{"id":4788,"date":"2024-03-28T19:06:21","date_gmt":"2024-03-28T19:06:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/graperesearch.org\/staging\/?p=4788"},"modified":"2024-03-29T21:31:37","modified_gmt":"2024-03-29T21:31:37","slug":"tis-the-season","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/graperesearch.org\/staging\/2024\/03\/28\/tis-the-season\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2019Tis the \u2018Season\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

This column appeared in the March 2024 NGRA newsletter.<\/a><\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Having welcomed spring this month, I\u2019m reminded of a conversation I had a few years ago involving the word \u201cseason.\u201d I was talking with a computer engineer about a sensor that had emerged from an NGRA-initiated research project. The developers were planning field trials in five or six vineyards representing different grape sectors and grape-growing regions across the country to see how the sensor performed throughout the season. Only two prototypes had been manufactured, so I asked my colleague how it would be possible to divvy them up across the test sites, hundreds of miles apart. \u201cNo problem,\u201d he said, \u201cwe\u2019ll rotate them from one to the next each season.\u201d An awkward silence descended. Then I realized that he (a technologist) thought we were talking about seasons on the calendar (spring, summer, fall, winter), not growing<\/em> seasons\u2014two very different timescales!<\/p>\n

It\u2019s easy to forget, when you\u2019re acquainted with a subject, that others may not \u201cspeak the language.\u201d Before I became fluent in \u201cviticulture,\u201d I attended my first academic conference after starting my role with NGRA and sat through a mystifying presentation on the \u201chydraulic conductance of grapevine.\u201d I didn\u2019t realize until the Q&A, when someone asked the speaker about irrigation, that the talk had anything to do with WATER\u2014a word she hadn\u2019t used at all in her remarks. Remember, although I had worked in the wine industry for many years, I don\u2019t have a science background. But I do have a master\u2019s degree in English!<\/p>\n

In this example, the hydrology expert might as well have been speaking in a foreign language. In fact, from my point of view, she was. And to the technologist I was talking to in the first example, I<\/em> was. Both situations demonstrate why efforts to improve science communication are so critical. USDA, for example, has committed to plain writing<\/strong><\/a> and even verifies it via an annual audit every year. And under the leadership of now-retired extension specialist Tim Martinson, Cornell\u2019s Viticulture and Enology program pioneered Research in Plain English, or RIPE, non-technical summaries of journal articles like this one.<\/a> <\/strong><\/p>\n

We all have our part to play in improving the grape and wine industry, but we might not use the same words when talking about it. So, when possible, be explicit\u2026and know your audience!<\/p>\n

Which brings me back to the word \u201cseason.\u201d Most of us think of this season as spring, but to a grape breeder, it\u2019s \u201ccrossing season,\u201d the most wonderful time of the year. So, to our friends working to develop new varieties to advance the sustainability, profitability and productivity of our industry, season\u2019s greetings!<\/p>\n

Donnell Brown<\/strong>
\nPresident<\/p>\n

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

This column appeared in the March 2024 NGRA newsletter. Having welcomed spring this month, I\u2019m reminded of a conversation I had a few years ago involving the word \u201cseason.\u201d I was talking with a computer engineer about a sensor that had emerged from an NGRA-initiated research project. The developers were planning field trials in five […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4788","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-ngwi-news"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/graperesearch.org\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4788","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/graperesearch.org\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/graperesearch.org\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/graperesearch.org\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/graperesearch.org\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4788"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/graperesearch.org\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4788\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4810,"href":"https:\/\/graperesearch.org\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4788\/revisions\/4810"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/graperesearch.org\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4788"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/graperesearch.org\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4788"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/graperesearch.org\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4788"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}