Science to the People

Science and Social MediaRichard Akerman

National Research CouncilOctober 21, 2009

Outline

• What is science?

• Starry Messengers

• Web 2.0 (Social Web)

• Citizen Science

• The Future

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For the Science!

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Observe & Report

Starry Messenger

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Accordingly, on the seventh day of January of the present year 1610, at the first hour of the night, when I inspected the celestial constellations through a spyglass, Jupiter [appeared].

SN 1987A

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"It was a little telescope maybe just a little bit bigger than a Tasco special from Wal-Mart," Shelton said, recalling the night he discovered Supernova 1987A. "And that tells you it doesn't matter if it's a little telescope or a big telescope."

'Always look up,' says astronomy star

© Copyright 2009 CTVglobemedia Publishing Inc. All Rights Reserved.

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17th Century “Internet”

• letters

• books

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21st Century Internet

• letters

• books

• and...

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Web 2.0

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Facebook © 2009

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Mobile

• iPhone

• laptop

• netbook

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The Social Web

• not just a communications technology, a community technology

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The Interest-net

• You can connect with people around the world (soon even across language barriers) based on similar interests

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Citizen Science

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Why bother?

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"Much of what we know about global warming and climate change comes from citizen science data, " she says. "That includes the patterns that we’re seeing in

terms of global warming. Over 10,000 weather stations that are used to track temperatures and climate are actually operated by volunteers, have

been on family farms for decades."

Early Birds and Springtime

iPhone astronomy

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Real Balloon Boys

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space.1337arts.com

Future Directions

• Even more distributed, local science

• Your iPhone is an earthquake sensor

• Personalised medicine

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Richard AkermanNRC-CISTI

Canada’s National Science Library

© 2009 Government of Canada