iau c55 communicating astronomy with the public report for cap2010 cape town march 15 th – 19 th...
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IAU C55 Communicating Astronomy with the Public
Report for CAP2010Cape Town
March 15th – 19th 2010
IAU C55 Communicating Astronomy with the Public
Report for CAP2010Cape Town
March 15th – 19th 2010
Ian RobsonIan Robson
C55 structure from 2006-2009C55 structure from 2006-2009
President – Ian Robson (UK) VP – Dennis Crabtree (Canada) Secretary - Lars Lindberg Christensen (Denmark)
Organising Committee Oscar Alvarez Pomares; Augusto Damineli Neto; Richard
Fienberg; Anne Green; Ajit Kembhavi; Birgitta Nordstrom; Kazuhiro Sekiguchi; Patricia Whitelock; Jin Zhu
www.communicatingastronomy.org
Progress: 2006-2009Progress: 2006-2009
Working Groups:Washington Charter - Chair Dennis Crabtree (Canada)Virtual Astronomy Multimedia Project - Chair Adrienne J.
Gauthier (USA)Best Practices – Chair Lars Lindberg Christensen
(Denmark)Communicating Astronomy Journal – Chair Pedro Russo
(Portugal) New Ways of Communicating Astronomy with the Public
- Chair Michael West (USA)CAP Conferences - Chair Ian Robson (UK)
Progress: 2006-2009Progress: 2006-2009 Much of the work
has, not surprisingly, been strongly focused on IYA2009 (inc EX WG) and this has limited the work that has been able to be achieved across the entire portfolio. I think we can say that this effort has been extremely successful as we’ll see this week
Progress: 2006-2009Progress: 2006-2009
The IYA2009 focus has been hugely beneficial in promoting C55 ideas in the areas of New Media and the VAMP work.
Also, we have seen major benefits in ways that were not envisaged in the Working Groups – such as the Galileoscope and FETTU to name but two.
Washington CharterWashington Charter
Progress has been limited due to effort availability but the current picture is that it has been endorsed by:19 professional astronomical societies or
agencies12 universities, labs, facilities and other
organisations
Virtual Astronomy Multimedia ProjectVirtual Astronomy Multimedia Project Spectacular progress has been made on this project,
lots of agreement on metadata and tools, culminating in the launch of ‘Portal to the Universe’ at the NAM/JENAM meeting in the UK in April 2009 and sponsored by the IAU and ESO
Portal to the Universe is a global, one-stop clearinghouse for online astronomy content, with news, blogs, video and audio podcasts, images, videos targeting the complete range from laypeople, press, educators, to scientists
During the first three months of operation it aggregated 3,000 press releases; 1,500+ podcast episodes; 11,000+ blog posts and received more than 130,000 visitors.
Best Practices Best Practices
This project has also suffered due to the IYA2009 activities but some of the aims have been incorporated into the IYA activities and instructions for organisers and evaluation.
Communicating Astronomy Journal Communicating Astronomy Journal
Another spectacular success story Initial meetings and discussions with the
Astronomy Educational Review amongst others – launched in October 2007
It has a formal organisational structure and editorial board and provides a refereeing process for submitted papers.
Six editions published by summer 2009, over 60 articles with 1,500 hard-copy subscribers, 2,700 on-line subscribers
ESO supporting editorial and shipping costs
www.capjournal.org
New Ways of Communicating Astronomy with the PublicNew Ways of Communicating Astronomy with the Public This work has also taken off, albeit through a life
of it’s own rather than through the Group – and led by a small number of devoted ‘geeks/gurus’.
As well as blogging and podcasts, recently As well as blogging and podcasts, recently Twitter has appeared on the scene alongside Twitter has appeared on the scene alongside Facebook and Second Life. In other areas key Facebook and Second Life. In other areas key examples such as Galaxy Zoo show how this is examples such as Galaxy Zoo show how this is a vibrant way forward for the future, especially a vibrant way forward for the future, especially for the younger generation of producers and for the younger generation of producers and communicatorscommunicators
CAP Conferences CAP Conferences
There has been one CAP conference since Prague, CAP2007 in October 2007 in Athens.
It was co-organized by the National Observatory of Athens and the Eugenides Planetarium
This was a tremendous success, with over 200 participants – much of the focus was on looking forward to IYA2009
The Proceedings were published in book format as well as on-line.
CAP2010 is alive and well and here we are in Cape Town, in March 2010
CAP2011 – Watch this space
C55 structure for the next 3 yearsC55 structure for the next 3 years
President - Dennis Crabtree (Canada)VP – Lars Lindberg Christensen (Denmark)Secretary – Pedro Russo (Portugal)
Organising Committee Anja Anderson; Oscar Alvarez Pomares;
Augusto Damineli Neto; Richard Fienberg; Anne Green; Ajit Kembhavi; Ian Robson; Kazuhiro Sekiguchi; Patricia Whitelock; Jin Zhu
Proposed working groups for the next 3 yearsProposed working groups for the next 3 years
Washington Charter - Chair Dennis Crabtree (Canada)
Virtual Astronomy Multimedia Project - Chair Robert Hurt (USA)
Best Practices – group wound up Communicating Astronomy Journal – Chair Pedro
Russo (Portugal) New Ways of Communicating Astronomy with the
Public – renamed ‘New Media’ with Pamela Gay as Chair and Lars Lindberg Christensen as Co-Chair.
CAP Conferences - Chair Ian Robson (UK) ProAm collaboration – Chairs and membership
TBD
Work neededWork needed
Update the web once we complete CAP2010Washington Charter – must progress, we
need supporters who can influence their ‘local’ agencies etc. Need to focus on individual departments/groups as endorsers
VAMP – formalise the supporters of this group as huge activity going on and this will be a key area for the future of CAP – so much to do in this topic, supporters sought.
Work neededWork needed
Portal to the Universe – can it become a one-stop image repository ? Is it further expandable ?
CAPJournal – needs sponsorship for the printing costs
Need more supporters (workers) for all the WGs
What do we retain (nationally/globally) post IYA2009 ?