Synergies between Internet and real life activities in science mediation

Transcription

1 Synergies between Internet and real life activities in science mediation Synergies entre les activités virtuelles et vivantes en médiation scientifique. Thierry Brassac, Dr. Pôle Culture Scientifique - Montpellier Science University, France Abstract Mediatic science is often shown from the results point of view. Our science & Culture Dpt chose to focus its educative events on the making (or processes) of science, in a collaborative way with our publics. We will describe two current projects (related to biodiversity and chemistry) designed as open-ended synergies between real life animations and multimedia/internet based activities. Keywords history of science, plushology, chemistry, biodiversity, virtual mediation, web-documentary Résumé : La science dans les medias est souvent présentée sous l angle des rélultats scientifiques. Notre department de culture scicentifique a decidé d orienter nos activités sous l angle des processus (la science en train de se faire), de manière collaborative avec le public. Nous décrivons deux projets actuels (sur les thématiques de la biodiversité et de la chimie), évolutifs et participatifs, qui mêlent des activités en ligne et en interaction vivante. Mots clés histoire des sciences, peluchologie, chimie, biodiversité, mediation virtuelle, webdocumentaire Working environment. The Montpellier Science/Culture department works with de culture (art & science) and the patrimony (scientific collections preservation) Dpts. We program different kinds of activities : scientific cafes, conferences, regional undergraduate science competitions, exhibits, communication training, open air festivals The Science/Culture Department collaborates closely with our web TV team and the (essential) pool of researchers and student from the university. We usually design collaborative (open ended) pedagogical projects and try to look at science in our projects in a history of science perspective. We also try to focus mainly on the mechanisms of science production rather than on the result of science. The Web jungle. Our website ( allowed us to experiment some rules of the Internet. We tried to create an original interface, quite far away from the University institutional website, targeting a young and curious public. Some questions were raised by this experiment. To get audience, there is a high competition on the Internet (struggle for visibility). We chose to create a website with high originality (which costs imagination) rather that a high technology web (which costs money). The attractivity is one of the parameter that allows evaluating your impact, but even more significant is the holding power. Any Webmaster gets nightmares about the 30 seconds evaporation level of the Internauts. Which raises the dramatic question: Do people on the Internet read? Or more precisely, what kind of reading occurs behind

2 a screen (quality, quantity, memory building, )? The last point is related to the necessity of constant renewal of the web contentrequired if you want people to get back to your website (fidelization power). FIG 1 : Website of the Culture & science dpt ( In this paper, we will briefly describe 2 ongoing projects recently initiated; the first one started on the real side and extended onto the web and the second one has been designed the opposite way. In any case, our use of internet is used to catalyse and promote human face to face meetings. Project 1 : biodiversity for kids Context : 2009 celebrated Charles Darwin bicentenary and 50 years of publication of the origin of species, and 2010 was international year of biodiversity. When you look at historic tree of life representations and the one issued by the BBC during Darwin year, you can see that man is usually in a high position at the top, the lineage mostly linear and lower species usually massed at the bottom of the posters (Fig 2). Modern representations (circular trees, Fig 3) are more surprising, complex and confusing for the public. We realized that questions such as what is diversity and how do we study diversity are at the same time most interesting and offer a true didactic challenge.

3 FIG 2 : Haeckel tree of life (Illustration of the ''Tree of Life'' by Haeckel in the ''The Evolution of Man'' (Published 1879))

4 FIG 3 : circular tree of life ( Real-life Project We initiated a project by mimicking the work of the naturalists that sailed the world in the 18th century. They discovered new living organisms, made scientific descriptions and collections, and then tried to elaborate a classification. We decided to explore with the kids the plush toy imaginary ecosystem. In 1903, the 1 st Teddy bear was designed in Germany ; the French Society of Plushology (FSP) was supposedly created in 1903 to study human/plush toys interactions. Our university associated with FSP in 2010 to launch the Plush Toy Operation.

