AstroInformatics II: From public outreach to public engagement June 28, 2010
Posted by sarah in: science . 1 comment so far
Outreach and education are two areas that stand to gain from developments in semantic astronomy and an increased scientific presence on the web. Big changes have already taken place, driven by a community eager to connect and communicate about the research we do every day. As part of a panel at the AstroInformatics 2010 conference last week, I gave a talk on aspects of science communication and education that are benefiting from the semantic web.
The internet these days is a cacophony of conversations, opinions, visual information (and porn). Many scientists and science enthusiasts write about the stuff that inspires or excites them in blogs, like I do here, which allow them to connect to people they would never have encountered, let alone talked with, in real life. This has led to some great scientific content generated entirely by the science community itself, without intermediate brokerage by communication or media professionals. But in this symphony of chaos, how do we increase the signal to noise? How do we ensure that the best content is heard?
AstroInformatics 2010 June 17, 2010
Posted by sarah in: astro 2.0, dotastronomy . Add a comment
The AstroInformatics 2010 conference is currently going on at Caltech in Pasadena. There’s a substantial online presence, if you can’t attend but want to take part in the discussion, here’s some links!
- The conference programme is here (times in Pacific time!)
- Follow the talks on Ustream
- Track the tweets (hashtag #astroinfo2010)
- Join in the discussion on the blog
More to follow!
Summer conferencing May 20, 2010
Posted by sarah in: astro 2.0 . 2commentsSummer is a busy season for conferencing, and some really interesting and fun meetings in the area of Open Science/Science Online/Science and Society are coming up in the next few months.
From 16 to 19 June, the California Institute of Technology will be hosting the 2010 edition of AstroInformatics, which looks excellent. The meeting has three days of “proper” conferencing, covering many topics – conceptual (changing paradigms in astronomy research, developments in other sciences) , technical (what are the newest tools for exploring, visualising and sharing data?) , people-based (astronomy education, citizen science). The 4th day is a workshop on astro-semantics. I’m really excited about the conference itself and about the trip as a whole – I’m well overdue a trip to the astronomy beehive/wasp’s nest (?) that is Pasadena, home to friends, colleagues and fellow bloggers. A tweetup may be in order – be warned.
Inconveniently clashing with AstroInformatics is the very cool-looking Science Hack Day in London on 19-20 June, hosted at the offices of the Guardian newspaper and sponsored by a bunch of great organisations. It’s a typical weekend of geekery with no real programme, just a bunch of coding-aficionados – and more than a few DotAstronomers, I couldn’t help but notice – getting together to Do Cool Stuff With Computers. I’m sorry to miss it, although I’m a little too technically incompetent to really contribute much. I always had the impression that biomedical scientists were much more active in participating in such events and it’s great to see that astronomers are getting seriously involved too – I spotted that LCOGT are even sponsoring the Hack Day.
I was also very happy to see the announcement of the 2010 instalment of Science Online London on 3-4 September. After last year’s fun and stimulating event at the Royal Institution in London, this year’s SOLo will take place in the British Library, who are cohosting the conference with Mendeley and Nature Publishing Group.There’s not much info yet on programme or fringe events, but if last year was anything to go by, it should be well worth attending.
The future of .Astronomy February 12, 2010
Posted by sarah in: dotastronomy, me . Add a comment
Planning the next .Astronomy
Carolina and I just got back from the UK, where we met up with the rest of the .Astronomy organisers to tie up some loose ends and discuss the future of our little workshop. With a few noted exceptions, participants as well as organisers seemed to enjoy the conference, and we’re keen to build on that success and put together another event in 2010. So that led us to some important questions: where, when, how and who?
More links December 13, 2009
Posted by sarah in: dotastronomy . 1 comment so farI’ve just added an extra page with a bunch of links to projects and sites that fit well within the context of .Astronomy - open astronomy, astronomy in social media, citizen science, web-based outreach and education projects. I’ll maintain the list as well as I can, as things change and new projects are set up. Take a look and let me know if you have something to add.
