CONA press release is out – that means we’re officially GO!

With thanks to my colleagues at the NIWA Media Office we did our first project press release on Monday. You can check it out here. It was immediately picked up by Newstalk ZB and I’ve had interest from One News. This project officially exists and it’s too late to change our minds and scrap the whole idea. Our main media goal at this stage is to aid recruitment of participants to do our online survey and host instruments in the home (if you haven’t registered, just go to www.niwa.co.nz/CONA-Rangiora).

Press releases are nervous times for scientists. What generally happens next is that reporters and producers call me up and expect me to give a few sound-bites on the spot. I have to have a few key messages in mind and keep it simple. Unless it’s live I get the chance for a few do-overs if I stumble. The tricky bit is always the unanticipated question, and there always is one. With Newstalk ZB I was asked how much locals can buy the air quality sensors for. That threw me, because they are not for sale, well at least not yet. I had failed to anticipate that someone reading the press release “cold” might think we were developing products to sell. That might come, one day, or it might not. What we are primarily trying to do at the moment is 1) do some research on air quality, 2) learn to what degree we can enable local residents to participate in that research, and 3) figure out if the new technologies we are using actually work. NIWA does occasionally build and sell “gadgets” if there is a significant market, but selling is only one way of getting devices out into the community.

Anyway, I will be talking to One News soon (no rush) and we hope to get some TV coverage put together within the next couple of weeks.