conservation – Doz World Matter

As an informal learning assignment, I have my students use social media to follow ocean science and conservation experts for the semester. Each week, they’re asked to check social media for a few minutes, and report on something interesting they learned about marine science or conservation (and why they thought it was interesting.) I’m sharing that assignment here so that others can use or modify it, either for a class or for your own informal science education.

ASSIGNMENT BACKGROUND:

A great deal of science communication takes place online, where modern communication tools like social media and blogs make it easier than ever before in human history for experts to share their expertise with the public on a large scale. Lots of ocean science and conservation experts use these tools for a mix of public education, stakeholder outreach, and professional interactions. Observing this, and in some cases participating in it, can be wonderful for students’ professional development and education! Therefore, for this course, you will follow scientists and science communicators on social media for the semester, checking briefly (or more regularly) every week, and reporting on something interesting you learned.

Some accounts you follow will be from a list I provide, and some will be accounts you find yourself.
Each week, you’ll report something interesting about ocean science or conservation you learned on social media on Canvas, noting not only what was said, but who said it, why it caught your eye, and what you learned from it. We’ll also open class discussion each week with “what’s something interesting you learned on social media about ocean science or conservation this week, and why did you think it was interesting?”

For the last five years, I’ve had students, including non-major undergraduates, senior major undergraduates, and graduate students, do versions of this assignment, which I’ve published here. We used to use Twitter, we are not doing that anymore following the decline of Science Twitter. Instead, I’m now using Bluesky and Instagram. If you’d like, you may also use another service in addition to (not instead of) one or both of these two.

You may use an existing social media account if you want, or if you’d prefer you may create a new one just for this assignment . If for whatever reason (and I do not need to know the reason) you do not want a public social media account featuring your name, you may create an anonymous account (e.g., MarineBiologyStudent_Orca or Georgetown_Swordfish or NSU_CoralReefEnjoyer or something). You absolutely may NOT pretend to be a real person who you are not, that is against social media platform policies.

Please note: if for whatever reason (and I do not need to know the reason) you absolutely refuse to use social media, there is an alternative assignment, please contact me to receive it.

Please note: Scientists and conservationists are human beings and they talk about things other than the ocean, and A Lot is happening in the world right now. If someone says something distressing, just unfollow them, don’t argue with them. If you want to talk about it, talk about it with me, not with them.

Please note: You may ask the people you follow questions if you are genuinely interested in doing so, but you are not required to do so for this assignment. Please do not ask a question just to ask a question!

Each week, there will be a Canvas prompt for you to respond to, asking you to identify a post you saw on social media that you found interesting, and why you thought it was interesting.

BlueSky Accounts to follow

If you are using Bluesky for this assignment, you will be asked to follow at least 25 accounts from this list, and at least 10 accounts that you find on your own (some suggestions on how to find accounts are included below).

Here is a brief introduction to Bluesky, and here is how you sign up for an account if you don’t have one already.

Unlike on Instagram, if you are choosing to use Bluesky, I would recommend that you follow me because I share a lot of relevant content there, but it’s not required.

I have created a “starter pack,” a list of accounts that I think meet this course’s needs. Once you are logged into your account, please view my starter pack here. From here, examine the 50+ accounts I’ve highlighted and select at least 25 of them to follow.

To find other accounts, you can explore the marine science feed and see who is posting there. You can also search for keywords of interest (e.g., sea turtles, coral reefs, sustainable fisheries) and see who pops up. Additionally, there are lots of other great starter packs out there made by other Bluesky users. Ones that could be of interest here include: “Marine Biologists,” “Deep Sea Science,” “Coral Reef Science,” “Fisheries and Aquaculture,” “Zoos and Aquariums,” and “Marine Social Science,” or you can find your own on this list. Please note that these Starter Packs are all user-made with no quality control or fact-checking, which means they may contain people who don’t post very often and may contain people who post inaccurate information, so please explore carefully. I also made a Starter Pack of Shark Scientists.

Instagram Accounts to follow

Here’s how you make an instagram account if you do not have one already.

If you are using Instagram for this assignment, you will be asked to follow (at least) 15 accounts of your choice from the list below, and then add at least ten that you find on your own by searching hashtags or keywords of interest (like #MarineBiology or #SeaTurtles or #CoralReefs or whatever). The accounts on my provided list are a mix of scientists, conservationists, educators, government managers, and photographers and artists. It also includes institutional accounts like museums, aquariums, and government agencies. I suggest you briefly examine all of them when finding a mix that you like.

You can, but do not have to, follow me/your instructor here.

