about the impact of the flood plume on these symbolic Moreton Bay creatures. This newsletter provides an overview of some of the initial flood impact assessment results for seagrasses, turtles and dugongs, and identifies the risks that need to be monitored. For further infomation, see the associated blog posts.
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Chesapeake Bay Report Card 2010 (Report card)
Prepared by EcoCheck and the Integration and Application Network
This report card provides a transparent, timely, and geographically detailed assessment of 2010 Chesapeake Bay health. The overall health of Chesapeake Bay, assessed using water quality and biotic indicators, declined slightly in 2010. The overall grade decreased from a C in 2009 to C- in 2010. Only two reporting regions (James River and York River) had improved grades in 2010, three were unchanged, and nine declined. The highest-ranked region in previous years, the Upper Western Shore, decreased to fourth highest. The Upper Bay (C+) became the top-ranked region in 2010. For further details, visit the Report Card website.
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State of the Anacostia River - 2010 (Report card)
Publisher: Anacostia Riverkeeper and Anacostia Watershed Society
This is the first annual Anacostia River Report Card. It scores four water quality indicators (dissolved oxygen, fecal bacteria, water clarity, and chlorophyll a) and policy efforts, and discusses issues specific to the Anacostia. The report card also includes information on actions that citizens can take to help improve the health of the Anacostia River.
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Case studies of Regional Ecosystem Research (Report)
Integration & Application Network in collaboration with the NOAA Center for Sponsored Coastal Ocean Research
Eight case studies highlight lessons learned in conducting regional-scale research and incorporating this information into management. The case studies represent a wide variety of physical and ecological contexts; these include the Great Lakes (Lake Erie), a river-dominated coast (northern Gulf of Mexico), tropical lagoon systems (Micronesia and South Florida), and coastal ocean systems (California coast, Bering Sea, Gulf of Maine, and the Northwest Atlantic). Case studies were chosen to display the variety of issues, funding, and participation involved in regional ecosystem research. Each case study provides perspectives on planning and implementation of regional ecosystem research from the point-of-view of scientists and managers.
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2011 West & Rhode Rivers Report Card (Report card)
Produced by the West/Rhode Riverkeeper program
This is the third annual West & Rhode Rivers report card. It presents data and information on eight different ecological health indicators. In 2010, new analysis methods were used that were developed in collaboration with the Mid-Atlantic Tributary Assessment Coalition (MTAC), but the findings still remain consistent with the past two years.
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2010 South River Scorecard (Report card)
Produced by South River Federation
This newsletter is the 5th annual South River Scorecard. It presents data and information on six water quality indicators, a human health indicator, an enforcement indicator, and two descriptive indicators. The scorecard also includes information on actions that citizens can take to help improve the health of the South River.
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Innovations in environmental synthesis, reporting and governance (Presentation)
Presented at the 2011 Terrestrial Ecosystem Research Network conference, Melbourne, Australia
This presentation describes a range of innovations in environmental synthesis, reporting and governance. Sythesis examples are the National Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis, the Annapolis Synthesis Center, and Ensync. Innovations in reporting detail IAN's approach to science communication (compared with science writing) and the use of conceptual diagrams, a global symbol language and video seminars, as well as environmental report cards and the media coverage they garner. Governance examples include "CompStat", "CitiStat" and "StateStat".
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Deep Creek Lake Baseline Condition Assessment (Newsletter)
Author(s): Powell SL and Kelsey RH
This newsletter summarizes the baseline health assessment produced in 2011 by EcoCheck for Friends of Deep Creek Lake in preparation for production of future annual lake report cards. A unique assessment framework and preliminary data analysis results are presented, along with suggestions for future work and action items for concerned citizens. For further details, see the full assessment document.
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Land-Ocean Interactions in the Coastal Zone Hotspots (Poster)
Publisher: Land-Ocean Interactions in the Coastal Zone
LOICZ is working to support sustainability and adaptation to global change in the coastal zone. This poster outlines global hotspots at risk: a) urbanization in coastal zones - urbanization and climate change are intensely linked in the coastal zone; b) islands at risk - small island states are threatened by coastal development and climate change; c) river mouth systems, including deltas and estuaries - large estuarine systems are "hotspots" of fluxes of water and dissolved substances, as well as particulate matter and sediments; and d) the arctic - arctic coastal societies are facing a combination of rapid changes involving environmental processes, cultural developments, economic changes, industrial developments, and political changes.
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Deep Creek Lake Baseline Assessment Report (Report)
Author(s): Kelsey RH and Powell SL
This report describes the baseline condition assessment produced by EcoCheck for Friends of Deep Creek Lake in preparation for production of future annual lake ecosystem health report cards. A new and innovative assessment framework, discussion of the individual indicators, and results of data analysis are presented, along with suggestions for future monitoring and research needs.
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About
"Writing crystallizes thought and thought produces action." Paul J. Meyer
Goals
A goal of IAN Press is to empower scientists to directly communicate their ideas and concepts. Publications from IAN Press are designed to transform the uninterested to interested; the interested to involved and the involved to engaged.
IAN Press products are designed to be examples of good science communication principles, and the hope is that others will employ these principles so that scientific understanding can be disseminated widely as possible. The production of IAN Press communication publications involves experimentation with communication techniques and, as such, provides various ideas for science communication that can be emulated.
The comparisons and contrasts that IAN Press provides on environmental subjects intend to stimulate scientists, managers, practitioners, policy makers, students and other readers to think more broadly and expansively about the region and issues that they face. The extensive use of visual elements accesses a broader cultural diversity as well, which allow for more global perspectives.
