I Went To A Bar For Time Travelers (Can museums save the world?)
I just posted a new essay, I Went To A Bar For Time Travelers, subtitled “Can museums save the world'?
It’s an un-edited, pre-publication draft of a piece for for Seize the Moment: Rethinking the Museum (Marsha Semmel, Ken Yellis, Avi Decter, ed.) to be published in early 2022 by Rowman and Littlefield. It is also an expansion of a short piece I wrote with the same title for Ten Perspectives on the Future of Digital Culture, a 2018 publication commemorating the 10th anniversary of Europeana.
The basic idea of the essay is to use a very modest, first-person time-travel narrative as a way to speak bluntly about what I see as the cultural sector’s reticence to get much involved in climate action and social justice.
In one passage I find myself standing at my office window looking out at the Library of Congress, the National Archives, and the Smithsonian Institution in the days, months, and years following 9-11 (a very real memory for me and one that has shaped much of my work over the last 20 years).
How would these three, august institutions help us understand what had happened to us as a nation? What would they do to help us chart our way forward in this complex and dangerous world?
As I stared into my beer, I couldn’t think of a single thing that any of these institutions, or even museums in general, had done to help Americans think clearer thoughts or make better decisions after 9/11. It wasn’t a museum’s job, or so we thought. Just hunker down, entertain the guests, conserve the collections and don’t rock the boat. So we lost our minds and went to war for 20 years without even an exhibition catalog as a souvenir.
More at I Went To A Bar For Time Travelers (Can museums save the world?).
* * * On a related note, in November, 2021 I’m organizing a workshop and strategy charrette to try and do something to jumpstart real action from the cultural sector. We need help funding travel for participants. Please give us a hand!
GoFundMe: Help Send Climate Activists To The Hague
https://www.gofundme.com/f/help-send-climate-activists-to-the-hague
Image credits: Remix of ‘The Boyfriend’ by Alžbeta Halušková. CC BY-SA. Source material: Za frajerom | Hanula, Jozef. Slovak National Gallery. Public domain. Creator: Alžbeta Halušková. Date: 2018. Country: Slovakia. CC BY-SA
Gone
It's on us
Robert Kagan’s gut-wrenching essay in the Washington Post on Sunday about the crisis in American democracy (see below) reminded me of this 2018 piece by Zeynep Tufekci in the MIT Technology Review, How social media Took us from Tahir Square to Donald Trump.
At the end, Tufekci argues that while corporate social media and Russian election interference were a horrible influence on democratic processes, Russian trolls didn’t get us to where we are by themselves.
Set for chaos
From a 6,000 word piece in Sunday’s Washington Post. I was glad to see this published — a very unusual (the Post’s editors seemed to barely knew where to put it), comprehensive, and forceful “long read” that attempts to make sense of this dangerous moment in America. The sense of doom, of the walls closing in on us from every direction (political, cultural, educational, economic) feels very true to me.
The dizzying career of Melvin Van Peebles
Other things
A sting in the tail
This failure [to develop a global vaccination program] is all the more glaring for another lesson that the pandemic revealed: Budget constraints don’t seem to exist; money is a mere technicality. The hard limits of financial sustainability, policed, we used to think, by ferocious bond markets, were blurred by the 2008 financial crisis. In 2020, they were erased.
The world discovered that John Maynard Keynes was right when he declared during World War II that “anything we can actually do, we can afford.” The sheer scale of the action was intoxicating. … If money was a mere technicality, what else could be done? Action on social justice, climate change, the Green New Deal, all seemed within reach.
[But] Keynes’s bon mot has a sting in its tail: We can afford anything we can actually do. The problem is agreeing on what to do and how to do it.”
If an economist was a horse
Sustainable Business Strategy
I just completed a 4-week class on Sustainable Business Strategy from Harvard Business School / HBS Online as part of a cohort of 398 people from 74 countries — by far the most diverse and international learning environment I’ve ever been a part of.
Case studies and other avenues of investigation included,
Unilever (supply chains, multi-sector coalitions, the business case for human/environmental sustainability {"Business can't succeed in a world that's failing" - Paul Polman"})
Walmart (human resources; "pre-competitive" collaboration; purpose)
Norsk Gjenvinning (a Norwegian waste management company, "jumping the S-curve" to a new strategy and standard of practice — very badass)
King Arthur Flour (employee-owned, B corps, stakeholder value); The business value of "ESG" (Environment, Society, Governance) reporting
Universal Investors (super-scale investors, and their pragmatic need to address systemic environmental/social problems to ensure future success)
Inclusive vs. Extractive Institutions ("extractive" being those that concentrate wealth/power in few/elites)
Barrick Gold in Papua New Guinea: a case study on corporate responsibility and the UN @globalcompact (And I am ashamed/amazed to say that I knew almost nothing about the Global Compact before this course, despite 4 years of work w UN in almost exactly that same problem space — sheesh! Lifelong learning FTW!)