5 FIG 4 : 1903, creation of the French Pluchology Society (FPS) A 150 sqm exhibit was designed, we hosted the first International kids congress and about 500 specimens were scientifically analysed by schoolchildren. The project has then been adapted to many contexts (open air events, cultural festivals, libraries, museographic projects, books and papers). Virtual project As our department was not able to cope to the numerous solicitations we received, we decided to se up an online interface of the project. Carefully designed for a young public, this website can now extend real world scientific animation into a virtual dimension. One great innovation is that plush toy specimens can be geolocalized. This website allows also any remote school (in rural or distant area) to find ressources, videos, help to set up a local plushology group. The website is available in French and English. More information on this project is available (in French) in the following paper (REF 1)

6 FIG 5: plushology website ( Project 2 : ATOME TV Context 2011 was declared International year of chemistry by UNESCO. We looked at original ways to talk about chemistry and in particular everyday life chemistry (why is there Selenium in my favourite shampoo?). A Web overview allowed us to spot two original experiments on this topic, but neither was in French, and neither exactly fitted to our objectives(ref 2 and 3). We also decided to use the iconic power of the periodic table to pay tribute to Dmitri Mendeleev and use this history of science character as a mascot for our project. The periodic table has dramatically changed since its first edition by Mendeleev in Virtual-Project We launched an element adoption campaign towards the researchers of our university. They had to choose their favourite element, then think about a scenario to talk about this element, starting with an everyday life object and getting to talk about their research for a general audience. We decided to create high value videos (green background, after effect, media training of the researchers). We would like to mix the point of views of artists, children & students, citizens, and researchers in this project. The second phase is to get these bricks fitted in a full web-documentary project that should look like a cartoon-looking-hotel, swarming with elements, with Dmitri Mendeleev as receptionist. Access to rooms would provide multimedia content generated collaboratively.

7 FIG 6 : web documentary project (atom hotel, Dmitri as receptionist and empty room) Gilles Macagno FIG 7 : web documentary project (atom hotel, Dmitri as receptionist and empty room) Gilles Macagno

8 FIG 8 : web documentary project (atom hotel, Dmitri as receptionist and empty room) Gilles Macagno FIG 9 : web documentary project (element n 63 : europium) Gilles Macagno

9 Real-life project The web-interface main objective is to establish connections between people : the community of schools involved in the project, artists and scientists, citizens and scientists, We designed also workshops to get the public involved in our project physically (Which elements in my glass of water?, how was radioactivity discovered?, elements and geology). We have a periodic table of domestic products (supermarket products sorted by their composition), and a philatelic periodic table (with stamps evoking all elements) which will be used as starters for discussions and conviviality during science fairs. We also designed a humoristic 7 family card game and a board game to stimulate public involvement. Real-life versus virtual mediation Virtual mediation can (potentially) reach a global impact. A website is open 24 hours a day, but remains limited to a man/machine interface. Real-life mediation has a local impact (here and at that time), usually on a short time window, but involves face to face interaction. Virtual mediation is a powerful dissemination tool of your projects/activities and a very efficient promotional window. Real-life mediation offers real-time feed-back and a true emotional/physical engagement. As a conclusion, people on the web tend to be SURFING : they remain at the surface of things, at high speed and keep a wide overview. Real-life mediation seems more like DIVING : you get into a specific topic, more focused, more deeply, more carefully. In times when US zoos are raising money to give access to tablet computers to apes, to reduce stress of captivity by allowing them to video-chat(ref 4), I think we have to ask the question what kind of interactions do we want?. I am convinced that you, reading these lines behind your computer, will only have a faint glimpse of the live interaction made possible by the organization of the Journée Hubert Curien, and the exchange we had during and after the talk. At the same time, you may learn about our projects by reading this paperthanks to the Internet publication of this text by the organizers Online readers contacting me may allow to compare the relative effectiveness of the two options REFS REF 1 : Thierry Brassac et Amélie Bugel, «Une science douce : la peluchologie», La Lettre de l OCIM [En ligne], 139 REF 2 : REF 3 : REF 4 :