When reading an article online, the average person will only read half of the information. One reason for this is that our generation has evolved to require constant entertainment.
Nancy Shute is a renowned writer, specializing in the sciences. Shute graduated from Washington University, St. Louis with a B.A. in English Literature. She then graduated with a M.A. from Yale Law School in 1980. She gave a talk about writing, entertainment, and evolving technologly at the Bowers Writers House on Wednesday, Feb. 13.
Shute is a writer and editor for a few national magazines, she is an independent journalist as well as an educator in science writing and multimedia journalism. During her talk at Bowers, she touched on the variety of things one can do with both a science and professional writing background. She emphasized that regardless of the career path a person plans to pursue after college, everyone should know that times are changing. “Internet entertainment is the future,” she said.
The issue is that some find writing in the sciences uninteresting, despite valuable content. If a reader comes across a science journal that is completely dull and lacks any sort of entertainment value, it is likely that he or she will simply click over to Google or Wikipedia and look for a more condensed — and sometimes less accurate — document on the topic. Shute explained that this generation requires constant entertainment in order to be intrigued. Since such a large majority of research and learning now takes place online, it is important for those who want to inform others to tweak their style of writing. By changing or adapting your writing style to one that entertains as well as informs, you will be opening up options for the maximum amount of readers to enjoy your work.
Shute said, “Out with the old and in with the new” as she gave an example about National Public Radio, on which she is a frequent guest. According to Shute, NPR has never been previously known for being excessively Internet/technology savvy. However, as of late, they have now made the transition to using iPhones during their live field recordings; one specific application can record a phone conversation that can be later used in a broadcast. This is one simple example of how the general public are changing how they do things to compensate for how the new generations operate.
Shute has previously directed science and technology coverage for U.S. News & World Report, where she was assistant managing editor. She was also a senior writer for US News, covering health policy, neuroscience, pediatrics, infectious disease and public health law. She currently blogs for www.usnews.com. In addition, she is a contributor to National Geographic, Scientific American, and several other journals. When she is not writing for her own publications, she is busy training journalists to use social media and technologies. Being able to do things online is, in her mind, a huge advantage when it comes to being able to appeal to new generations.
Shute is also enthusiastic about Internet and social media for career advancements and life enrichments. She cites “I am Science” as one of her favorite science blogs. The online publication includes true stories that are both entertaining and informative, the style that Shute most passionately encourages.
Shute said she loves the feeling of truly learning something from face-to-face interaction and conversation. She enjoys the processes of learning, writing and teaching.