Saturday, June 19
3 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. Registration at Ghost Ranch Santa Fe. Pick up your room key and registration packet at the front desk.
5:30 p.m. to 9 p.m. Reception followed by buffet supper at Masonic Lodge, just east of
Ghost Ranch Santa Fe. (Directions will be in your registration packet.)
Meet the students and
instructors.
Sunday, June 20
7:30 a.m. to 8:15 a.m.
Breakfast at Ghost Ranch Santa Fe.
8:30 a.m. Meet in front
of the building for a ride to the Santa Fe Institute.
9 a.m. to 10:15 a.m. "The Art and Craft of Science Writing." Using the current week's issue of Science Times, the instructors, joined by former New York Times Science Editor Cornelia Dean, will deconstruct several stories, showing how they were assembled and reviewing the rules of the game (which are sometimes made to be broken).
Coffee break.
10:30 a.m. to 12 noon. First press conference. Jennifer Dunne, a computational ecologist and visiting researcher at the Santa Fe Institute.
12:15 p.m. to 1:15 p.m. Box lunch on the portal of the Santa Fe Institute. Students will meet with their group for the first time.
1:30 p.m. to 3 p.m. Second press conference. George Gumerman, an archeologist whose work with the Santa Fe Institute includes the Artificial Anasazi project.
3:15 p.m. Return to Ghost Ranch Santa Fe.
3:45 p.m. to 5 p.m. Students will meet again with their
instructors to discuss the morning's sessions and the mechanics of
turning the talks into good stories. (Beginning students will use the
press conference as the basis for their writing assignments -- a good,
strong introduction and an outline -- which will be critiqued during the
workshop sessions. Advanced students will bring other material for
discussion. See the FAQ
for details.)
Everyone will have the rest of the day to work on their
assignments or wander around the Plaza.
Monday, June 21
7:30 a.m. to 8:15 a.m. Breakfast at Ghost Ranch Santa Fe.
9 a.m. to 10:15 a.m. "The Abuse of Science in Public Life." Cornelia Dean, former science editor of the New York Times and currently a fellow at the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University, describes how politicians distort the scientific record, and how journalists can guard against being misled.
10:30 a.m. to 11:45 a.m. "From Science to Science Writing." Glennda Chui will describe the path that led her from a bachelor's degree in biology to a Pulitzer prize for covering a California earthquake.
12 noon to 1:15 p.m. Lunch at Ghost Ranch Santa Fe.
1:30 p.m. to 2:45 p.m. "How to Explain the Universe (in 800 words and preferably less.)" Kennth Chang talks about how a newspaper article, even one in the New York Times, can never tell the whole story. So what do you leave out and what do you put in? It is a delicate balancing act.
3 to 5 p.m. Workshop session. Students will break into groups and meet with their assigned instructor.
6 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. Public readings of works-in-progress by
the instructors. Collected Works bookstore will sell copies of the
authors' books.
8 p.m. Explore the Plaza; forage for
dinner.
Tuesday, June 22
7:30 a.m. to 8:15
a.m. Breakfast at Ghost Ranch Santa Fe.
9 a.m. to 10:15 a.m. "How to Pitch a Story." Using real examples from Fortune magazine, Peter Petre will discuss what he looks for in a story proposal. Then students (who will be given abstracts of the articles in the coming issues of Nature and Science) will pitch their favorite ideas while Petre acts as their editor, saying what interests him, what bores him, and why.
10:30 a.m. to 11:45 a.m. "The Rise and Fall of Element 118."
When scientists at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
announced the discovery of the heaviest
element yet in the periodic table, there was talk of a Nobel Prize. Then everything
unraveled. Hooking his laptop to a digital projector, George Johnson
traces the development of the story, from email to edit to final
publication.
12 noon to 1:15 p.m. Lunch at Ghost Ranch Santa Fe.
1:30
p.m. to 2:30 p.m. Workshop session. Meet with your instructor.
3 p.m. Meet in front of Ghost Ranch Santa Fe for a field trip
to the Valles Caldera. (As a somewhat more civilized alternative, students can visit the equally spectacular
Bandelier National Monument. Bring
sunscreen, hat, water, and (depending on the forecast) rain gear.
4 p.m. to 6 p.m. Hike in the caldera or explore the ruins.
6:30 p.m. to
9:00 p.m.
Dinner at
Rancho de Chimayo in the mountain village of Chimayo, N.M.
9:15 p.m. Return to Ghost Ranch Santa Fe.
Wednesday, June 23
7:30 a.m. to 8:15 a.m. Breakfast at
Ghost Ranch Santa Fe.
9 a.m. to 11:45 a.m. Meet for the final time with your group.
12 noon to 1:15 p.m. Lunch at Ghost Ranch Santa Fe.
1:30
p.m. to 3:30 p.m. Free-for-all discussion on freelancing and Web journalism. Sandra Blakeslee
will give advice on establishing a
career as a freelancer and Ken Chang will talk about writing science for the World Wide Web.
3:30 p.m. to 5 p.m. Each
instructor will be available to meet informally with students from all
groups. Meanwhile relax and prepare for the week's big event.
5:30 p.m. Meet in front of Ghost Ranch Santa Fe for a ride to the
barbecue at Sandy's desert hideaway.
6 p.m. to whenever.
Barbecue at Sandra Blakeslee's house.
Thursday, June 24
7:30 a.m. to 8:15
a.m. Breakfast at Ghost Ranch Santa Fe. Please check out before attending
the final session. Luggage can be left at the front desk.
9 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. Closing discussion and farewell.