Some inputs and perspectives from various members of the Harvard Business School / Kennedy School faculty, including, poignantly, Marshall Ganz
And, hah, frequent guest appearances from The Tragedy of the Commons and the Prisoner's Dilemma, who were ever present as an explanation for why cooperation is both necessary, and (sometimes) challenging.
in the online context and with such a large/diverse international cohort, I wished the cases and voices were less about US and European firms, laws, and institutions and more about the thinking and methods of actors in different contexts. Though understanding the potential leverage of companies like Unilever and Walmart is essential, I feel that we missed an opportunity to train ourselves to learn from the 6 billion people and millions of firms and initiatives that exist outside the Western Establishment Business and Academic Bubble (WEBAB?!).
LOL this is starting to sound like a book review, which is not my intention. I’m really just processing here…
I'm left with a much deeper appreciation for the business value — the absolute necessity — of "doing good", and for the profound importance of multi-stakeholder efforts (gov, biz, civil society, culture, "the people") for driving change.
Kudos to Rebecca Henderson, the professor, architect, and soul of the course. I didn’t expect to cry at the end of a business strategy class, but I did. Here are Rebecca Henderson’s final remarks.
Actionable solutions
Bruce Springsteen, talking with President Barack Obama.
Then came the country music in my late 20s and 30s. Looking for other solutions than Rock music provided. Rock music was a great music and there was some class anger in it and that agreed with me. Ah, then there was a beautiful romanticism and melodies, a lot of energy. But as you were getting older, it didn't address your adult problems.
So I went to Country music. Country music was great, incredible singing and playing, but it was rather fatalistic. You know?
So, I said well, “Who's trying to play…Where is a music of hope?” And when you went to Woody Guthrie and Bob [Dylan], you know... They were spelling out the hard world that you lived in, but they were also providing you, somehow, with some transcendence and some actionable solution to societal, and your own, personal problems. You could be active.
That drew my attention because I was now a relatively big rock star. I was interested in maintaining ties to my community. I was interested in giving voice to both myself and folks in my community. I was also interested in being active to a certain degree, taking some of what I was earning, putting it back into the community […] And that was where I found my full satisfaction and that's how I put all the pieces together.
Slides for "What is awesome?" at Computers in Libraries
Here are the slides for What Is Awesome? How to create a ‘reference survey’ for your new digital initiatives, a short talk I’m giving at Computers in Libraries today about how to do a lightweight competitive analysis for your new digital initiatives.
I’ll be joined today by special guest star Meta Knol, Director of the Leiden 2022 European City of Science initiative.
"What websites should we look at?" or "What have you seen that is good?" are questions that often get asked at the beginning of new digital projects. But with the vastness of the Internet and large number of new apps and technologies appearing every day it can be hard to answer those questions in a way that creates useful, actionable insights for teams and decision makers.
In this talk I use Meta’s project as a case study to show participants how they can approach this challenge, and what else they can do (and what they shouldn’t do) when someone asks “What is awesome?” on the Internet.
(The examples I use are drawn from 4 recent posts below, starting here.)
Leiden City of Science References, Part 4: Convenings, Places, Activities
This is the last post in a 4-part series about “engaging, mind-blowing, and inclusive websites and/or online campaigns” relating to art and/or science — all in response to a call on Twitter from Meta Knol, Director of the Leiden 2022 European City of Science initiative.
This post focuses on Convenings, Places, and Activities. Previous posts focused on,
…It’s a nice, broad range of categories but, admittedly, non-scientific and there is a lot of overlap between them.
All the same qualifiers and caveats apply to this bunch of references as the last 3 — I’m focusing on science content from my own tiny Western frame-of-reference (though I would dearly love to know what the wonderful websites and campaigns look like from the perspective of people in Jakarta, Mexico City, Mumbai…!); I’m drawn to bottom-up & community-focused content and interactions (though I’m clearly a sucker for a good story); and I’m not as impressed with fancy bespoke apps and custom websites as I am with simple, direct, communication with and for people and communities.
As I’ve thought about Meta’s question over the last few weeks and considered my own responses it became really clear to me that the websites, apps, and digital projects and things that have brought me joy have rarely been the kinds of standalone apps or carefully crafted content experiences that museums and educational institutions often want to produce. Not that those kinds of here-is-the-virtual-tour-of-our-Cezanne-exhibition or here-is-our-learn-about-the-cosmos-app experiences can’t be joyous and wonderful — but, to me, the voice and the shocking, surprising, joy-giving wonderfulness of the Internet and tech comes, when it comes, more from the wilder, unconstrained corners of the web — and the parts of the Internet where people-meet-people — than from the parts that Institutions have tried to tame and control.
