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Science Comic: Urban Forestry - Taming Precipita
Abstract
Since the beginning of human settlement, people have observed water in its many forms, recording the ways that water supports and subverts life... like a cunning and capricious witch. This is the story of Precipita, the waterwitch of Leipzig Germany, and the critical roles that urban forests play in protecting the city from her hydrological whims! This science comic was based on a book chapter "Urban Forestry: An Underutilized Tool in Water Management" in "Advanced Tools for Integrated Water Resources Management" by Van Stan, Underwood, and Friesen (Elsevier). Supported by NSF 11518726.
... This subjective methodology is based on our personal experiences and has been developed during the production of our science comic [26]. In the meantime, this methodology has been successfully applied to produce a new comic "Urban forestry-Taming Precipita," [31] based on a recent book chapter [32] (Figure 7). Thereby, we develop the comic according to a specific scientific publication and reframe the scientific content in a way that it can be understood by everyone. ...
Scientists are trained to tell stories, scientific stories. Training is also needed to comprehend and contextualize these highly nuanced and technical stories because they are designed to explicitly convey scientific results, delineate their limitations, and describe a reproducible “plot” so that any thorough reenactment can achieve a similar conclusion. Although a carefully constructed scientific story may be crystal clear to other scientists in the same discipline, they are often inaccessible to broader audiences. This is problematic as scientists are increasingly expected to communicate their work to broader audiences that range from specialists in other disciplines to the general public. In fact, science communication is of increasing importance to acquire funding and generate effective outreach, as well as introduce, and sometimes even justify, research to society. This paper suggests a simple and flexible framework to translate a complex scientific publication into a broadly-accessible comic format. Examples are given for embedding scientific details into an easy-to-understand storyline. A background story is developed and panels are generated that convey scientific information via plain language coupled with recurring comic elements to maximize comprehension and memorability. This methodology is an attempt to alleviate the inherent limitations of interdisciplinary and public comprehension that result from standard scientific publication and dissemination practices. We also hope that this methodology will help colleagues enter into the field of science comics.
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