With a Ph.D. in aerospace engineering and more than 12 years of experience as a science communicator, I'm an expert at helping scientists tell their science stories. If you're looking to become a more confident communicator of science, check out my newsletter!
Issue 16 - Finding Free-to-Use Media and Images
Hi, Reader! Whether you like them or loathe them, we all have to deal with time and word limits at some point. In this issue, I take a look at the questions you should ask yourself anytime you're operating with one of these constraints.
And because we all sometimes have budget constraints, too, I share some of my secrets for finding free, royalty-free images, video footage, music, and sound effects. I hope they'll help you dress up your presentations, videos, and research posters without running afoul of anyone.
Questions to Ask When Dealing With Word and Time Limits
So you've got 10 minutes to present your research at a conference? Let's look at the questions you should consider when designing your talk.
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Where to Find Free, Royalty-Free Media
Need some images to dress up your presentation or some video footage to add to your video abstract? If you've got a budget of $0, there are still great legal ways to find and use media. Here are some of my favorite sources.
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From Around the Web
- Tips to Enhance STEM Writing - A quick and straightforward Twitter thread with tips to write better in science.
- Need to Capture a Brilliant Idea in the Shower? - I know I'm not the only one who does a lot of thinking in the shower. If you struggle to hold onto those ideas, here's a piece of stationery that may help.
From the Archives
My friend Dianna recently celebrated her birthday and her first wedding anniversary. Sadly, she spent both of those milestones bedridden due to long-term effects of COVID. But back in the day, the two of us collaborated on a video that explained how my Ph.D. research connected to the Space Shuttle. This early video was one of the first times I took advantage of the royalty-free videos available from U.S. Federal Agencies, as discussed in one of the blog posts above.
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That's it for now! I'll see you again in two weeks with more scicomm tips, tricks, and inspiration. - Nicole
Nicole Sharp, Ph.D.
With a Ph.D. in aerospace engineering and more than 12 years of experience as a science communicator, I'm an expert at helping scientists tell their science stories. If you're looking to become a more confident communicator of science, check out my newsletter!
Hi, Reader! This year my summer calendar has a massive question mark hanging over it. That's not, in my experience, conducive to steady, quality writing each week. So I've decided to put the blog and this newsletter on a hiatus until life gets a little more certain. I expect to return in a couple months with lots more to say and share about communicating science. In the meantime, though, I leave you with another edition of "Fixed It For You" - this time powered by ChatGPT. Or rather, inspired...
Hi, Reader! Since I was asked a few weeks ago to prepare a five-minute, no-slides talk for Fellows of the Royal Society, I've had constraints on the brain. I feel like we scientists and engineers love to complain about time limits and word counts and just not having enough space for our voices and ideas. But the more I thought about constraints in other contexts, like art, the more I realized that constraints are, in fact, a good thing to have. And not just for the audience or conference...
Hi, Reader! It's been a busy few weeks around here, with lots of distractions interrupting my efforts at progress. I imagine I'm not alone in that situation, so this newsletter's posts contain some advice, not for avoiding distractions (because, frankly, sometimes that's impossible) but for getting things done in spite of them. And if you've got any good tips, I'm all ears! Let me know how you structure your work to make progress even when the world demands your attention elsewhere. Writing...