Finally, a lot of the examples and references I’m drawn to don’t fit neatly into the category of websites, apps, or digital things. For example, Fridays for Future, cited below, isn’t a website or an app, it’s a global climate-action movement for which social media and the web is an integral part. Meetup.com, also cited below, is a web platform, but it’s not the web/tech aspect of the platform that’s particularly interesting (though there is a lot to study and learn there) but what it helps to accomplish out in the world.
All of my choices across each of these 4 posts reflect my feeling that when it comes to designing things to help or inspire or serve people and communities — thinking about digital and physical as two different things is a trap; a dead end that leads nowhere. From what I’ve observed, digital and physical are just two parts of whole, and when teams think openly and creatively across the whole, blended spectrum of our digital and physical lives then wonderful, exciting, important things can happen.
Convenings, Places, and Activities
AI Dungeon
What: A text-based adventure game driven by an AI and neural network instead of human scriptwriting. Essentially, you and the AI are co-creating an adventure together.
Why: Not focused on science-based content, per se, but the astonishing richness and creativity of the AI responses hints at AI’s future possibilities and also the potential of this form of engagement to help people explore the world in new ways.
Press/info: Eat the Moon, https://www.usingdata.com/usingdata/2019/12/18/eat-the-moon
Sample: See Eat the Moon, above, and also this hilarious group of Tweets by Janelle Shane, https://twitter.com/JanelleCShane/status/1202972248874704896
Alternate Reality Game — World Without Oil
What: An ARG (Alternate Reality Game) that asked players to imagine what it would be like to live in a world without oil. “The game sketched out the overarching conditions of a realistic oil shock, then called upon players to imagine and document their lives under those conditions.…The game's central site linked to all the player material, and the game's characters documented their own lives, and commented on player stories, on a community blog and individual blogs, plus via IM, chat, Twitter and other media.” (via Wikipedia)
Why: ARGs and “serious play” (games for change, etc) often intend to help people develop new kinds of creative, civic responses to plausible future scenarios. “Play it before you live it” was the game’s motto. ARGs are also known for involving players in the shaping of the plot and narratives as gameplay progresses.
Website: Archive/contact, http://writerguy.com/wwo/metacontact.htm
Press/info: One Story With 1,700 Different Authors (Current, 2008), https://current.org/2009/05/one-story-with-1700-authors/; World Without Oil (Wikipedia), https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Without_Oil
Sample: Video and info, http://writerguy.com/wwo/metahome.htm
Fridays for Future
What: Global youth protest movement focused on the climate emergency. Catalyzed by Greta Thunberg; also known as School Strike for Climate.
Why: Global protest movement reaching remarkable scale and visibility. Coordinated, amplified, and publicized through social media with the #fridaysforfuture hashtag, among others. A digital strike and a Fridays For Future Digital movement have been organized for those unable to protest “outside” and in places with COVID-19 restrictions.
Website: https://fridaysforfuture.org/ . See a map of future strikes (next one is March 19, 2021) and register your own event, https://fridaysforfuture.org/action-map/map/
Press/info: (Note: this article was written by a high-school student for the Seattle Times) “‘A mass woke-ning’: Seattle’s Gen Zers on the future they want to see” (Seattle Times, 2021), https://www.seattletimes.com/life/seattle-area-gen-zers-talk-about-the-future-they-want-to-see/
Sample: …
Into the Wild
What: 2017 Augmented Reality exhibition at the ArtScience Museum, Singapore. The museum worked with film and installation artist Brian Gothong Tan to create a rainforest inside the museum’s public corridors.
Why: Clever and resourceful use of non-gallery spaces to engage visitors in a visceral, playful way on the subject of deforestation, biodiversity, and the climate emergency. One interesting feature of the exhibition: visitors could plant a virtual tree and (for a fee) a real tree would be planted on their behalf by an NGO partner in Indonesia. (Note: I didn’t see this installation first-hand, but I talked to some of the museum’s team not long after the exhibition closed.)
Website: https://www.marinabaysands.com/museum/into-the-wild.html
Press/info: Press release by a project partner, the World Wildlife Federation, https://www.wwf.sg/?291970%2FVenture-Into-the-Wild-at-ArtScience-Museum
Sample: Video (MediaMonks, 2017), https://youtu.be/fgE7EE22_-0
Meetup.com
What: Meetup is “a platform for finding and building local communities. People use Meetup to meet new people, learn new things, find support, get out of their comfort zones, and pursue their passions, together.” (via Meetup.com/about)
Why: In-person meetups have taken a hammering during the pandemic, but the range and diversity of science-related groups and meetups is staggering. (I found over a hundred science-related groups within 100km of Leiden before my hand got tired from scrolling.) Someone told me that in fast-moving fields like robotics and AI a meetup is often the best way to share and learn of cutting-edge developments, with some topics/meetups attracting over 1,000 attendees on short notice.
