"I'm happy to talk to different audiences, but I don't want to dumb down my research."
It's a phrase Jen and Michael both quietly dread and in this short episode, they dig into why it rubs them the wrong way. The problem isn't wanting to stay accurate; it's the assumption baked into "dumbing down" that your audience isn't intelligent. Jen and Michael reframe the whole challenge: it's not about simplifying your ideas, it's about simplifying your language while keeping every bit of nuance intact. Along the way they share why getting your audience to care comes first, how "clarifying" beats "simplifying," and why explaining your work simply is one of the best ways to understand it more deeply yourself.
You can find more great advice here:
Tim Radford, A Manifesto for the Simple Scribe - the source of the fantastic quote we talk about: "Don't overestimate your reader's knowledge and don't underestimate their intelligence."
Ed Yong, On jargon, and why it matters in science writing - a lovely case for replacing jargon rather than dumbing down.
Don't dumb it down: the effects of jargon in COVID-19 crisis communication - research on why audiences engage with complexity.