Crosspost from https://www.reddit.com/r/EffectiveAltruism/comments/h7ocyd/an_ea_connection_between_research_media_and_art/
I will just speak my mind here, so please correct me if I got something wrong in my reasoning or if you dont share my rationale. It makes sense at the time writing and I wanted to share this idea/thought I had in my mind.
I thought about how I could possibly contribute efficiently to the EA community with the skillset I currently have. I am a professional filmmaker with a Master in Business and recently thought about founding a platform/agency which focuses on creating a meaningful connection between research/science (on EA for example), media and art.
As you know media is our way of transmitting information across time and space with scalability, video being one of the most effective in terms of attention, reach and impact. In my opinion, research and information on substantially important topics (including EA) is underdistributed in the internet and largely unknown. I think that carrying key concepts and key insights from these important topics to the general public to raise awareness and create interest is an important strategy to reach the goals of EA. With myself being exposed to certain books, research organizations and the EA community, I have gained general understanding of the topics over the years.
I aim to use that to focus on working together with organizations to create content which can be easily shared and distributed to help raise awareness and educate people. Some could argue, all the information there is can be found in research paper: Yes, of course, but these are either a) inaccessible, b) not comprehensive for the average person and c) generally not written for educating the public, but for other researchers.
Another argument against the idea is the complexity of some fields, but I think most relevant key insights can be made understandable where it would benefit the viewer in some way or help them grasp a general topic and afterwards direct them towards further research/literature.
Since we seem to head towards a post-factual age, this collaboration between research and media would aim to educate people and help research communities and provide them with easily shareable content to spark interest in things that matter. Science and research communities must make a stronger stand in the online media landscape. I personally think that the EA community is still quite small compared to the potential amount of interested people: getting the word out more effectively would let the movement grow.
I know there are reasons why researches want to reduce media attention (the current Covid-19 crisis is a great example how media can mistreat science), but the situations humankind will encounter are too important to not share more insights and knowledge from the scientific communities in advance - not when it is already too late. Furthermore, such content might help shape news and media in a more proactive, beneficial way and serve as an anchor as it would be the first piece of information out in the public.
What do you think? Is this service/collaboration something researchers and scientific communities would enjoy working with? Do you think it is necessary?
This idea came to my mind, since my most impactful skill is filmmaking/producing films and I thought about how I can contribute to the world in line with the EA teachings. And also knowing that researchers sometimes need a hand when it comes to making information publicly available effectively, spreading knowledge and awareness, marketing themselves and their projects, etc. Mainly, because they are focused on the really important stuff: The research.