Website: https://meetup.com
Press/info:
Sample:
Pokémon Go
What: A place-based, digital/physical augmented reality app, game, and global public phenomenon.
Why: A reminder that people can use games, stories, and tech in fascinating, surprising, and inspiring ways.
Vice News found a link to scientific thinking as well,"I think the biggest lesson is how many people are truly interested in biodiversity, even if the biodiversity they are first introduced to is fictional," Morgan Jackson, an insect taxonomist and PhD candidate at the University of Guelph, told me over email.
"It's easy to write Pokémon off as a simple game or waste of time when there are so many 'real' plants and animals out there waiting to be recognized. But there are a lot of barriers to learning about nature, and there's no tutorial mode to help people get started like there is in Pokémon." (Source/link below)
Website: https://www.pokemongo.com/en-us/
Press/info: Overview, Pokémon Go Will Make You Crave Augmented Reality (New Yorker, 2016), https://www.newyorker.com/tech/annals-of-technology/pokemon-go-will-make-you-crave-augmented-reality; Is 'Pokémon Go' Good For Science? (Vice, 2016) https://www.vice.com/en/article/ezpad7/is-pokemon-go-good-for-science
Sample: See trailer at https://youtu.be/eMobkagZu64
Public Libraries
What: Public libraries as public and virtual places where people engage with science content.
Why: Civics, community…Libraries are an under-utilized resource and platform when it comes to the production of city-scale events and campaigns. Many libraries host events and public lectures, have after-school clubs for kids, offer classes and educational opportunities, and support “labs” and maker spaces as well.
Website: …
Press/info: …
Sample: See, for example, Do Space in Omaha, Nebraska, “a community technology library, a digital workshop, and an innovation playground filled with new opportunities to learn, grow, explore and create” https://dospace.org/; NASA @ My Library campaign (2017), https://science.nasa.gov/science-activation-team/nasa-at-my-library
Addendum/misc.
In working on this post I remembered a few other online/digital science-related things that made gave me a good, positive buzz ;)
Virtual Dissection Table
What: A big, interactive touch-screen table for looking at (and into, and through) the human body.
Why: Just a perfect, flawlessly executed use of touch-tables to visualize something that’s very hard to grasp in other media. Using one of these tables makes me think about the human body in an entirely new way.
Website: There are many vendors. Anatomage is one, and while I think their video is good the “sample” video below gives a better sense of what it’s like to actually use one of these with your own hands.
Press/info: TED talk and demo by Anatomage CEO Jack Choi (2012), https://www.ted.com/talks/jack_choi_on_the_virtual_dissection_table
Sample: Pirogov Interactive Anatomy table: tutorial for users (2020), https://youtu.be/GEw90E_rEOE
Do You Love Me (Spot, Atlas, Boston Dynamics)
What: Video demonstrating the capabilities of Boston Dynamics robots.
Why: It’s an inspired and effective decision of science-communication (and marketing, of course) to use a dance-music video to help people understand the capabilities of robots. Videos like this help us understand and think about the future capabilities of robots and the kind of relationships we want to have with them — and they might want to have with us — in the future.
Website: Boston Dynamics homepage, https://www.bostondynamics.com/
Press/info: How Boston Dynamics Taught Its Robots to Dance (IEEE Spectrum, 2021), https://spectrum.ieee.org/automaton/robotics/humanoids/how-boston-dynamics-taught-its-robots-to-dance
Sample: Do You Love Me video, https://youtu.be/fn3KWM1kuAw
AR Chemistry Apps
What: Augmented Reality applications that let you see and manipulate molecules and chemical reactions.
Why: Chemistry can be really abstract and hard to understand for people (and it’s often poorly taught) but these apps can help people understand and appreciate how amazing chemistry really is. (I think having a grasp of chemistry is essential for 21st century citizenship.)
Website: There are a lot of apps out there and honestly I have no idea which ones are good, but the videos below will give a sense of what this is all about.
Press/info: Great story! — Vietnamese High School Student Creates AR Chemistry App After Academic Flop (Vietnam Times, 2017), https://vietnamtimes.org.vn/vietnamese-high-school-student-creates-ar-chemistry-app-after-academic-flop-12194.html
Sample: AR Chemistry Augmented Reality Education Arloon (2017), https://youtu.be/Qi3h18wJJiI
This one is a little confusing, but shows the potential for organic chemistry, MoleculAR (v0.4): an augmented reality app for organic chemistry (2018), https://youtu.be/Q67-MH5_4xQ
Perseverance Rover Panoramas and VR
What: Photos and semi- virtual reality files from NASA’s Mars Perseverance Rover, February 2021.
