...
If you have very little time and resources for dissemination activities, there are still some things you can do that do not require lots of work or learning new skills.
Cochrane’s Communications Network
Stay informed on Slack
Cochrane's core staff uses Slack, an online collaboration and chat platform, to encourage communication between members of our core community. The "all-comms-help" channel on Slack has been set up The Communications (Comms) Network is an informal group of Cochrane contributors around the world who share Cochrane evidence news and stories with the wider world. Every Tuesday a summary of Cochrane communication activities and updates is sent out to the group, featuring recently published Cochrane Reviews and translations, blogs, podcasts, popular stories and tweets, and news from our community. The aim is to increase the coordination of communication activities across our organisation , as well as to provide content ideas and guidance to the Comms Network members for their own dissemination activities. It also provides a platform for members to ask questions and share their news with other communication contributorsthe rest of the community, who may in turn circulate it to their audience if relevant.
If you would like to join the Comms Network, please subscribe here Please find more details here on how to access Slack: https://listscommunity.cochrane.org/mailman/listinfo/commsnetwork.news/cochranes-core-staff-are-communicating-slackjoin-us
cochrane.org and your Cochrane group website
...
You can promote your translation work at relevant meetings, university events, training workshops, or conferences, e.g. giving out leaflets to participants , or presenting about your work depending on what is feasible and appropriate at different events.
...
Social media plays an increasingly important role in communication. Some of the benefits of social media are that it is easily accessible to a wide and diverse audience in many countries, content can be shared easily, also via smartphones, and many social media platforms can be used free of charge. Many Cochrane groups have established their own social media accounts, particularly on Facebook or X (formerly Twitter), to share news relevant to their area of health or to their region, and in their languages. You can find more detailed guidance on how to get started and how to use social media here: https://training.cochrane.org/online-learning/knowledge-translation/how-share-cochrane-evidence/choose-right-dissemination-produ-9
...
Blogging is another option for disseminating and promoting your work, putting evidence into context, and giving a perspective, but that does require dedicated time and writing skills. If you cannot do it yourself, maybe you can find an existing blog, or scientific writer, who would be interested to blog in blogging about Cochrane on a regular basis.
Examples from Cochrane groups
- Evidently Cochrane: This weekly blog presents Cochrane evidence in simple, accessible language, to help people make informed decisions about health. The blog is targeted at a non-medical audience and encourages discussion so people are able to leave comments at the end of articles. Blogs are updated to reflect any changes made to Cochrane Reviews.
- Wissen was wirkt (German: knowing what is effective): A German-language blog launched as a joint venture between Cochrane Switzerland, Cochrane Germany and Cochrane Austria. It is written in accessible language and focuses on evidence-based health care in general, and Cochrane evidence in particular, featuring regular updates about new German translations.
- Evidently Cochrane (no longer active): This weekly blog presented Cochrane evidence in simple, accessible language, to help people make informed decisions about health. The blog was targeted at a non-medical audience and encouraged discussion so people were able to leave comments at the end of the articles. Blogs were updated to reflect any changes made to Cochrane Reviews.
Collaborations
Establishing partnerships with other organisations to support your dissemination efforts could help raise your profile. Collaborations come in various forms, for example:
...
- The German translation project has partnered with several medical journals and medical associations in different topic areas. The journals regularly translate and co-publish a small number of translations in their publications, while the translations also appear on the Cochrane websites.
- The French translation team has partnered with Master Students at Paris Diderot University. Students in specialised translation are post-editing translations produced using custom-built machine translation.
- The Spanish translation team has partnered with a nutrition network to translate blogshots. Read more here: http://community.cochrane.org/news/match-made-blogshot-heaven-cochrane-iberoamerica-teams-spanish-nutrition-network-red-nube
...
A key target audience is the mainstream media: newspapers, radio and TV. Establishing and maintaining media relationships can be quite a lot of work, but in some cases, it might be very beneficial to maintain personal contact with the science editor of a widely read newspaper, or popular radio or TV programme. A lower resource approach could be to set up a mailing list for journalists, to be able to send new translations and press releases on a regular basis. We can provide you with a list of media contacts from your country who focus in on health and medicine to help you get started with this, but building up subscribers to a mailing list will also take some time. You can find more guidance on building relationships and interacting with the media as well as targeted dissemination in our toolkit.
...