Making Research Accessible to the Masses

I've had this argument with people many times. I'm of the opinion that yes, academic research should be accessible to laypersons.

Although, I say this with a caveat - making it jargon free won't necessarily in all instances make things absolutely easy to understand but it's a step in the right direction.

I do think there's a level of 'performance' in academia that is a consequence of the opaque jargon that's used. It's a way to say, "Hey, I'm in this special club where I we have a code that other people don't understand!" It's similar to law in a way where things could be written much clearer - but then the barriers to entry for being a lawyer would be reduced.

One of my favorite essays is Orwell's Politics and the English Language where he lays out these five rules:

• Never use a metaphor, simile or other figure of speech which you are used to seeing in print
• Never use a long word where a short one will do
• If it is possible to cut a word out, always cut it out
• Never use the passive where you can use the active
• Never use a foreign phrase, a scientific word or a jargon word if you can think of an everyday English equivalent.
• Break any of these rules sooner than say anything outright barbarous.

I personally agree with Christie Wilcox over at Science Sushi (see her posts on the subject: Part 1, part 2, part 2.5, and part 3) that every research lab should have a blog on their website where they (at least occasionally) describe their research to the public.

Most people get their science news from newspapers or cable news... neither of which usually do a good job explaining things (and sometimes even completely distort the message). There are a lot of great science writers online, but they can only do so much—and they don't have the deep level of understanding of the topic that the people doing the research have. And seriously, how much time would it take a grad student to write a paragraph or two explaining their own research?

I guess I have a follow up question--even if the research is "translated" into a language that the average person understands, how will the materials be disseminated?  I somehow doubt that my research, no matter how jargon free, will end up in the People magazine that my sister reads or the Good Housekeeping at the dentist's office. People (myself included) are pretty selfish with their time and I doubt that they'll pick up an article to read if their not interested in the topic, even if we amend the vocabulary.

I think making academic research accessible to laypeople is great.  It should be respected, but not, in my opinion, considered a requirement for every academic.  

Sometimes its just not possible.  Other times it is possible, but it makes sense to have a division of labor where some people popularize the work that others do.