Why: Beautiful, awe-inspiring videos from outer space.
Website: https://mars.nasa.gov/mars2020/
Press/info: Nasa scientists hail Perseverance rover's arrival on Mars with stunning images (Guardian, 2021), https://www.theguardian.com/science/2021/feb/19/mars-perseverance-rover-nasa-scientists
Samples:
On NASA’s site, NASA's Perseverance Rover Gives High-Definition Panoramic View of Landing Site, https://mars.nasa.gov/news/8873/nasas-perseverance-rover-gives-high-definition-panoramic-view-of-landing-site/
This one is a VR-enabled version — view it in the YouTube app on your smartphone or tablet to steer around the panorama. Note too that this is a low-resolution video and images with 4 x the resolution will be appearing over time: NASA’S Perseverance Rover’s First 360 View of Mars (Official) (NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, 2021), https://youtu.be/wE-aQO9XD1g; Perseverance sees Jezero Crater rim in 360° Mars panorama (VideoFromSpace, 2021), https://youtu.be/3PrLXEbMgo4;
Other post in this series: Part 1: Websites, Channels, and Platforms | Part 2: Campaigns and Happenings | Part 3: Media and Products | Part 4: Convenings, Places, Activities
Leiden City of Science References, Part 3: Media & Products
This is part 3 of a 4-part series of posts in reaction to an inquiry on Twitter from Meta Knol, Director of the Leiden City of Science initiative, about “the most engaging, interesting, mind blowing, and inclusive websites and/or online campaign[s]” in the field of art and/or science.
This post focuses on Media & Products, and previous posts focused on Websites, Channels, and Platforms, and Campaigns and Happenings.
All the same qualifiers and caveats apply to this bunch of references as the last 2 — I’m focusing on science content from my own tiny Western frame-of-reference; I’m drawn to bottom-up & community-focused content and interactions (though I’m clearly a sucker for a good story); and I’m not as impressed with fancy bespoke apps and custom websites as I am with simple, direct, communication with and for people and communities.
So with that being said, here’s a quick list of things I would want rattling around in my head if I were designing a year long festival of science.
Media & Products
Cosmos
What: Groundbreaking and wildly influential 1980 television series hosted by (and co-written by) astronomer Carl Sagan. A best selling companion book was also produced. A follow-up series was produced in 2014, and though the science content is clearly more up-to-date I felt the newer version didn’t have the grace and majesty of the original.
Why: Cosmos brought the majesty and wonder of scientific inquiry to the masses and inspired generations of people to become scientists and look at our universe (and our role in it) in a new way.
Website: …
Press/info: Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cosmos:_A_Personal_Voyage
Sample: The famous “Pale Blue Dot” sequence, https://youtu.be/GO5FwsblpT8
Many full episodes are available on YouTube, https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=carl+sagan+cosmos+streaming
Edge Foundation Annual Questions
What: For 20 years (1998-2018) the Edge Foundation asked an “annual question” that is answered in the form of short responses from hundreds of diverse scientists, creatives, and intellectuals. Questions have included, “What is your favorite deep, elegant, or beautiful explanation?”, “What scientific idea is ready for retirement?”, and “What is the last question?” The responses are published en masse on the edge.org website, and selected essays are curated into book form.
Why: The Edge questions constitute a unique and powerful example of collective intelligence, where the “the wisdom of the crowd” shines light on complex subjects from diverse points-of-view.
Website: https://edge.org
Press/info: Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edge_Foundation,_Inc.. Note that Edge.org founder and editor John Brockman has come under scrutiny as an associate of Jeffrey Epstein.
Sample: What Will Change Everything (Published in print as This Will Change Everything), 2009, which had 152 contributors. The essays are here. ,
Magazines — Science and Nature
What: The venerable magazines, Science (the peer-reviewed journal of the American Association for the Advancement of Science) and Nature.
Why: Both journals have been publishing groundbreaking scientific research and editorials for over 140 years. The magazines have now largely moved online and feature a robust array of newsletters, features, and articles. Many older adults may think of Science and Nature as printed magazines, but for those born more recently the journals’ existence as hybrid digital/print platforms is wholly unremarkable. To me, they are just cool and important content that I happen to interact with through a Web browser.
Website: Science, https://science.sciencemag.org/; Nature, https://www.nature.com/
Press/info: Wikipedia: Science, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Science_(journal); Nature, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nature_(journal)
Sample: Current issues (links above), and social media: Twitter (@ScienceMagazine, @Nature) and Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, etc
Mythbusters
What: Quirky, groundbreaking, cult-classic American television series.
Why: Unbridled curiosity, unique format, accessible to kids, passionate dedication to experimental scientific methods. The show was unparalleled in its ability to show the role of failure in the scientific creative process. Also, the show had a vibrant back-channel on social media and through email for interaction with fans, and these interactions often had a direct influence on the content of episodes.
