With the nation’s attention recently turned to infrastructure as part of an economic stimulus, the information from ASCE’s Report Card for America’s Infrastructure has become that much more important.

On Wednesday, Jan. 28, ASCE will release important components from the 2009 Report Card for America’s Infrastructure, including letter grades with short conditions summaries for each of the 15 categories, solutions for infrastructure improvement and an overall cost to improve the nation’s infrastructure.

The Report Card will be launched during a press conference at 10 a.m. ET on Jan. 28 in Washington, D.C. You are invited to watch the press conference via a live Webcast.

The full 2009 Report Card for America’s Infrastructure, including detailed fact sheets on all categories and state-by-state information, will be released on March 25, as previously scheduled.

Take action now! Help us spread this message far and wide!

• Submit a letter to the editor or op-ed to your local newspaper. Samples can be found online on the PR University Web site.
• Comment on a story on your newspaper’s Web site or a local blog.
• Contact your legislators at ASCE’s Click and Connect with Congress Web site.

What does your Section or Branch plan to do to support the national Report Card release? Or if you’ve already started, tell us about what you’re doing.

Karen Albers
Manager, State Public Relations

When it comes to encouraging kids to pursue engineering, there is a LOT of talking going on.

But communicating is a two-way street. As much as we outreach types think we need to work harder on the messages we send, we all know we need to do a better job of opening our ears and listening. Listening intently and hearing fully what our audience thinks and how our audience feels about the world around them can make the difference between sending a message that resonates or falls flat. In the realm of pre-college outreach, it can mean the difference between turning kids ON to civil engineering, or turning them OFF.

Including listening as a part of our communication practice requires effort. It’s easy to get so busy talking that we forget to take time to evaluate how our words are being received and learn new ways to communicate more effectively.

I am reminded of a story told by Stephen R. Covey, author of Seven Habits of Highly Effective People (1989):

Suppose you were to come upon someone in the woods working feverishly to saw down a tree.
“What are you doing?” you ask.
“Can’t you see?” comes the impatient reply. “I’m sawing down this tree.”
“You look exhausted!” you exclaim. “How long have you been at it?”
“Over five hours,” he returns, “and I’m beat! This is hard work.”
“Well why don’t you take a break for a few minutes and sharpen that saw?” you inquire.  “I’m sure it would go a lot faster.”
“I don’t have time to sharpen the saw,” the man says emphatically. “I’m too busy sawing!”

So the question becomes, how often do we stop and think about what we are saying to encourage kids to explore the exciting challenges and possibilities of civil engineering? Or more importantly, how often do we listen to research about kids and to kids themselves and take time to learn new techniques so we can be more effective in reaching out to them.

ASCE and WGBH want to give you the opportunity to do just that. Our first free pre-college outreach Webinar is coming up February 25. Effectively Communicating About Engineering Careers to High School Girls will discuss what research tells us high school girls think about engineering and what they are looking for in a future career. It will provide practical solutions you can use now in your outreach efforts to improve your effectiveness. When we listen to girls intently, and think strategically about how we communicate about engineering, some surprising things begin to happen. Their desire to make a difference in the world begins to take shape — where life and engineering intersect.

Leslie Payne
Manager, Pre-College Outreach

While this is true of any kind of editor, as Web content editor at ASCE I’m a proxy for the reader — that’s you. What’s served me best throughout my 22-year career of editing media has been an ability to perform a bit of an out-of-body experience, where I’m able to put myself in your place as a reader with your background, being exposed to the content for the first time. There’s nothing mystical in knowing your audience — it requires homework.

On my arrival nearly a year ago, I immediately took over as editor of the every-other-week ASCE E-Newsletter. I considered it essential that I get a good grasp of the world of civil engineering and its issues and activities to do justice to our membership and readership. I already had what could be considered a general journalist’s interest in infrastructure, and had had a personal enjoyment of some of it from a design and history standpoint, but knew little of civil engineering specifically. (I’ve since found that that kind of public reaction isn’t surprising for an industry of traditionally modest professionals whose work is largely taken for granted. As a career copy editor, that Rodney Dangerfield feeling of “no respect” is one I can relate to.)

I’ve since found that civil engineering is actually a vast umbrella covering many highly technical disciplines carried out by sharp-minded professionals. As an editor of Web content that reaches the overall national membership, I can presume the audience is smart, but I can’t assume that everyone is familiar with terms known better in one discipline than another. For example, members of ASCE’s Institutes focus on a wide array of technical disciplines – a member of the Construction Institute may not be familiar with the same terminology as a member of the Environmental and Water Resources Institute.

However, even if you can presume your reader has a greater familiarity with your subject, beware of giving in to the temptation to take shortcuts in the belief you’ll be understood. This is common with technical terms and other lingo. As smart as your audience is, err on the side of caution. For instance, even if you think an acronym is known well by your audience, spell it out in your copy the first time you mention it anyway; it’s an easy courtesy, a good just-in-case that could win you more satisfied, better-informed readers.

Do you have any other tips for communicating with your audience? Share them with us.

John Marston
Web Content Editor