Podcaster: Dr. Pamela Gay
Title: SPS Chapter: Citizen Science with CosmoQuest
Organization: The Society of Physics Students (SPS) at The University of Central Arkansas
Link : The Society of Physics Students (SPS) at The University of Central Arkansas
Description: As research funds become globally more and more limited, it is becoming necessary for even some of the best minds to find ways to accomplish research with little or no budget. While this may sound difficult or even impossible, the power of the Internet and the desire of everyday people to enable science are both working in your favor. From asking amateur astronomers to take data for you, to asking citizen scientists to help annotate images, to even crowdsourcing funding for new projects, your next science question may be answerable with help for the public.
This talk will overview the history of how professional astronomers have worked with the public, discuss successes in both discovery and fundraising, and introduce ways you can create your own opportunities. As part of these discussions, the accuracy of both observations and image annotations made during professional-citizen collaborations will be reviewed.
Specific focus will be given to the CosmoQuest, a virtual research facility that invites new collaborations. This online science facility is designed to allow the public to learn and do science. CosmoQuest currently hosts three science projects that enable annotation of still images, and its underlying software supports annotation of images, image sets, and even videos. In addition to supporting science, CosmoQuest also allows the teaching of online classes through its CosmoAcademy program, and hosts online seminars that where you can showcase your work to the world, no matter where you may do that work.
Bio: The Society of Physics Students (SPS) at The University of Central Arkansas is incorporates outreach, demonstrations, tutoring and guest speakers into our SPS Chapter.
Dr. Pamela Gay is a professor at Southern Illinois University-Edwardsville and Director of Cosmoquest
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365 Days of Astronomy
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The 365 Days of Astronomy Podcast is produced by Astrosphere New Media. Audio post-production by Richard Drumm. Bandwidth donated by libsyn.com and wizzard media. You may reproduce and distribute this audio for non-commercial purposes. Please consider supporting the podcast with a few dollars (or Euros!). Visit us on the web at 365DaysOfAstronomy.org or email us at info@365DaysOfAstronomy.org. This year we will celebrate more discoveries and stories from the universe. Join us and share your story. Until tomorrow! Goodbye!