Stacy Hoppen, Keith C. Clarke, Leonard J. Gaydos, and William Acevedo
The Human Induced Land Transformation project (HILT), part of the U.S. Geological Survey Global Change Research Program, has generated considerable public interest during the first two phases of the project: the data assembly and visualization phase carried out for the San Francisco Bay area; and the model building and calibration phase. The third phase, now under way for the Washington/Baltimore region, is a large scale test of the model's portability to another urban area. The modeling community has been kept informed of progress and findings of the HILT project through conventional academic outlets such as conference and journal publications as well as through more popular outlets such as newspaper, television, and a World Wide Web site. The program, sample data and documentation of the model will be available for downloading to those with an Internet connection. While recognizing that not all research has the same degree of public appeal as this project, additional effort was invested to establish contacts, publicize, and distribute the historical visualizations and model predictions generated by this work in the media, publishing, and in education. In this paper, we will cover the lessons learned in publicizing HILT, the techniques used and the criteria evolved for successful involvement of the general public in the modeling of land cover transitions.
During the 1994 Association of American Geographers (AAG) meeting in San Francisco, a local TV news anchorman stepped from behind his desk and stood in front of a map. He proceeded to show Bay Area viewers how their piece of the world was transformed by human activity since the Gold Rush. An animation of land use change filled the screen, much like a weather map. The anchorman showed how the settlements grew from several red dots in 1850. As the years clicked away on the map he showed how the Bay Area grew. "We approach the 60's where you'll see a sudden surge here in the South Bay with the Silicon Valley exploding, literally exploding!" (Wilson, 1994).
A serious researcher's aversion to media attention is certainly understandable. The press has a tendency for superficial coverage, suggesting exposure that will trivialize or misrepresent one's work. Scientists frequently imagine their work to be of most interest to a narrow audience, relying on conference presentations and journal articles to publicize their results, and the advantages of media exposure are often overlooked. Publicity emphasizes the relevance of one's work, increasing chances for future funding, it reaches people outside the scientific community who may be interested in the work, and it can inform and influence public opinion about local policy issues.
This television spot, one of several, was the outcome of a successful data visualization of a local issue that the public could identify with: the dramatic population growth in the San Francisco Bay area. The Human Induced Land Transformations project (HILT), under the U.S. Geological Survey Global Change research program, developed an urban growth model for predicting land cover changes into the 21st century, specifically the conversion of rural land to urban land. The project involved three components: model development, calibration, and predictions. While the model's predictions were always expected to be of interest to the general public, what caught media attention in 1994 was a historical animation of urban expansion assembled by William Acevedo (Acevedo and Bell, 1994; Bell, et al., 1995). The animation was created using the temporal database for the San Francisco/Sacramento area that was compiled for calibrating the model. The animation took on a life of its own, a surprising outcome since it was originally thought of as an intermediate step in the process of model calibration. Even without conclusive results there was a great response from the media, providing a lesson in how timely topics and strong graphics can both excite and inform the public through the mass media.
Thorough planning is an essential aspect of publicity. The media blitz is intense and brief and may be a unique chance for promotion. An organized strategy optimizes this opportunity to solidly position one's work, to reach the widest audience possible, and to lay the groundwork for further opportunities after the initial event.
Essential to successful media attention is finding a "hook" that will convince a journalist that your work has enough appeal to justify news coverage. A hook should focus on an object or an event rather than an abstract idea. Local topics revolving around a current policy debate have a strong appeal to local newscasters. Modern media is a highly visual medium so a hook can be as simple as an arresting graphic to illustrate the results. As well as a hook, a packaged story needs to make sense of the facts by putting them into context, such as the historical significance or an explanation of cause and effect.
Part of the hook for the HILT project was that it was a local research team studying a local phenomenon. The research team includes a group from the U.S. Geological Survey who are based at NASA Ames Research Center at the southern end of San Francisco Bay. Since the initial data set used to test the model was for the San Francisco Bay area, the animation of urban growth was pertinent for local residents. The topic has broader environmental implications as well: the contribution of urbanization to global warming. Both of these elements were incorporated into the press release to present the model as newsworthy on several levels.
Television and newspapers have daily story slots to fill, and because of staff and time constraints, much of the news centers around fields that provide good press materials: politics and entertainment. If your story is not the usual media fare but comes pre-packaged, it will add a welcome diversity to the news. Of course it is easier to get news time if one is located in a city with good media coverage.
