INITIATIVES, SOCIAL MEDIA RESEARCH, AND COLLABORATIONS TO ADVANCE EDUCATION OUTREACH AND SCIENCE COMMUNICATION IN THE GEOSCIENCES - UPDATES FROM TIME SCAVENGERS

Time Scavengers (TS) is a non-profit organization that hosts a web page (TimeScavengers.org) and social media accounts to increase science literacy around evolutionary theory, climate change, and geoscience knowledge. Several TS initiatives, research endeavors, and partnerships provide increased opportunities for participation in the geosciences.

Initiatives include the Tilly Edinger Travel Grant (TETG) and the Virtual Internship Program for Science Communication (VIPSciComm). TETG increases accessibility to conferences for students and avocational geoscientists from historically excluded identities. TETG pays for conference registration costs up-front, eliminating the reimbursement structure that is strongly limiting to many without financial security. To date, TETG has funded 17 early career researchers from 7 countries. VIPSciComm had its inaugural iteration the summer of 2022, with 4 paid student interns mentored by TS team members. The interns learned different aspects of science communication, had weekly seminars with communication experts, and wrote articles for TS blogs.

Tweets and users associated with @TimeScavengers Twitter were analyzed via user classification, topic modeling, diversity indices, and social network analysis. Users (Education/Outreach, Scientists, Commercial, and Public) engaged in a shared space on geoscience topics. Users primarily engaged with @TimeScavengers, and there is an opportunity for TS to foster greater connection across users. Insights from this study, and future analysis of TS social media activity, will allow other science communication initiatives to apply our lessons learned.

Ongoing partnerships include highlighting International Ocean Discovery Program scientists and working with instructors to infuse science communication into their classrooms. Specifically, students at the University of South Florida and Binghamton University are writing Climate & Paleo News posts, including alternative text for accessibility.