Here are my suggested Instagram accounts, with a link to each:

Oceana (@oceana) • Instagram photos and videos

Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum (@chesapeakemaritime) • Instagram photos and videos

Jaelen Myers (@stingray.savvy) • Instagram photos and videos

Emily De Sousa | Seafood, Travel, Sports (@seasidewithemily) • Instagram photos and videos

MSU Marine Fisheries Ecology (@msu_marinefisheriesecology) • Instagram photos and videos

Seafood Watch (@seafoodwatch) • Instagram photos and videos

Project Seagrass (@projectseagrass) • Instagram photos and videos

NOAA (@noaa) • Instagram photos and videos

National Aquarium (@nationalaquarium) • Instagram photos and videos

Fisheries and Oceans Canada (@fisheriesoceanscan) • Instagram photos and videos

Keith M. Cowley (@sharkhistorian) • Instagram photos and videos

Nautilus Live (@nautiluslive) • Instagram photos and videos

DOSI (@deepstewardship) • Instagram photos and videos

Angel Shark Project (@angelsharkproject) • Instagram photos and videos

Sharks4Kids (@sharkeducation) • Instagram photos and videos

Save Our Seas Foundation (@saveourseasfoundation) • Instagram photos and videos

HavenworthCoastalConservation (@coastalelasmos) • Instagram photos and videos

Summer Brooks (@summer.scientist) • Instagram photos and videos

Paul Nicklen (@paulnicklen) • Instagram photos and videos

FishGuyPhotos (@fishguyphotos) • Instagram photos and videos

Ocean Conservation Society (@oceanconservation) • Instagram photos and videos

MATILDA BISHOP (@artworkbymatilda) • Instagram photos and videos

kendy (@intertidalkendy) • Instagram photos and videos

Minorities in Shark Sciences (@miss_elasmo) • Instagram photos and videos

Smithsonian Marine Station (@smithsoniansms) • Instagram photos and videos

MSC Certified Sustainable Seafood 🐟 (@mscbluefish) • Instagram photos and videos

Miami Waterkeeper (@miamiwaterkeeper) • Instagram photos and videos

Sharks and Rays Australia (@sharksandraysau) • Instagram photos and videos

Coral Restoration Foundation™ (@coralrestorationfoundation) • Instagram photos and videos

Project Seahorse / iSeahorse (@projectseahorse) • Instagram photos and videos

Hakai Magazine (@hakaimag) • Instagram photos and videos

FSU Coastal & Marine Lab (@fsumarinelab) • Instagram photos and videos

US National Marine Sanctuaries (@noaasanctuaries) • Instagram photos and videos

NOAA Fisheries (@noaafisheries) • Instagram photos and videos

Ocean Conservancy (@oceanconservancy) • Instagram photos and videos

Monterey Bay Aquarium (@montereybayaquarium) • Instagram photos and videos

Coral City Camera (@coralcitycamera) • Instagram photos and videos

If you are a fellow educator and you choose to use or adapt this assignment, all I ask is that you let me know how it goes! Happy learning!

The leading textbook in Marine Conservation Biology (Norse and Crowder) is 20 years old. It’s great and it shaped the field for a generation, but a lot has happened since it came out. There are new conservation threats, new policy tools, and new research methods to study them. And in that time, we’ve radically changed how we approach a lot of these questions.

It’s time for something new, so we’re making a new textbook, and we need your help.

Who are we?

Longtime readers know that I am a Ph.D. conservation scientist and author, and that I teach ocean conservation policy at Georgetown. I’m collaborating with longtime colleague Dr. Catherine Macdonald, a Ph.D. interdisciplinary marine scientist who teaches marine conservation biology at the University of Miami. Together we are the lead authors of the new book.

We also have assembled a team of subject matter experts including deep-sea ecologist Dr. Diva Amon, and marine mammal biologist Dr. Asha de Vos. We will likely be seeking additional subject matter experts- stay tuned!

The book will be published by Johns Hopkins University Press.

What is our goal for the book?

Our goal is that this book will be rigorous enough to be used as a textbook for an undergraduate or graduate level course, but accessible enough for the interested public or for a frontline practitioner without an advanced degree.

The book will focus on conservation threats as well as their solutions (including policy/regulation/law solutions and voluntary behavior change solutions.) It will focus on success stories as case studies. And it will focus on the science showing how we know. It will be interdisciplinary, addressing the role of humans in creating and solving conservation problems, including the need to approach these problems with an understanding of the need for environmental justice.

It will contain practical, evidence-based advice for all levels of decision-making, from individuals to community organizations to national governments.

It will contain diverse perspectives, interviews, and case studies from experts and key stakeholders all over the world.

And it will contain an extensive focus on careers and professional development, including key skills and how to learn them, for aspiring ocean conservation professionals.

What do we need from you?

If you teach ocean conservation science and/or policy, we’d love to hear about resources or exercises that you use for your class that you would recommend to other teachers. And we’d love to hear about any features of our book that would make it more useful for your class and your students, or more likely that you’d use it for your course.

If you are an ocean conservation professional, we’d love to get suggestions from you on topics or perspectives to include, on case studies to feature, on things you wish early-career professionals learned in school, and more.

And if you’re interested in potentially contributing as a subject matter expert, let us know on what topic and in what way.

How can you get in touch with us?

You can provide feedback using this Google Form, you can email me directly at WhySharksMatter at Gmail, or you can join a session of an upcoming Zoom LIstening Tour where we’ll talk about this together.

Dates/times where we are hosting Zoom sessions include (all times are US east coast time, all sessions are one hour):

Tuesday, February 25th at 9:00 a.m.
Thursday, February 27th at 4:00 p.m.
Monday, March 17 at 9:00 a.m.
Friday, March 21 at 4:00 p.m.

Sign up here. And if you’d like to share information but can’t make one of these Zoom talks, please share it via this form, or email me.

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