As more niche newspaper sections land on the chopping block for heralded news organizations across the country, the future of science reporting is looking grimmer by the day.
A new Web site called Futurity is aiming to pick up some of the slack left behind by declining science coverage. In an effort to share news about advances in science, technology and research, Futurity has teamed up with 41 international universities, including Northwestern, to function as an online aggregator of science news.
Futurity editor Jenny Leonard said the Web site, which officially launched Sept. 15, is geared toward the “lay public” instead of scholars and scientists.
“Our readers are people who may have read the science sections of newspapers and news magazines but find that those sections are shrinking or have completely disappeared,” she said.
Participation in the project was extended to all members in the Association of American Universities, and NU signed up last March when Futurity was still in its beta period.
Participating universities, each of which supports the site with an annual fee of $2,000, submit stories to the Web site about recent breakthroughs made at their campuses on topics ranging from the environment and health to society and culture.
“All of the content is produced by the member universities,” Leonard said. “As editor, I review submissions, pick the most interesting stories – the ones that I think will have broad appeal – and edit them for a general audience.”
Leonard called NU “a valuable contributor” to the Web site, which has so far published more than 15 NU studies.
Medill Prof. Abigail Foerstner said the Web site comes at a time when science coverage is “critically important,” and when readers are seeking out information on issues ranging from climate change to stem-cell research.
“Scientists are becoming increasingly savvy about the need to connect and to provide information about what they’re doing,” Foerstner said. “The audience is out there – it’s a matter of delivering the science but making it accessible.”
Communication junior Nandita Seshadri said she liked the accessibility of Futurity’s content and interface. A cofounder of the NU chapter of The Triple Helix, a student publication for science journalism, Seshadri said she would likely be forwarding the site to members of the chapter “for ideas and inspiration.”
“It’s about taking stuff that you usually only hear about in the sphere of science, and showing it to people who may not be otherwise interested in science, to show … this stuff actually has bearing,” Seshadri said.
Seshadri also said she believes new media like Futurity hold great potential for alleviating the burden of declining science coverage in the mainstream press.
“With the Internet, you type in the Web site and you’re there – you don’t have to go out and pick up a paper or a magazine to do it,” she said.
But Seshardi added that she feels the goal of media sources such as Futurity or The Triple Helix is to “supplement rather than to fill a gap.”
“Web sites like ours are slightly more obscure, so it’s a little difficult to do what more widely-read papers can do – but that’s where people should be getting their information from,” she added.
For Leonard, Futurity is a valuable resource but not the future of science reporting. The Web site is only “one way universities can help fill the large gap left by the decline in science reporting,” she said.
“Futurity developed in response to the shrinking coverage of research news, but Futurity was not designed to replace science reporting by journalists,” Leonard said.