Website: Homepage on the Discovery Channel, https://go.discovery.com/tv-shows/mythbusters/;
Press/info: Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MythBusters
Sample: Moon Landing Hoax, 2008, https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x2m7k1z
Not Enough Dinosaurs on NPR News
What: “Science: 8-Year-Old Calls Out NPR For Lack Of Dinosaur Stories” — A young listener complains that there is too much boring content on National Public Radio news and not enough stories about dinosaurs.
My name is Leo and I am 8 years old. I listen to All Things Considered in the car with mom. I listen a lot.I never hear much about nature or dinosaurs or things like that. Maybe you should call your show Newsy things Considered, since I don't get to hear about all the things. Or please talk more about dinosaurs and cool things.
Sincerely,
Leo
Why: Adults forget how and why kids love the world.
Website: …
Press/info: “Science: 8-Year-Old Calls Out NPR For Lack Of Dinosaur Stories”, https://www.npr.org/2021/02/09/965953078/8-year-old-calls-out-npr-for-lack-of-dinosaur-stories
Sample: …
Podcasts — Science Vs; Ologies
What: Science podcasts.
Why: Podcasting isn’t a sexy, cutting-edge platform, but science podcasts can be popular and amazing, and they are an important source for diverse thinking and perspectives beyond traditional journalism and academic publications. Science Vs and Ologies are two popular and critically acclaimed examples of the genre.
Website: “Science Vs”, https://gimletmedia.com/shows/science-vs; Ologies by Alie Ward, https://www.alieward.com/ologies
Press/info: Mashable: The 21 best science podcasts if you're keen to learn how things work (2020), https://mashable.com/article/best-science-podcasts/
Sample: “Virology (COVID-19) with Dr. Shannon Bennett + various ologists” (2020), https://www.alieward.com/ologies/virology; DNA Kits: Can You Trust Them? (2019) https://gimletmedia.com/shows/science-vs/8wh2mk
The Electromagnetic Spectrum Song
What: A short, catchy, amateur-created song and video to explain the electromagnetic spectrum.
Why: Quirky, memorable science-education content from the fringe — familiar to millions of high-school physics students around the world.
Website: YouTube (lots of uploads, but this seems to be the most authoritative), https://youtu.be/bjOGNVH3D4Y
Press/info: …
Sample: …
Zeynep Tufekci – newsletter
What: Turkish Sociologist Zeynep Tufekci’s newsletter, covering a range of topics related to critical thinking, social movements, and societal effects of new technologies.
Why: Newsletters, as with many of the platforms mentioned in this list, are not cutting-edge technology, but they are a popular and effective way to reach and interact with people at both large and intimate scales. Sub
Website: Zeynep on Substack, https://zeynep.substack.com/;
Press/info: “How Zeynep Tufekci Keeps Getting the Big Things Right” (NY Times, 2020), https://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/23/business/media/how-zeynep-tufekci-keeps-getting-the-big-things-right.html; “Is Substack the Media Future We Want?” (New Yorker, 2020), https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2021/01/04/is-substack-the-media-future-we-want
Sample: sample article, Critical Thinking isn't Just a Process: Authoritarian muscle memory and the twists and turns of lying (2021), https://zeynep.substack.com/p/critical-thinking-isnt-just-a-process
Other post in this series: Part 1: Websites, Channels, and Platforms | Part 2: Campaigns and Happenings | Part 3: Media and Products | Part 4: Convenings, Places, Activities
Leiden City of Science References, Part 2: Campaigns and Happenings
On Friday I wrote-up some references in response to an inquiry on Twitter from Meta Knol, Director of the Leiden City of Science initiative, about “the most engaging, interesting, mind blowing, and inclusive websites and/or online campaign[s]” in the field of art and/or science.
After an initial brainstorm I thought it would be easier and more useful to organize my thoughts in a series of posts here than in a zillion tweets.
Today I’ll add another category, Campaigns & Happenings, to the list of things I would want rattling around in my brain if I were creating a year-long festival of science.
As with my previous post about Websites & Channels; Platforms; and Campaigns and Happenings, my viewpoints and experiences here are limited (or blinded) by my predominantly Western, European/North American field-of-reference (What are the best citizen-science campaigns in South America? Where are the best science happenings in South Korea?!), and I am coming at this with an interest in looser, more informal, more bottom-up kinds of productions than one would typically find from cultural and scientific institutions; more “How can we see or reveal the know-how / curiosity / creative capacity of this community?” than “How can we tell audiences about this thing that we want them to know?”
In the next few days I’ll put up some thoughts about interesting Media & Products, and Convenings, Places, and Activities.
Campaigns & Happenings
Ask-a-Curator
What: Annual hashtag-event on Twitter.