Publicity about the HILT model was scheduled during a week in which two conferences were being held in San Francisco, The Association of American Geographers and the Fifth Global Warming Conference. Papers about the development of the model were presented at both. The press release was tied to a session at the AAG conference that featured four papers about the model. The AAG press room at the convention hotel supplied copies of our press release, and we followed up on the inquires for more information that were generated. Our press release included a brief background about the project, quotable sentences, and contact information stating a time, date, and a place at which representatives would be available to discuss the project. Keep the language to easily understandable terms. Journalists have a good general background but may be unprepared for technical jargon. Given too much information, the journalist will further refine and repackage the story, possibly adding a different slant to the material. By presenting the journalist with an already pared-down explanation of the research allows one more control over the final story. A USGS press agent was available for advice. If you don't have a publicist in your organization, consider the expertise available to you via colleagues or company staff persons.
Anticipating possible questions and formulating their answers is an important part of preparing to meet the press. Reporters prefer to let their source explain and interpret the significance of the facts, partly in an effort to remain objective and partly limited by time constraints. Prepared answers will guarantee that you communicate your main points concisely. Appearing as an authoritative source, whether by education, title, or institution will help convince the public, your final audience, of the validity of your findings. While it is essential to be available at the times stated by the press release, one must also be willing to be flexible about schedules since reporters juggle many stories as they approach their deadline. If possible, it is better to schedule press events in the morning because it allows time for the story and footage to be assembled.
A press release, color prints of graphics, digital graphics, and a videotape of an animation of historical growth were released to the press. The historical animation received the most attention, serving as a visualization tool for understanding past growth in the area.
Besides understanding what materials make a good story, it is important to know the appropriate format for these materials. Text, graphics, and films may be required to be in a form different from what you are accustomed to or are able to produce with your software. All the materials submitted should be clearly labeled so that they are readily understandable even if they are shown out of context.
Although some local interest was expected in this animation, we were not prepared for the level of response it received. After a press release from the USGS, a call came to the AAG press room from Channel 7 requesting a copy of the animation. This was followed by calls from the San Francisco Chronicle and the San Jose Mercury News.
Reporters from the Chronicle and Mercury News greeted us the morning of our presentations at the AAG meeting. They watched with interest when the animation played on a monitor. After asking many questions, it became obvious that they thought the animation tracing Bay Area growth was newsworthy. The Channel 7 crew came in to conduct its interview and to take away a betacam tape copy. The newspaper reporters asked for digital files of the base year maps used to construct the animation. While we presented our papers the Channel 5 crew showed up for an interview.
The Bay Area woke up the next morning to six color maps of the Bay Area on the front page of the San Francisco Chronicle with the headline "The Spreading Sprawl" (Petit, 1994). The night before, both Channels 7 and 5 aired the interviews taped during the AAG meeting. The remaining local TV stations called Friday requesting tapes as well. They were picked up by Channels 4 and 2 and appeared on the news that night.
The San Jose Mercury News carried a banner headline, "Mapping the Mega Sprawl," in the weekly Science and Medicine Section (Chui, 1994) the following week on the same day that the Greenbelt Alliance held a press conference releasing a new report on land conservation and development trends using the USGS animation as background. Those who watched TV that night saw the moving map again, in reference to Greenbelt Alliance's message. This coverage came as international delegates at the Fifth Global Warming Conference in San Francisco viewed the animation as part of a presented paper (Kirtland, et al., 1994).
Television coverage produced a variety of stories built around this single animation, ranging from running the animation as a story in itself to using it as a supporting fact in the Greenbelt Alliance report on urbanization. Most newscasters used the animation to make the point that urbanization is occurring more rapidly than realized and to discuss the implications of this for the future.
Even after your fifteen minutes of fame, the opportunities for publicity continue. The bulk of the two pages of contacts generated by this single press conference trickled in for several weeks after the initial event. Some of these contacts led to information exchange between county planning departments and the HILT research team, contact with others researching the same topic, and a television interview. William Acevedo was invited, as a local newsmaker, to tell the inside story of how the animated map was made (Chu, 1994).
Increasingly important outlets for information are home pages available through web browsing software. They are accessible sources of information for those with Internet access, centralized, easily linked to other locations, and allow instantaneous update. A HILT web page has been maintained from the beginning as a way for the research team to keep up with the separate phases of the project. The web site has also become the spot for the public to find out about the project, access user documentation, and to find links to other relevant home pages. Visits to web sites increase dramatically as links are built between home pages. A hot link between our home page and a paper by Michael Batty, known for his work on the simulation of urban forms, significantly increased the traffic to our site (Batty, 1995).
It was exciting to see our work displayed with such enthusiasm by the media. We feel there are lessons we can all learn from this experience. The public is interested in what we have to say when we say it right, and the press can be convinced that research produces worthwhile stories. TV stations and newspapers sought us out after we issued a simple press release. People were fascinated by seeing their region grow through time, and public awareness of the pace of change and its effects were heightened.
We all have some talent for interpreting complex data and making it understandable. Current data processing and visualization software provide superb graphics tools. Aside from the boost it can give your research, publicity makes research relevant by helping the public understand the context and processes of sometimes overwhelming changes taking place in the world. Our story didn't just list names and places, but illustrated dynamic changes and implied relationships over time.