The conclusions and recommendations presented in IAN Press publications are crafted to empower actions, plant seeds of ideas and provide justification for people to take appropriate action to find solutions to environmental problems. The conclusions are made as explicit as possible by employing active titles and featuring them prominently (e.g., front section of books or back cover of newsletters).
On costs
IAN Press does not provide author royalties and the design and layout of the publications conducted by a talented team of Science Communicators is underwritten by various grants and contracts. Marketing is limited to the internet and word-of-mouth, also reducing costs. Thus, the price of IAN Press publications is solely to reimburse the actual printing costs entailed. The intent is to provide the broadest possible readership, thus keeping costs as low as possible is paramount. Typically, full color is used, virtually on every page, which does increase print costs, however, the use of color is a key element in providing accessible information to a wide audience and the lack of author royalties or design/layout charges.
Peer review
IAN Press undertakes a rigorous review process by both peer scientists and resource managers. In addition, Integration and Application Network Science Integrators and Science Communicators read, edit and review all aspects of IAN Press publications, including text, conceptual diagrams, photographs, maps, figures and tables. Many IAN Press publications are multi-authored, and each author contributes to the review and editing of the entire publication. This is not the classical peer review system of a limited number of anonymous reviewers working with an editor to recommend changes, rather a larger number of non-anonymous reviewers that develop consensus on each word, visual element and recommendation. The review process is often accelerated by IAN Press to accommodate timely publication.
Authorship
IAN Press attempts to be as authorship inclusive as possible and to provide attribution to each visual element. Authorship is not ranked or ordered, and the credibility of the IAN Press product should be based on the scientific data presented and the collective effort of a multiple of contributors, both with and without formal academic training.
Science Communicators are the key element in the production of IAN Press documents. They design the layout of the document, obtain and edit the visual elements, designate the amount and style of text, and orchestrate the review and editing process. IAN Press documents are produced using a 'storyboard' approach, in which the central message(s) are identified and various visual elements selected to support the central message(s). This is in contrast to the more traditional method of writing text and adding in visuals subsequently. In video and film production, storyboards are used and the producer is key to assembling the visual elements. Science Communicators serve in an equivalent role in terms of assembling all the pieces that go into the publication.
Color
IAN Press relies extensively on color for photographs, maps, conceptual diagrams, figures and even text and tables to a limited degree. The use of color allows for an increased data density and provides a bigger visual impact considering the amount of the human brain devoted to visual discrimination of colors. Color allows for greater discrimination of visual elements and in data presentation, a closer juxtaposition of different elements and greater comparative utility. The preponderance of color printers and the ability of electronic versions to be displayed in color promote the inexpensive dissemination of full color documents. In order to help color-blind people compensate, an effort is made to provide other visual clues in graphics, such as symbols with different shapes or map delineations with different shading or texture, but some of the visual impact will be compromised.
Audience
IAN Press does not target a narrow, specific audience, rather attempts to be as inclusive as possible. As the world becomes more specialized, with marketing forces that promote highly targeted advertising campaigns, IAN Press products attempt to reach the broadest audience possible. IAN Press attempts to raise the bar rather than dumb down the message by using non-technical language, defining all terms and reducing acronym use. By providing synthesis, visualizations and context, we feel that relatively sophisticated concepts can be grasped by a non-technical audience. In fact, science has become highly specialized and often the language, tools and approaches used in various scientific disciplines are relatively incomprehensible to specialists in other disciplines. Thus, one audience of IAN Press is scientists from other specialties to encourage inter-disciplinary thinking and approaches.
Why use print media?
With the growing popularity of electronic media, the carbon footprint involved in producing and distributing paper products, and the ability to provide infinite resources via the web, it could be argued that IAN Press should disseminate entirely via electronic means. While IAN Press provides downloadable, web accessible materials, IAN Press continues to produces written products for the following reasons:
- There is rigor and discipline required in producing science communication products that have limited 'real estate', that, is limited amounts of space to convey a message. A paper product maintains focus, while web links can lead to tangential issues. The priority setting required to establish the final layout and include various communication elements is important in conveying information. Fixed 'real estate' forces condensation, synthesis and integration. Every visual element is uniquely created for the purpose of conveying the specific information intended, rather than repurposed from other sources.
- The written product invites non-linear reading, and a quick scan allows readers to delve into the visual elements most interesting to them. If a reader is most attracted to photographs, maps, conceptual diagrams, or figures, they can migrate to these elements and the figure legends should be self explanatory. Alternatively, if reading text is the preferred way of obtaining information, the text is designed to be self sufficient. The juxtaposition of text and various visual elements also conveys important information, something that can be lost via hyperlinks on the web. In addition, electronic books with the current technology do not support color graphics.
- Since various IAN Press products are intended to inform a broad community from policy makers to the general public, the weight of scientific support that can be marshaled can be a factor in empowering people to action. In order to make an impact, the difference between hundreds of web pages and hundreds of printed pages is one reason to provide print versions of IAN products. In addition, internet access is not equally applied globally or socially, and in some societies and sectors of society, a written product provides a more accessible source, particularly through libraries and schools.
- Printed materials provide a 'time stamp', a fixed point of time when the data are assembled and the conclusions are reached. Rather than constantly updating the data and conclusions, drawing the line in the sand as to what is known at a particular time point is what printed products do. The shelf life of science communication products should be somewhat limited due to the increased scientific understanding based on ongoing research, yet the record of what is known, and when it is known, provides an important archival body of information.
- "The product drives the collaborative process"; in that the science communication product forces an intensely collaborative process of obtaining and refining visual elements, drafting and editing text, and experimenting with layout and design. While this collaborative process can be conducted with the production of web materials, print deadlines are a good way to insure timely delivery. In addition, to obtain buy-in from many scientists whose training and experience are in producing printed papers and books, printed copies are often necessary.