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This article is written for scholars, researchers, and academic leaders who have a passion to share their knowledge outside the classroom, laboratory, or institution. They want to make a difference and believe that the information they possess and ideas they have to offer have a public importance. Based on my book Pitch Perfect: Communicating with Traditional and Social Media for Scholars, Researchers, and Academic Leaders, along with advice from the faculty I surveyed who have had experience working with the media, I provide here a practical guide to communicating knowledge and ideas to broader audiences.
The Scholar as Public Intellectual
Thousands of scholarly papers and books are written each year. Many have value to audiences beyond the academy and the institutions supporting the research. Yet most new works find a limited readership, and their ability to influence change in that larger arena is consequently limited as well. “Ideas no longer score points,” says one university professor. “Their impact must be amplified to be noticed in an increasingly complicated world.”
Dust settles quickly on many scholarly compositions, the knowledge they offer buried within their pages. Many scholars and researchers assume or hope that their published works will become a topic of conversation for both their peers and the public, but they don't have a plan for communicating their ideas and findings. They believe that somehow their jargon-laden reports, scholarly papers, or books will find their way to key audiences, be read with interest, and enter into professional and public discourse. Often the reality is disappointment at their work's lack of impact.
William Tyson is president of Morrison & Tyson Communications (www.morrisonandtyson.com) and author of Pitch Perfect: Communicating with Traditional and Social Media for Scholars, Researchers, and Academic Leaders (Stylus Publishing), from which this article is adapted.
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