Sal Gray and Carl Mitchell from Reef Catchments invited me to participate in the launch of the Healthy Waterways Alliance in Mackay, on the central Queensland coast. We agreed on a plan for me come up the day before with a Science Communicator, Kate Moore, and run a half-day training session in which we would generate a draft newsletter. We would use the draft newsletter at the launch to structure a discussion about the form that Alliance would take.

Read more

Dr. John Snow (1813-1858) was a doctor who lived in London, England and Jack Maple (1952-2001) was a policeman who lived in New York City, USA. In spite of their wide geographical and generational differences, these two remarkable men were kindred spirits in combining insights and good maps to solve compelling problems. Following their premature deaths, both men have developed a strong following and have left a legacy that transcended their lives.

Read more

As part of the Integrated Water Management Master's program offered by the International WaterCentre (IWC), a four person panel was convened which included Poh-Ling Tan, a lawyer from Griffith University, Helen Thompson, an anthropologist in the private sector, Dr. Stephen Mahler, an engineer from the University of Queensland, and I was the natural sciences representative. Bruce Missingham from the IWC was the moderator.

Read more

One of the more enjoyable projects that I have done was co-author a book entitled "Discover the Waterways of South-East Queensland". The premise behind the book was to give people of Southeast Queensland a guide to viewing their streams, rivers and embayments. The guide was meant to also highlight the key processes and features of the waterways, which the photos and conceptual diagrams that accompanied the map of viewing locations would elucidate.

Read more

For science communication training for the International WaterCentre Masters of Water Management students, we used the chapel of Cromwell College on the University of Queensland campus. It was an interesting venue for this training. My training colleague was Kate Moore, a talented Science Communicator who works as an independent contractor, associated with the International WaterCentre. Following my introduction to science communication, Kate introduced conceptual diagrams.

Read more

Jean Bernard Léon Foucault, physicist, was born in Paris on September 18, 1819, and he died there on February 11, 1868. Foucault was a gifted experimentalist.

Read more

Along with the release of v6.0 of the IAN Symbol Libraries (see the blog announcement), IAN has developed a free online diagram creator. This tool allows users to create conceptual diagrams in their web browser without the need for expensive software. The diagrammer connects directly to our symbol library database so that users can search for symbols by keywords, browse the albums, select from an IAN project symbol set, or work from their lightbox collection.

Read more

The IAN Symbol Libraries has reached a major milestone of 2500 vector symbols with the release of v6.0. This version has been a long time coming, with the last release all the way back in 2005. We think users will find it worth the wait. The highlights of this release are:

Read more

Last month, President Obama coined the phrase Sputnik moment in regard to the race for new innovations in science and technology. Last night, he raised this issue again in his State of the Union address. The President asserted that in order to support innovation, advance alternate energies, compete in the new global economy, and create jobs, the country needs investments in research and education equivalent to those undertaken during the height of the Space Race.

Read more

One of our favorite teaching modules is about conceptual diagrams, and the activity associated with this module is called Conceptionary. It is a game in which teams of 4-10 people are formed and one team member is designated as the 'science illustrator'. The 'science illustrator' is given a card with an environmental concept explained and several key words are identified.

Read more