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True enough that most labs aren't very interesting most of the time  
(especially on a Sunday—I checked out a couple of lab cams this  
Sunday and of course found no one at home), but Chris's original  
question didn't say that the project will necessarily use continuous  
live streaming.  What if, instead, the idea is to connect kids to  
scientists in their labs on a scheduled basis.  Bob Ballard's Jason  
Project is a possible model for that, although he takes the kids  
virtually into the field rather than the lab.  Another possible model  
is the Cornell Ornithology Lab, which makes extensive use of live  
video streaming to engage the public in citizen science projects,  
although again the emphasis is on field sites rather than labs.

Chuck Howarth

Gyroscope has moved!  Please note our new address:
Gyroscope, Inc.
283 Fourth Street, Suite 201
Oakland, CA  94607
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510-986-0111


On Mar 9, 2008, at 9:10 AM, Adela Elwell wrote:

> ISEN-ASTC-L is a service of the Association of Science-Technology  
> Centers
> Incorporated, a worldwide network of science museums and related  
> institutions.
> ********************************************************************** 
> *******
>
> I certainly concur with David. I think that, in terms of attracting  
> young folks into the field, such streaming might well be  
> counterproductive. From the same standpoint, it would be misleading  
> to show the rare laboratory where exciting things are happening.
>
> David expresses things very well and I can add nothing substantive.  
> Good science takes time and a lot of grunt work, much of which,  
> fortunately, can be automated these days.
>
> From another one who has been there and done that...
> Laddie Elwell
> Headwaters Science Center, Bemidji, Minnesota
>
> On Mar 8, 2008, at 9:46 PM, David Smith wrote:
>
>> ISEN-ASTC-L is a service of the Association of Science-Technology  
>> Centers
>> Incorporated, a worldwide network of science museums and related  
>> institutions.
>> ********************************************************************* 
>> ********
>>
>> One thing to consider - a lot of what goes on in a science  
>> laboratory is
>> exceedingly tedious, even to the researcher passionately engaged in a
>> question.  The possibility of answering your own buring question  
>> makes all
>> the tedious preparation and analytical work worthwhile, but it  
>> does not make
>> it even remotely exciting nor does it make it engaging to the  
>> outsider.
>> Many analytical techniques take hours, and these days, many are  
>> completely
>> automated.  During that time, the researcher is often off in their  
>> office
>> reading papers or writing papers or emailing colleagues, or  
>> folding paper
>> airplanes out of the data from the previous, unsuccessful, run.
>>
>> If you watch a Nova, which does a good job of presenting the  
>> scientific
>> problem solving and discovery process, they spend most of their  
>> time in
>> interviews or voice-over.  The raw video clips of scientists at  
>> work are
>> very short and carefully selected to distill thousands of hours of  
>> work down
>> into an hour-long story.
>>
>> I would think to generate any interest at all in raw laboratory  
>> video,
>> people would need to be engaged with the problem under  
>> investigation and
>> would need to know when in particular there would be something to  
>> watch.
>> Without the passion of the question, I'd be concerned that you might
>> actually turn kids off - "What boring work!  Just watching a  
>> machine all
>> day!"   Worse yet might be the adults saying "I never see anybody  
>> working
>> there!  Why am I paying all these tax dollars/tuition for a lab  
>> that never
>> gets used!"
>>
>> Also, when people are in the lab, they are rarely having erudite  
>> discussions
>> of their latest discovery.  They might be gossiping about students or
>> professors, griping about their work, or cursing (frequently,  
>> fluently, and
>> creatively, in my experience) an uncooperative
>> instrument/experiment/computer/organism/colleague/advisor.
>> Privacy/intellectual property issues aside, streaming the sound  
>> from a
>> working lab to an audience with children might be problematic.
>>
>> If the general public is more interested than I think (or if I  
>> just chose a
>> really tedious field to work in) and people have found such  
>> streaming video
>> to be successful, I'd be very heartened and interested to hear  
>> about it.
>>
>> Dave Smith, scientist and professional developer, veteran of more  
>> than a few
>> tedious days and nights in the lab
>>
>>
>> On Fri, Mar 7, 2008 at 8:03 PM, Chris Hunter  
>> <[log in to unmask]>
>> wrote:
>>
>>> ISEN-ASTC-L is a service of the Association of Science-Technology  
>>> Centers
>>> Incorporated, a worldwide network of science museums and related
>>> institutions.
>>>
>>> ******************************************************************** 
>>> *********
>>>
>>> We're looking at a possible project that would include live video
>>> streaming of university science laboratories into our Museum for  
>>> an exhibit
>>> on career explorations.  Does anyone know of any similar video  
>>> streaming
>>> projects that have been done before?
>>>
>>> Thank you,
>>> Chris
>>>
>>> Chris Hunter
>>> Director of Archives & Collections
>>> Schenectady Museum
>>> 15 Nott Terrace Heights
>>> Schenectady, NY 12308
>>> (518) 382-7890, ext. 241
>>> [log in to unmask]
>>>
>>
>> -- 
>> David L. Smith
>> Da Vinci Science Center
>> Allentown, PA
>> http://www.davinci-center.org
>>
>> Please consider the environment before printing this email.
>>
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