It is hoped that our experience will encourage other scientists who would like to publicize their findings. Although not all discoveries will attract broad public interest, there is probably more curiosity about their work than most researchers suspect. Even without previous experience with the media, a relevant topic and strong graphical presentation can lead to a successful promotion campaign.
Journals:
Clarke, K.C., Gaydos, L., Hoppen, S., (1996) "A Self-Modifying Cellular Automaton Model of Historical Urbanization in the San Francisco Bay Area," Environment and Planning B (in press).
Kirtland D., DeCola L., Gaydos L., Acevedo W., Clarke K., Bell C., (1994) "An Analysis of Human-Induced Land Transformations in the San Francisco Bay/Sacramento Area," World Resource Review: vol. 6(2); pp 206-217.
Conference Presentations and Publications:
Acevedo, W., Bell, C., (1994) "Time Series Animation of Historical Urban Growth for the San Francisco Bay Region," Abstracts of the Association of American Geographers 90th Annual Meeting. San Francisco.
Bell, C., Acevedo, W., Buchanan, J., (1995) "Dynamic Mapping of Urban Regions: Growth of the San Francisco/Sacramento Region," Proceedings, Urban and Regional Information Systems Association. San Antonio, pp 723-734.
Clarke, K.C., Hoppen, S., Gaydos, L.J., (1996) "Methods and Techniques for Rigorous Calibration of a Cellular Automaton Model of Urban Growth," Third International Conference/Workshop on Integrating GIS and Environmental Modeling, Santa Fe, New Mexico, January 21-25, 1996. Santa Barbara: National Center for Geographic Information and Analysis. WWW and CD.
Clarke, K.C., (1994) "A Cellular Automaton Model of Urban Growth in the San Francisco Bay Area," Abstracts of the Association of American Geographers 90th Annual Meeting. San Francisco.
De Cola, L. (1994) "Exploratory Analysis of Human-Induced Land Transformations in Central California," Abstracts of the Association of American Geographers 90th Annual Meeting. San Francisco.
Gaydos L. J., Acevedo, W., Bell, C. (1995) "Using Animated Cartography to Illustrate Global Change," Proceedings, International Cartographic Association, Barcelona; pp 1174-1178.
Gaydos, L., (1994) "Golden Gate to Golden Foothills: California Urbanization as an Example of Human-Induced Land Transformation," Abstracts of the Association of American Geographers 90th Annual Meeting. San Francisco.
Hoppen, S., Clarke, K.C., Gaydos, L., (1995) "Calibration of a Cellular Automaton Urban Growth Model," Abstracts of the Association of American Geographers 91st Annual Meeting. Chicago.
Other Publications:
(1994) "Geographers Track Bay Area Urbanization," GIS World; June; p 16.
Chui, G., (1994) "Mapping the Mega Sprawl," San Jose Mercury News, April 5; pp 1E+.
Gaydos, L. J. (1996) "Beyond the Weather Map," Geo Info Systems (in press).
Petit, C., (1994) "The Spreading Sprawl; Thumbs Up for Video on Bay Area Growth," San Francisco Chronicle, April 1; pp A1+.
Television:
Chu, R., (1994) Bay Area People, Interview KTVU, Channel 2, Oakland, May 8.
Garcia, A., (1994) Evening news broadcast, ABC, Channel 7, San Francisco, March 31.
Hanamura, W., (1994) Evening news broadcast, CBS, Channel 5, San Francisco, April 5.
Jones, M., (1994) Evening news broadcast, NBC, Channel 4, San Francisco, April 5.
Schaub, J., (1994) Evening news broadcast, CBS, Channel 5, San Francisco, March 31.
Corral, E., (1994) Evening news broadcast, KTVU, Channel 2, Oakland, April 1.
Wilson, P., (1994) Evening news broadcast, NBC, Channel 4, San Francisco, April 1.
Internet:
Human Induced Land Transformations: http://geo.arc.nasa.gov/usgs/HILTStart
Temporal Urban Mapping: http://edcwww.cr.usgs.gov/umap/umap.html
Batty, M., (1995) "The Computable City," Keynote Address: Fourth International Conference on Computers in Urban Planning and Urban Management, Melbourne, Australia, July 11-14. http://www.geog.buffalo.edu/Geo666/batty/melbourne.html
Stacy Hoppen, Graduate Student, Department of Geology and Geography, Hunter College-City University of New York.
Keith C. Clarke, Department of Geology and Geography, Hunter College-City University of New York, and the City University of New York Graduate School and University Center.
Leonard J. Gaydos, US Geological Survey, EROS Data Center, NASAAmes Research Center, Moffett Field, CA.
William Acevedo, US Geological Survey, EROS Data Center, NASAAmes Research Center, Moffett Field, CA.