Why: In tune with the spirit and methods of the open web; conceived and driven forward by volunteers and outsiders in loose collaboration with museum employees; achieving tremendous scale and engagement.
Website: #askacurator tag on Twitter: https://twitter.com/hashtag/AskACurator
Press/info: Introducing Ask a Curator (MuseumNext, 2010), https://www.museumnext.com/article/ask-a-curator/; “#AskACurator day: top tweets from museum pros around the world” (Guardian, 2015), https://www.theguardian.com/culture-professionals-network/2015/sep/16/ask-a-curator-day-top-tweets-museum
Sample: Dive in via https://twitter.com/hashtag/AskACurator
Creative Mornings
What: “Every month, we gather in 223 cities across 67 countries” for a free event for the creative community.
Why: Started small, scaled big; local-global model; driven by and for a community-of-interest; natural use of online video.
Website: https://creativemornings.comPress/info: “Siguen las actividades virtuales en recintos culturales de Jalisco“ (2021), https://www.informador.mx/cultura/Siguen-las-actividades-virtuales-en-recintos-culturales-de-Jalisco-20210126-0031.html
Sample: Creative Mornings Islamabad: https://creativemornings.com/cities/isb
Curators of @Sweden
What: A 2012-2019 campaign: Twitter account for the nation of Sweden, given to a different citizen every week.
Why: Official entities, governments, and institutions often choose to use friendly but stilted and inauthentic voices for their social media presence; Sweden chose to trust their voice to everyday citizens. It’s a testament to their faith in the power of democracy — messy, diverse, surprising, authentic. Also a good lesson in trusting your audience and not freaking out when user-generated-content gets controversial (per the New Yorker story, below).
Website: Twitter, https://twitter.com/sweden
Press/info: “The Pleasing Irreverence of @Sweden“ (New Yorker, 2012), https://www.newyorker.com/culture/culture-desk/the-pleasing-irreverence-of-sweden; “Say Goodbye to @sweden, the Last Good Thing on Twitter (Wired, 2018)”, https://www.wired.com/story/goodbye-sweden-twitter/
Sample: Here’s the first tweet (and dialogue/replies) from Lars Lundqvist’s tenure as Curator of Sweden in July, 2012. Or dive into the archive of Tweets https://twitter.com/sweden or pick up a thread/theme from the articles above.
Day of Facts
What: ”International social media campaign” on February 17, 2017.
Why: Organized on a volunteer basis by museum professionals in reaction to the Trump administrations anti-fact and anti-science worldview; drew together hundreds of institutions that rarely if ever collaborate with each other, despite being in basically the same business and having basically the same missions.
Website: https://dayoffacts.wordpress.com/
Press/info: “Museums and libraries fight ‘alternative facts’ with a #DayofFacts” (Wash. Post, 2017), https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/speaking-of-science/wp/2017/02/17/museums-and-libraries-fight-alternative-facts-with-a-dayoffacts/
Sample: See the Posts by Participations list on https://dayoffacts.wordpress.com/.
DIY Bio community
What: “Founded in 2008 with the mission of establishing a vibrant, productive, and safe community of DIY biologists.”
Why: Global, self-organized, non-traditional, citizen-led scientific organization on a Web platform.
Website: https://diybio.org/Press/info: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DIYbio_(organization)
Sample: Browse the “DIY Biosphere” page, https://sphere.diybio.org/
Email to trees
What: City of Melbourne, Australia assigned email addresses to city-owned trees so residents could report problems, but people started writing letters to the trees!
Why: Example of strange, awesome, unexpected ways that people will use simple tech platforms (email!) for remarkable things. (“The street finds its own uses for things.” — William Gibson.) Evidence that people have an un-met need to express and explore their relationships with nature.
Website: …Press/info: When You Give a Tree an Email Address (The Atlantic, 2015), https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2015/07/when-you-give-a-tree-an-email-address/398210/
Sample: See the examples from the Atlantic article, cited above, or this lovely interactive from ABC News Australia.
Imgur Art Crawl
What: Community art show from one of the Internet’s largest image sharing & social sites.
Why: Making the skills, talents, and passions of the community visible. Non-transactional and non-financial. “Art” as defined by non-experts, largely absent the hangups and preconceptions of art museums, galleries, and academics.
Website: Announcement: https://imgur.com/gallery/RzG2mku
Press/info: …Sample: https://imgur.com/t/artcrawl — My favorites are the ones from people who cook, sew, and craft who say “I don’t know if you consider it art, but…”
Maker Faire
What: Festival-style global gatherings of “maker movement” enthusiasts — 200 festivals in 20 countries to date. “Maker Faire is the Greatest Show (and Tell) on Earth—a family-friendly festival of invention, creativity and resourcefulness, and a celebration of the Maker movement.” (Via https://makerfaire.com/makerfairehistory/.) Note: the effort went bankrupt in 2019 and re-organized into its current form.
