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Yeah buoy! #SciComm in the age of social media

August 28th, 2016 by

The first thing IISG Assistant Research Coordinator Carolyn Foley does each morning is feed her kids. Then, while toast is toasting or oatmeal is warming up, she checks the IISG real-time buoys.

“Jayson Beugly, Angela Archer, and I all monitor the buoys to make sure they’re transmitting OK,” Foley said. “But I also look for cool things that are being captured.”

Foley shares these “cool things” via the @TwoYellowBuoys Twitter feed that was conceived during a 2015 IISG staff meeting.

Toast&Coffee

“Jay and I were sitting next to each other during a talk about engaging with social media,” Foley recalled. “He turned to me and said, ‘We should make a Twitter account for the buoys.’ And we both began to laugh.”

Carolyn admits she didn’t know much about Twitter before starting @TwoYellowBuoys, but it seemed like a great platform for communicating the graphs and images constantly generated by the buoys.

“I think visually, and my favorite part of writing scientific manuscripts is putting together graphs in order to tell a story. I hope that seeing how the data illustrate trends and phenomena helps people better understand how scientists use the data to answer complex questions,” said Foley.

“And it doesn’t hurt that looking at the webcam pictures reminds me why I do what I do, especially when I haven’t been able to get near the water lately.”

IISG owns and operates two nearshore buoys in Lake Michigan, one in Michigan City, Indiana and another in Willmette, Illinois. The weather buoys serve a variety of audiences, from the National Weather Service to recreational water users. Data from the buoys, including information on water temperature, wind speed, wave height, solar radiation, and more, is transmitted every 10 minutes.

Foley is especially partial to posting thermocline data on Twitter because she knows anglers make decisions based on  water temperature.

The buoy dashboards provide this data in both numerical and graphical form, and users can even access historic data. In addition, webcam images are captured every hour during daylight hours and shared online.

Using @TwoYellowBuoys, Foley has featured local and Lake Michigan-wide comparisons of water temperatures, air temperatures, wave heights, wind speeds, and more. She also pulls together images from the webcams atop the buoys to share with followers.

Option4

“It’s not up to us to predict what’s going to happen—the National Weather Service and others use the data for that purpose,” said Foley.

“But to be able to visualize what has happened and link it to real things that people have experienced, like storms or temperature shifts, is really fun and hopefully neat for people to see and understand.”

Carolyn Foley and Abigail Bobrow also contributed to the story. Joel Davenport created the illustrations.

Illinois-Indiana Sea Grant is a part of University of Illinois Extension and Purdue Extension.

 

IISG Instagram

The gales of November may come early, but, as usual, the nominations for the Lakies are right on time along with our official call for nominations!

Brought to you by the Teach Me About the Great Lakes podcast, The Lakies (aka "quite possibly not the least prestigious Great Lakes-focused awards ceremony there is”) are back.

Our goal isn`t to be the Official Arbiters of Quality, but to host a fun celebration of amazing Great Lakes-related research, outreach, and communication in the inimitable Teach Me style.

Nomination categories are:
-Great Lakes Science Communication of the Year
-Great Lakes Outreach Program of the Year
-Great Lakes News Event of the Year
-Great Lakes Research Finding of the Year
-Coolest Thing You Learned Listening to TMATGL in 2025
-Science Podcast of the Year (Non-TMATGL edition)
-Great Lakes Animal of the Year
-Great Lakes Non-Animal of the Year
-Great Lakes Sandwich of the Year
-Great Lakes Donut of the Year

The Details:
-Deadline: Nominations close on December 4th.
Process: It`s easy (just enter the name/title and a link).
-Self-Nominations: Highly encouraged. Don`t be shy.

We’d love to get a broad swath of work across both the serious and less-serious categories to celebrate. Feel free to pass the link on to interested people: https://bit.ly/Lakies25

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Open post by ilinseagrant with ID 17913992691239654
The gales of November may come early, but, as usual, the nominations for the Lakies are right on time along with our official call for nominations! Brought to you by the Teach Me About the Great Lakes podcast, The Lakies (aka "quite possibly not the least prestigious Great Lakes-focused awards ceremony there is”) are back. Our goal isn't to be the Official Arbiters of Quality, but to host a fun celebration of amazing Great Lakes-related research, outreach, and communication in the inimitable Teach Me style.Nomination categories are:-Great Lakes Science Communication of the Year-Great Lakes Outreach Program of the Year-Great Lakes News Event of the Year-Great Lakes Research Finding of the Year-Coolest Thing You Learned Listening to TMATGL in 2025-Science Podcast of the Year (Non-TMATGL edition)-Great Lakes Animal of the Year-Great Lakes Non-Animal of the Year-Great Lakes Sandwich of the Year-Great Lakes Donut of the YearThe Details: -Deadline: Nominations close on December 4th.Process: It's easy (just enter the name/title and a link).-Self-Nominations: Highly encouraged. Don't be shy.We’d love to get a broad swath of work across both the serious and less-serious categories to celebrate. Feel free to pass the link on to interested people: https://bit.ly/Lakies25

Making Sense of Social Media: Presented by Illinois-Indiana Sea Grant & Purdue Extension
‌
When: December 6, 2025, from 1 - 4:00 PM EST
Where: RDM Shrimp, RDM Shrimp, 101 N 850 E, Fowler, IN 47944
Registration Link in bio.
‌
Social media can be a great way to market your small business and products, but sometimes it might feel like you are casting a net again and again to find that your net is empty. After all, the point of using social media marketing is to connect with customers. By attending this workshop, you will:
-Hear Research Findings
-Participate in an Interactive Workshop Session
-Learn Real World Application
-Tour a Shrimp Farm
-Network at the “After Hour Social”
‌
This program is supported by the North Central Regional Aquaculture Center and put on in partnership with the Indiana Aquaculture Association Inc, RDM Shrimp, and Ohio Sea Grant, The Ohio State University.
‌
For questions contact Amy Shambach by email (ashambac@purdue.edu) or phone (317-238-0511)

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Open post by ilinseagrant with ID 18100693840687186
Making Sense of Social Media: Presented by Illinois-Indiana Sea Grant & Purdue Extension‌When: December 6, 2025, from 1 - 4:00 PM ESTWhere: RDM Shrimp, RDM Shrimp, 101 N 850 E, Fowler, IN 47944Registration Link in bio.‌Social media can be a great way to market your small business and products, but sometimes it might feel like you are casting a net again and again to find that your net is empty. After all, the point of using social media marketing is to connect with customers. By attending this workshop, you will:-Hear Research Findings-Participate in an Interactive Workshop Session-Learn Real World Application-Tour a Shrimp Farm-Network at the “After Hour Social”‌This program is supported by the North Central Regional Aquaculture Center and put on in partnership with the Indiana Aquaculture Association Inc, RDM Shrimp, and Ohio Sea Grant, The Ohio State University.‌For questions contact Amy Shambach by email (ashambac@purdue.edu) or phone (317-238-0511)
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