{"id":1541,"date":"2023-05-19T22:24:50","date_gmt":"2023-05-19T22:24:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/esa.org\/earlycareer\/?p=1541"},"modified":"2023-05-19T22:24:50","modified_gmt":"2023-05-19T22:24:50","slug":"its-all-connected-bridging-the-gap-between-scientific-research-and-local-knowledge","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/esa.org\/earlycareer\/2023\/05\/19\/its-all-connected-bridging-the-gap-between-scientific-research-and-local-knowledge\/","title":{"rendered":"It\u2019s all connected: Bridging the gap between scientific research and local knowledge"},"content":{"rendered":"

by Gina Errico<\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

After spending several weeks in Costa Rica running my field study, practicing my novel Spanish speaking skills, I turned to my field assistant and asked for him to pass me my field notebook, \u201cPuedes darme el cuaderno?\u201d (which translates to \u201ccan you give me the notebook\u201d in English)<\/em>. He looked at me, confused, and the panic began to set in. Did I say something wrong?<\/p>\n

If my K-12 Spanish classes had taught me anything, it was how to say \u2018notebook\u2019 in Spanish\u2013 right? The sing-a-long song of school supplies came to a crashing halt in my head. I tried again, \u201cel cuaderno?\u201d\u2026. still nothing. My field assistant and I had been learning to communicate words we didn\u2019t know in each others language by describing them to each other, as he was learning English and I was learning Spanish. So I tried once again, \u201cla cosa amarilla?\u201d (\u2018the yellow thing?\u2019 in English)<\/em>. The lab notebook was the only yellow thing in my pack, so that clicked for him, \u201cOhhhhhhh,\u201d he said, \u201cla libreta!\u201d<\/p>\n

The what?<\/p>\n

As with the English language, Spanish has different pronunciations and names for words depending on the location. While I was aware of this, I didn\u2019t think that such a common word I learned in school, had different names. It\u2019s sort of like visiting the U.S. from England and being confused when you ask a waiter for \u2018chips\u2019 and he brings out potato chips, because in the U.S. we call them \u2018french fries\u2019.<\/p>\n

Language differences create a huge barrier for scientists who conduct research in foreign countries. This oftentimes leads to a disconnect between the locals and visiting scientists. It creates a phenomenon known as \u2018parachute\u2019 or \u2018helicopter\u2019 research: Where researchers visit a foreign country to collect specimens or conduct research, without acknowledging local insights and failing to report their findings to them. This has become a huge issue in a world where we are constantly fighting scientific misinformation. It also has a negative effect on science, because more often than not, locals are aware of the changes in their environment than outsiders. If the locals are not consulted, it can leave out important and key information for science.<\/p>\n

\"\"While I was in Costa Rica, I made an active effort to speak with the locals. Not only those who worked at the field station, but with the farmers and foresters whose property I worked on. And while my Spanish could (and still can) use some improving, they were excited to discuss the changes they had noticed and the issues they were facing, as well as learn about the results I found as a part of my study. They also provided vital information that helped explain some of the results I found in my study<\/a>. The management of coffee plantations, age of forests, and length of time that forests had been near coffee plantations, were all of things I had learned by communicating with the locals, and could not have figured out on my own.<\/p>\n

During my time in Costa Rica, the importance of incorporating local knowledge into science research was strongly reinforced for me. Without it, I would be missing important information explaining my findings, and would probably still be (lost) in the forests of Costa Rica. This has inspired me to work with other scientists to help them do the same. By connecting with locals, we can both improve our research, but expand the understanding and acceptance of science across the globe. It has also resulted in the creation of my passion project: The Coffee Conflict<\/a>, where I am working to highlight to social and ecological issues of coffee farms and forests being faced in southern Costa Rica in a bilingual blog.<\/p>\n

As scientists, it is our duty to ensure that our work reaches the audiences that are most affected by our work, because it affects them and the areas they live in. By sharing our work in a digestible way (or finding someone to help us do so), we can increase the public\u2019s confidence in science and their understanding of it, which will support scientific literacy, decrease the spread of misinformation, and maybe even increase support of funding science in the future.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by Gina Errico After spending several weeks in Costa Rica running my field study, practicing my novel Spanish speaking skills, I turned to my field assistant and asked for him to pass me my field notebook, \u201cPuedes darme el cuaderno?\u201d (which translates to \u201ccan you give me the notebook\u201d in English). He looked at me, confused, and the panic began…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2225,"featured_media":1542,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[20,14,15],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1541","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blog","category-research","category-science-communication"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/esa.org\/earlycareer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1541","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/esa.org\/earlycareer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/esa.org\/earlycareer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/esa.org\/earlycareer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2225"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/esa.org\/earlycareer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1541"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/esa.org\/earlycareer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1541\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/esa.org\/earlycareer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1542"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/esa.org\/earlycareer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1541"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/esa.org\/earlycareer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1541"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/esa.org\/earlycareer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1541"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}