Why: The organizing, spark, and agenda is owned and driven by the organizers (https://make.co/, a spinoff from O’Reilly Media) but the passion and energy — and most of the content — is bottom-up ; Global-local scale and participation model; youth participation and inclusive, family-friendly focus.
Website: https://makerfaire.com/
Press/info: “White House Hosts STEM 'Maker Faire,' Declares First 'Day of Making'“ (U.S. News & World Report, 2014), https://www.usnews.com/news/stem-solutions/articles/2014/06/18/white-house-hosts-stem-maker-faire-declares-first-day-of-making
Sample: Video, Maker Faire Shanghai 2020, https://youtu.be/S-0ULQqulTM
MOOCs
What: Massively Open Online Courses.
Why: Shows the utility of, and demand for, free, online science education; Benefits not only for learners and communities of learners, but for teachers and institutions: See the NYT article cited below.)
Website: There are many platforms, including top-tier American universities (for example, Harvard, Johns Hopkins, MIT, TU Delft) and hybrid (free and for-profit) platforms/aggregators such as Coursera and edX.
Press/info: The Year of the MOOC (NY Times, 2012), https://www.nytimes.com/2012/11/04/education/edlife/massive-open-online-courses-are-multiplying-at-a-rapid-pace.htmlSample: “AI for Everyone” taught by Stanford computer scientist and Coursera Co-founder Andrew Ng, https://www.coursera.org/learn/ai-for-everyone; Note that Mr Ng’s 15 classes on Coursera have been taken (at least in part) by over 4.7m learners; Chinese for Beginners, via Peking University (870,000 enrollees to date), https://www.coursera.org/learn/learn-chinese; Act on Climate: Steps to Individual, Community, and Political Action (via University of Michigan), https://www.coursera.org/learn/act-on-climate
Note that many people like to dismiss MOOCs for the relatively high numbers of learners who abandon courses before completion, but other voices/research emphasize the role of MOOCs as content that people consume for their own purposes which may not include course completion, a certificate, or a degree. See: Stop Asking About Completion Rates: Better Questions to Ask About MOOCs in 2019, https://www.edsurge.com/news/2018-11-28-stop-asking-about-completion-rates-better-questions-to-ask-about-moocs-in-2019
NASA Planetary Rovers and Space Probes on Twitter
What: Robots and spacecraft Tweeting in the first person
Why: Funny, approachable, witty “voices” for hard science. Part of a grand tradition (albeit a young tradition) of physical objects tweeting for themselves.
Website: Curiosity Mars Rover, https://twitter.com/marscuriosity; Perseverance Mars Rover, https://twitter.com/nasapersevere
Press/info: “How to Tweet Like a Robot on Mars” (The Atlantic, 2014), https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2014/10/how-to-tweet-like-a-robot-on-mars/381114/
Sample: See the Twitter links, above, and examples cited in the article.
Wikipedia Edit-a-Thons
What: Wikipedia editing, article improvement, and article-creation events.
Why: Community-driven volunteer (and sometimes institutionally hosted/supported) efforts to increase and enhance science and STEM articles and improve the diversity of viewpoints, topics, and individuals represented on Wikipedia. Note that public engagement with museum content on Wikipedia is often (usually) at a significantly greater scale than similar content hosted by museums and educational institutions (see transcript of Liam Wyatt’s talk at the US National Archives, 2011, as a touchpoint). If you want to get ideas and facts out into the world for the benefit of everyone, improving and enriching Wikipedia articles is not a bad place to start.
Website: About edit-a-thons, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edit-a-thon
Press/info: “Women in Science Wikipedia Edit-a-Thon Helps Close Gaps in Women’s History” (Ms. Magazine, 2020), https://msmagazine.com/2020/08/24/19th-amendment-wikipedia-edit-a-thon-helps-close-gaps-in-womens-history/
Sample: Art + Science + Feminism Wikipedia Edit-a-thon (Stanford University, 2019), https://library.stanford.edu/blogs/stanford-libraries-blog/2019/02/art-science-feminism-wikipedia-edit-thon; Edit-a-thon to “Improve, create, and translate pages for women and non-binary people of color leading the way in STEM fields and advocating for diversity, equity, and inclusion” (The Society for Advancement of Chicanos/Hispanics & Native Americans in Science; 500 Women Scientists, 2020), https://www.informalscience.org/community/calendar/wikipedia-edit-thon; Indian Women in Science Edit-a-thon (India BioScience, 2019), https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Indian_Women_in_Science_Edit-a-thon
Other post in this series: Part 1: Websites, Channels, and Platforms | Part 2: Campaigns and Happenings | Part 3: Media and Products | Part 4: Convenings, Places, Activities