Presentation at CAP2013, Warsaw, Poland Engagement of Non-scientists with Astronomy By Pedro Russo (EU-UNAWE International Project Manager)

1. Engagement
Levels in
Astronomy
Communication
Engagement of Non-scientists with Astronomy
Pedro Russo
Jos van den Broek
@pruss
russo@strw.leidenuniv.nl

4. Type of Activities & Products
A: Curriculum-driven
B: Educational programmes
C: Museum exhibits , star parties,
…
D: Planetariums shows, IMAX
movies, public talks, ....
E: TV/radio documentaries,
podcasts, magazine articles
F & G: Press releases, press
conferences, press kits, Video
News Releases, media interviews,
media courses for scientists …
H: Exhibition booths, annual
reports
Morrow 2000, Christensen 2007
I: Merchandise

5. Motivation
• Criticism of the IYA2009 impact numbers.
• How engaged are non-astronomers with astronomy EPO activities?
• How can we better plan our activities based on specific goals?

6. Public Engagement with Science
• developing interest in science,
• understanding scientific knowledge,
• connecting with scientific reasoning,
• reflecting on science,
• practice science,
• identifying with the scientific enterprise.
US National Research Council, 2009

7. Informal Contact

8. Informal Contact

9. Passive Participation

10. Passive Participation

11. Active Participation

12. Active Participation

14. Active Participation
Eurobarometer 340, 2010

15. Participation as Data Collectors and Analysts

16. Participation as Data Collectors and Analysts

17. Amateur Researcher

18. Amateur Researcher

19. Amateur Researcher

20. Engagement Levels
Developing
A
Informal
Contact
Understanding
B
Connect
C
Practice
Identifying
D
E
Passive
Active
Collectors
Participation Participation & Analysts
Amateur
Researchers

21. International Year of Astronomy 2009
1%
24%
48%
Informal Contact
Passive Participation
Active Participation
Collectors & Analysts
27%
Data: http://goo.gl/gAAQIf

22. Discussion
Appropriate metrics of evaluation lag [behind] the emergence of
new scholarly forms of authoring, publishing, and researching.
Traditional approaches to scholarly evaluation such as citationbased metrics, for example, are often hard to apply to research
that is disseminated or conducted via social media.
in NMC Horizon Project Preview, 2013 Higher Education Edition

23. Discussion
One of the reasons appointed by researchers for not participating in EPO is
the lack of recognition of their EPO initiatives for their career
development.
EPOindex to measure the effectiveness of EPO activities implemented by
researchers :
• Number of hours spent developing and implementing EPO activities
• Number of people engaged with activities
• Engagement Levels

24. Pedro Russo
@pruss
russo@strw.leidenuniv.nl