Ana Márcia Castillo decided to take the seventh course “Network of science communication blogs” for personal motivation, but much more stimulated by her publications on child health. As a pediatric nurse, she observes that this area has been highly sought after by parents and teachers who wish to clarify doubts about the world of children. This Monday (28), the last day of the course, she is completing her own blog and her work, from now on, will just be to feed it with content.
The nurse from the Faculty of Nursing (FENf) is one of the 161 participants in the course since 2015, organized by the Teaching and Learning Support Space (EA)², in partnership with the Laboratory of Advanced Studies in Journalism (Labjor) and the Laboratory of Technological Innovation Applied in Education (Lantec). An average of 20 science bloggers participate in the course per semester. It is a scientific dissemination network.
According to Beatriz Jansen, project coordinator at (EA)2, this collaboration has been very productive. "We already have 270 posts from different areas, 1.300 visits, 97 blogs, 35 of which are active and the rest will soon join this network", she revealed. The target audience is made up of professors, master's students and doctoral students. The next course is scheduled to take place in September. It lasts just three days.
The initiative has the help of volunteer instructors. It started in person, moved to a hybrid format (distance learning - EAD and in-person) and today it is being offered entirely remotely. “We recommend that only the first meeting be in person, as the Labjor team provides a broad explanation about the difficulties of carrying out scientific dissemination”, said Beatriz.
This network is a pioneering initiative in the country, in the academic field. It is the first in Brazil among public state universities. The objective is to provide participants with skills in handling the tool and its resources, in addition to problematizing the discussion about the importance of members of the University disseminating science and technology to society in a language that is easy to assimilate. Thanks to the partnership with Labjor, the course reached a more attractive language.
The project began in 2015, with a view to creating a platform or tool that would allow the aggregation of several blogs authored by researchers and professors at Unicamp. Its model was ScienceBlogs, ResearchBlogging, ScienceBlogging and the ScienceSeeker. The platform currently used is Wordpress, which is completely free, said André Garcia, an employee at (EA)2 and one of the course instructors.
The organizers established a regiment, in which, to be a science communication blogger at Unicamp, it is necessary to take this course. The parameter for disclosure is the 1988 Constitution. "Everything that is published is the responsibility of whoever publishes it, however there is a connection between that person and Unicamp. If they place a post If you violate the Constitution, you have to answer for it. Therefore, all publications need to be carefully thought out and in accordance with Unicamp, which seeks to respect the Brazilian Constitution", highlighted professor Beatriz.
The expectation of the course directors is to increase the number of promoters. "Unicamp once again takes the lead and society wins", highlighted the coordinator of (EA)2. See the Blogs available on the (EA)2 website.
