A group of Integration and Application Network staff taught a one day science communication course at the Oxford Cooperative Laboratory on April 19. Bill Dennison, Jane Thomas, Jane Hawkey and Caroline Wicks covered the principles of science communication and provided lectures, activities, demonstrations and exercises for creating conceptual diagrams, PowerPoint presentations, and design/layout of posters and newsletters. Overall, there was a lot of material packed into the one day course.

A publication by Oregon Sea Grant in 2008 entitled "Hold That Thought!: Questioning five common assumptions about communicating with the public" by Joe Cone presents as one of the myths "Science communication is an art". Integration and Application Network (IAN) staff often introduce science communication principles and examples by using the title "Zen and the Art of Science Communication" which does infer that there is an art to science communication.

This week is the sixth anniversary of when the Integration and Application Network first posted its symbol library on its newly created website. This free, downloadable symbol library has been providing users with symbols crafted by IAN science communicators for use in constructing conceptual diagrams.