NSF Transparency and Communication

Last week, the NSF released their Open Government Plan 3 (under Resources From Other Funding Agencies). in accordance with President's Obama's goals of transparency in his 2009 "Transparency and Open Government" memorandum. In their plan, the NSF previews some changes relevant to grant writers and also highlights some of the mechanisms available to the public and grant writers to allow them to stay on top of the research and priorities coming out of the NSF.

Lay-person friendly abstracts
One significant change outlined in the plan is the NSF will begin offering more easy-to-read abstracts on their funded projects. They will do this by training program staff to rewrite abstracts for the layperson - making them easier to understand for the public. For grant applicants, this will mean that the abstracts listed on the NSF website will not necessarily be written by the project PI's. Nor will they model the grant project summaries as many do now. Although the PI-written abstracts have been useful examples to other grant applicants in the past, the new abstracts should be more easily understandable, as well as reflect the most important elements and impacts of the project from the perspective of the NSF, which will offer grant applicants insight into how the NSF is viewing the awarded grants.

Social Media and Mobile
The NSF is active on a variety of social media and mobile venues. Offering grant applicants a variety of ways to stay on top of what's new at the NSF...

Facebook: On their facebook site, the NSF posts regularly on their latest research. Researchers and laypeople are welcome to comment on their posts.

Twitter: As you'd expect, NSF's twitter feed offers more bite-sized updates on their latest research.

LinkedIn: NSF's LinkedIn site posts job openings as well as HR policies at NSF. Many NSF employees are on LinkedIn - you might try connecting with Program Officers through LinkedIn to make a contact and to learn a bit more about their background.

Youtube: The NSF's YouTube channel offers short video clips on NSF supported research. You can sort the videos by program directorate.

Science 360 (Mobile): The NSF also offers a radio program - Science 360 that can be accessed online or as an app on your iphone. The program offers a diversity of science-related pieces.