Welcome to The Ocean Project blog! This blog is primarily geared toward staff at the zoos, aquariums, museums (ZAMs), and other conservation education organizations that are part of our growing global network. We aim to provide you with cutting edge, challenging, and creative information, ideas, and tools to become as effective as possible at communicating about and for conservation with your visitors and the public. Check back weekly for posts about our communications research and analysis of current events and others’ findings.
The Ocean Project Blog
A weekly blog concerning strategic conservation communication
The Ocean Project Blog
24
MAY
2013
Weekly Round Up: play to the audience
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In the round up this week: newest audience insights, why bliss is ignorance when it comes to climate change, teen flight, and more. Lots to cover today so summaries will be brief – but it’s all highly recommended! If you’re a science communicator or educator at an informal science center (such as a zoo, aquarium, or museum) trying to encourage conservation action – this is the round up
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MAY
2013
A story in keeping with the power of story
More than 50 zoo, aquarium and museum professionals woke up early this morning, with many waiting in what may have been the world’s slowest Starbucks line, in order to attend a session at the annual meeting of the American Alliance of Museums that centered on the application of The Ocean Project’s message research at three partner institutions. The session, “Understanding Museum
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MAY
2013
Weekly Round Up: Communicating in Wide shots and Close Ups
In the round up this week: looking at the big picture gives us an idea of the issues at hand – but it’s the close up, the personal stories, that motivate us to take action. It’s all well and good to share the cold hard facts but if your goal is to change behaviors: a story with no emotional heart has got no legs. Here I’ve gathered a few good examples, from the past week
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MAY
2013
Taking the dive II – Conservation ‘asks’ as a collaborative learning process
This is a cross-post from the World Oceans Day blog; part II in our series of posts about World Oceans Day events at zoos, aquariums, museums, and other visitor-serving organizations. Thanks to Lindzy Bivings of California Academy of Sciences for her insight and time editing this post. One of our partners provides a great example of a daring – but informed – charge into making “asks.”
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MAY
2013
Taking the dive – conservation asks at World Oceans Day events
This is the first in our series of posts about World Oceans Day events at zoos, aquariums, museums, and other visitor-serving organizations. There has been a trend in amongst zoos, aquariums, museums and other visitor-serving organizations with more institutions than ever making conservation asks of their guests. Aquariums in particular are leading the charge, but these “asks” can be tough to make
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MAY
2013
Weekly Round Up: human motivation, environmental action
In the round up this week: more evidence that our actions are human-motivated, extreme weather & climate disruption resources. If you’re a science communicator or educator at an informal science center (such as a zoo, aquarium, or museum) trying to encourage conservation action – this is the round up for you! Every Friday we break down the week’s most interesting news and best resources to hel
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MAY
2013
Funding for our future
A few months ago, President Obama spoke eloquently in his Inaugural and State of the Union addresses about how the United States can lead the world in transitioning to a clean energy and more sustainable economy, as well as in developing our youth into leaders in science and related fields. Yet, now, NOAA’s Office of Education is under siege. This is a true shame as it is an office that, wit
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APR
2013
Weekly Round Up: watching words on climate
In this week’s round up: watch your words, the kids are alright, and smart design saves trees (happy Arbor day!). If you’re a science communicator or educator at an informal science center (such as a zoo, aquarium, or museum) trying to encourage conservation action – this is the round up for you! Every Friday we break down the week’s most interesting news and best resources to help you frame
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APR
2013
Key considerations when asking visitors to act for conservation
Photo from Riverbanks Zoo & Garden, which made several conservation asks at their World Oceans Day event in 2012 Our recent posts about aligning conservation information with visitor values and interests reviewed some ways in which visitors already value conservation and want to help. This week, we turn our attentions now to that next logical question: “what do we want visitors to do?
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