Andrea C. Lloyd
Science Storyteller
Science communication is no longer easily defined. It's an umbrella for science education, science outreach, science journalism, and science advocacy. These bring about literacy, awareness, information, and persuasion, respectively.
With regards to my work, I often work in the realm of science outreach and journalism/writing. Below are some examples of my science communication portfolio.
Science Communication
Using Geonarratives to Talk about Landsat
While with USGS Landsat, I've created several ESRI ArcGIS storymaps on a variety of topics: annual Landsat reviews, decadal reviews, individual satellite highlights, and general information. Landsat Geonarratives are an interactive way to learn more about Landsat using images, maps, videos, and weblinks.
Access to publicly available geonarratives can be found on the USGS Landsat website.
The first ArcGIS Storymap I worked on is highlighted by ESRI Blog in this post.
Stories of Apollo, A NASA Langley Project
In 2019, a part of my NASA Langley internship to support the Apollo 50th anniversary was creating content that shared the Langley-side of the story.
A fellow intern, Jack Ronayne, focused on preserving the past view oral histories. From his videos and transcripts, I took historic footage and images to craft a compelling narrative from each individual. While the final production was completed in a different department, I put together the scripts, selecting both the audio and video placement.
Stories of Apollo
Stories of Apollo
NASA Langley's Contributions to the Apollo Program
Stories of Apollo: The First Man at Splashdown
Stories of Apollo: Training with Apollo 11 Astronauts
Sharing Interns' Soft Robots with the World
I met two interns, Chuck Sullivan and Jack Fitzpatrick, who were helping develop soft robot actuators using 3-D printing. With the way the robots moved, I felt like a GIF or video was necessary to fully share the story. An image could not justify the sheer alien way the robot moved across a table. (There design changed a semester later, showcasing all of the hard work.).
Even though I led the story — and therefore showed the videographer, photographer, and social media lead what I wanted captured and how I wanted it shared — I still was learning.
I would generally suggest something for a video, then Gary Bazinger would adjust the angle and be sure capture a little of everything.
I might say I wanted “the interns controlling the actuator” as a photo, and Dave Bowman would take a few shots, then try a different one that I hadn’t thought of.
Social Media Lead Natalie Joseph made suggestions for questions and phrasing so we would have a perfect audio.
I loved how this was so different than a school project, that instead of “leading” meaning “telling everyone what to do,” it meant “directing the team and letting the team use their strengths.”
- Selection from Reviewing Writing from in 2019
Creating a Solution for a Media & Community Packet
The main focus of my NASA Langley Internship was supporting Langley through the Apollo 50th anniversary. One task was to organize hundreds of images, videos, and other resources for regional community and media partners.
This excel sheet held assets including 29 fact sheets, 281 photos, 93 videos, 38 gifs, 16 documents, and 21 exhibits. It was presented as a resources to additional groups such as the Apollo Anniversary Team, OSCAB Directorate, and Langley OD.
At the Community Meeting, 20 individuals from regional media and partner organizations applauded after my short presentation explaining the resources in the fact sheet and how to use it, saying that the document would save them months of independent research.
