CASCA Education and Outreach News
Launching "Virtual Outreach for Canadian Astronomy"
In the previous issue of ECass, I described CASCA's exciting
new astronomy outeach initiative - Virtual Outreach for
Canadian Astronomy (VOCA), which is designed to highlight Canada's
leading role in astronomical research and discovery. We applied
to NSERC's PromoScience program to cover about a third of the
cost of the project; the results of that application are still
pending.
VOCA addresses a key recommendation of the Long-Range Plan for
Canadian Astronomy: "that CASCA and NRC with participation of
CSA develop a first-rank web site for astronomy that emphasizes
Canadian roles, successes, and aspirations", noting that web sites
"demonstrate the full power of astronomical images to convey,
instantly and around the world, excitement about science as
well as serious information". The web site would be "of the
highest quality and with distinctive Canadian content". That
being the case, we are committed to moving this project forward.
On December 15, 2005, Jayanne English and I (the VOCA co-PIs),
Dennis Crabtree and Jim Hesser met in Winnipeg for an intensive
planning session to define the Vision and Mission Statements
for the project, and to map out the general nature of the VOCA
web site (now christened AstronomyCanada.ca) and of the partnerships
and funding sources which will be needed. Dennis has extensive
experience with astronomy communication; Jim Hesser is CASCA President;
Jayanne has professional training and experience in art, imaging,
and public outreach in the Hubble Heritage Project. Together, the four of
us brought a wide range of experience and institutional connections
to the table.
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(Draft) Vision: All Canadians have access to inspiring and informative textual and visual
material about Canadian astronomy.
(Draft) Mission Statement: AstronomyCanada.ca serves as a central resource for communicating the
achievements, activities and aspirations of Canadian astronomy to the public and
Canadian media. The regularly updated site includes clear and informative
text, striking images and graphics from Canadian astronomical research groups.
This authoritative content is produced by communication specialists working
closely with Canadian astronomers. Our partners include Canadian professional
and amateur astronomers and their organizations, industry, government
agencies, and, the formal and informal education communities. The site
provides links to education and outreach programs, amateur astronomy, university,
government, facility and project websites and to current news items
about Canadian astronomy.
- - - - -
We also developed a set of action items which would enable us to
launch the VOCA project at CASCA '06. Among other things, we will
develop a mock-up of the VOCA web site in consultation with our
partners, and with other experts. We expect to provide you with this and
much more information at CASCA '06, and to give you lots of encouragement and
opportunity for feedback!
Scott Young, First Vice-President of the Royal Astronomical
Society of Canada, was present for part of the December 15 meeting,
and we were fortunate to be able to get his input, both on the role
that amateur astronomers and the RASC could play in VOCA, and also
on the general topic of enhancing professional-amateur collaboration
in astronomy in Canada. For instance, there could be a collaborative "Canadian Astronomy Day" each year. And there is a proposal
before the United Nations to declare 2009 "The International Year
of Astronomy" (the 400th anniversary of Galileo's development of the
astronomical telescope) which would be a natural opportunity to
collaborate. As a Winnipeg Planetarium staff member, Scott was
also able to provide us with advice about the very important role that
the planetariums and science centres could play in delivering VOCA to
teachers, students, and the general public.
Stay tuned for more news about this exciting CASCA partnership project!
CASCA-Westar Visiting Lectures in Oshawa, Ontario, August 16-18, 2005
At the invitation of the Oshawa Public Library, I gave three
presentations at the main branch of the library, and one at a smaller
branch. CWLs are to bring astronomers to smaller communities, without
astronomical facilities. This CWL was unusual in three respects: (i)
Oshawa isn't far from the largest concentration of astronomers in the
country, (ii) this is the first CWL organized at a library, and (iii)
three of the presentations were intended for children or youth. But I
was quite prepared to do a CWL in a library setting, to young people,
because I and some students had recently done a series of presentations
in the Toronto Public Libraries. The Oshawa library had contacted us
through the CASCA Education Co-Ordinator, and we have had another
enquiry from a library system in Nova Scotia.
The first thing that I realized was that an hour's drive from Toronto
was not trivial, so I am prepared to accept that a community such as
Oshawa should not be excluded from the CWL program! The issue of a
library as a host was more problematic. Libraries are as much a
community centre as any other host might be. The two presentations on
August 17 - one to children and one to adults - were well-attended by
enthusiastic audiences. The other two presentations (both for young
people) attracted only a handful. I have mixed feelings about CWLs for
young people. On one hand, we might think that the CWL program is
intended for adults (i.e. taxpayers). On the other hand, children are
an enthusiastic audience, and it's quite possible that a CWL might
motivate a young person to consider, seriously, a career in astronomy.
I've concluded, on the basis of the Oshawa and Toronto experiences,
that libraries would be good hosts for CWLs, but we need to work with
them closely about publicity, and about partnering with other
institutions in the community. Libraries often do this, but I learned
that it is extremely difficult for a library (or presumably any other
organization) to publicize an event to schools, for instance. But the
local astronomy club is a definite possibility.
The facilities at the main branch of the Oshawa Public Library were
excellent - as good as for most public lectures. I am grateful to my
host Mike Davis for making excellent arrangements, and for being
present for all of my presentations.
John R. Percy (University of Toronto)
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On 20 Dec 2005, 21:01.