Informationsdienst Wissenschaft

Informationsdienst Wissenschaft e.V. or idw (The Science Information Service) operates an Internet platform, which bundles the press reports and dates of important events from about 1,000 scientific institutions, including universities, technical colleges, governmental and non-governmental research institutes and institutes to support research or scientific administration. idw (a registered charitable society) also operates an expert broker, the idw expert finder, which is exclusively for journalists. This makes idw one of the most comprehensive sources of science news in the German-speaking area. Foreign journalists and institutions (mostly European) use idw as well.

Informationsdienst Wissenschaft e.v.

The two main objectives of idw are:

  • To provide the public with a comprehensive picture of science in the German-speaking area.
  • To create a close network between the linked (research) institutions.

Services

The information in idw can be accessed free of charge - either directly on idw’s www pages, or by using an individually configurable RSS feed or as an e-mail subscriber. Any user can request the information covering the topics and regions which interest him. All idw services can be used free of cost - the current news ticker, the news app, the science calendar, research in the archive (which contains more than 450,000 press releases), and the list of institutions linked to idw. idw also provides journalists with instruments for contacting experts, and maintains a database with science photos. The members' press offices have various possibilities of communicating with journalists. Membership is only offered to German or foreign institutions which perform research or teaching, or which support science or are active in science in some other way.

In November 2022, idw opened a Mastodon instance, wisskomm.social,[1] named after science communication (Wissenschaftskommunikation).

Idea and Foundation

The original idea of idw was to provide experts for journalists. Using the American ProfNet as example,[2] the press officers of Universitaet Bayreuth, the Ruhr University Bochum and the Clausthal University of Technology, in collaboration with Computing Centre of Clausthal University of Technology/TU Clausthal, developed a concept for a German language network, by means of the new media. The concept was technically implemented by the staff of the Computing Centre of the Clausthal University of Technology. A total of nine staff members in Bayreuth, Bochum and Clausthal are responsible for programming, maintaining and developing the idw operating system, for user services and further development of the content.

Financial Support and Development

The initial phase (1996–1999) was guaranteed by project support from the Federal Ministry for Education and Research (BMBF). The technical development of the idw was supported by the Ministry, together with the Stifterverband fuer die Deutsche Wissenschaft (Donor Association for German Science). idw has been working for years with the initiative Wissenschaft im Dialog (Science in Dialogue). idw has been economically independent since 2000 and is financed by contributions from member institutions. It has been organised as a registered charitable society (gemeinnütziger e. V.) since 2002. As part of its quality control, since 2009 idw awards the annual idw Award for Science Communication for the best year's best press releases.[3][4]

Significance and Scope

idw has developed as a recognised and accepted source for German language science and for science journalism. It has become an instrument for public relations work for scientific institutions. 43,000 subscribers (figure for August 2023[5]) receive regular reports from idw, including 9,300 journalists. About 1,000 institutions publish their press reports and dates of important events via idw.

References
  1. "Datenschutzbestimmungen" (in German).
  2. "Heisser Draht zur Forschung". Der Spiegel. 19 June 2001. Retrieved 21 January 2023.
  3. idw Award website
  4. Interview (German language) on Wissenschaftskommunikation.de. Retrieved 21 January 2023.
  5. "Idw - Information about the idw".
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