Public Relations at the
Isaac Newton
Group of Telescopes

	I. Overview
	II. PR Activities
	III. Measuring Efficiency
	IV. The On-going Projects

Public Relations at the
Isaac Newton
Group of Telescopes

	I. Overview
		A. The need for Public Relations at ING and objectives
			1. The Promotion of science is one of the 5 objectives of PPARC’s corporate plan:
		“... To atract public interest and excitement, and to draw young people into     science. We will work with our partners in education and the media to encourage community-wide efforts to promote and explain our science, especially to young people.”
			2. PR activities on La Palma is one of the ING organisational values:
			“Maintain a good relationship with the public on La Palma.”
	So our audience can be identified as the public in UK / NL, in particular the Media, the young students and the astronomical community, and in La Palma.

Public Relations at the
Isaac Newton
Group of Telescopes

		B. ING’s PR main information products
			1. Observational astronomy: the excitement of “fresh” science discoveries from the telescopes, instrument developments, etc.
			2. The day-by-day life in a world-class observatory.
		C. General Strategy
			1. To set up efficient information services (to either offer information or to deal with information requests).
			2. To publicise ING activities.
			3. To keep close links with PPARC/NWO PR teams, and with IAC.

Public Relations at the
Isaac Newton
Group of Telescopes

	II. PR Activities
		1. Publications and information services: Press releases, Newsletter, Annual Report, [INGNEWS] email exploder, Public Information web pages.
		2. Organisation of visits to the telescopes. In summer we also organise Open Days.
		3. Planning and execution of PR projects in order to publicise ING activities. Sometimes this coincides with an astronomical event and may be a joint project with PPARC, NWO or IAC.
		4. Other activities: dissemination of astronomy activities (talks, exhibits, support to amateur astronomy, etc.), souvenir sale, etc.

Public Relations at the
Isaac Newton
Group of Telescopes

		III. Measuring Efficiency
			1. An example of a Press Release
	Comet LINEAR. We were the first issuing a press release reporting the nucleus break-up. We gave international coverage to the news.

Public Relations at the
Isaac Newton
Group of Telescopes

			2. ING Publications. Both the ING Newsletter and the ING Annual Report are published on-line and print. We use [INGNEWS] email exploder to reach more than 600 ING users.
			These three information services have had a big acceptance and they are very efficient in disseminating information.

Public Relations at the
Isaac Newton
Group of Telescopes

		3. Visits to the ING Telescopes

Public Relations at the
Isaac Newton
Group of Telescopes

		4. Exhibits and Scientific Conferences

Public Relations at the
Isaac Newton
Group of Telescopes

	IV. The On-going Projects
		1. The schools project. It aims at strengthening links with schools in UK and NL in order to either offer the possibility of visiting the observatory, as part of an educational trip to La Palma, or even an observing night at the JKT on a discretionary night and scheduling permitting. At present we are working on a ‘Guide to Visit La Palma for UK Schools’ and we have made the first contacts.

Public Relations at the
Isaac Newton
Group of Telescopes

		2. The ING High-quality collection of ‘true-colour’ CCD images. A Picture is worth thousand words.
		The range of imaging instruments at ING offers the possibility of producing high-quality images of extended objects.

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