Communicating Astronomy with the Public 2010: Call for Registration

21 September 2009

The ‘Communicating Astronomy with the Public 2010' (CAP2010) conference will take place in Cape Town, South Africa, from 15 to 19 March, 2010. Following the previous conferences in this series, it aims to address the modern challenges in astronomy communication through a global perspective. Major themes of CAP2010 will be the outcome and legacy of the International Year of Astronomy 2009 (IYA2009) as well as techniques for how to make public astronomical knowledge global and accessible to everyone across national, language, political, social and cultural borders and to those with impairment limitations.

Important Dates

Abstract Deadline: 1 November 2009
Registration Deadline: 15 November 2009


Rationale

This conference builds on the astounding success of the International Year of Astronomy 2009 (IYA2009). It will bring together producers of astronomical information (research scientists), public information officers (connected with large observatories and space missions), and mediators (science reporters and writers, staff members from museums, planetariums). CAP2010 will focus on the outcome of the IYA2009 activities, their evaluation and plans for future work. Furthermore, as this meeting will be held in South Africa, another major theme will be ‘stimulating astronomy communication in the emerging world'.

Some of the key topics of CAP2010 are:

  • Reports from IYA2009 National Nodes, Organisational Nodes, Cornerstone Projects and Special Projects with an emphasis on the IYA2009 legacy
  • Challenges and successes: Case studies from around the world
  • Crowdsourcing/Citizen science projects
  • Communicating in the social networking/Web 2.0 mediascape: twitter/youtube/facebook/vodcasting
  • Audiovisual & multimedia communication incl. tools and techniques
  • New ways to exploit and visualize astronomical data
  • Social impact of astronomy communication
  • Alternative ways of communicating astronomy
  • EPO Clearinghouses: Portal to the Universe, COMpadre, etc.
  • Evaluation of IYA2009 and lessons for the future      
  • Communicating across national, language, political, social and cultural borders

‘Astronomy communication 101' courses

One of the specific goals of CAP2010 is to create an IYA2009 legacy by actively promoting astronomy communication in the Developing World and this will feature throughout the meeting. Linked to, but not directly part of CAP2010, will be an "Astronomy communication 101" school directed at participants from the Developing World. Selected conference participants will be invited speakers. This school will take place over 3 days from 10th to 12th March 2010, just before the main conference, at the South African Astronomical Observatory.


For more details on the conference, school and to register/submit a contribution, please visit:http://www.communicatingastronomy.org/cap2010/index.html

Organisational Associates:
ESO AAS INSU CAS STRW NOVA STFC SCNAT SPA NRC MEC CNES DLR ESA JAXA NAOJ APL PS ESF ISRO ICRAN NLSI NOT U Cluster NASAEAS ASI NRAO CEA  KASI EAE SPA AUI CROSCI


The International Year of Astronomy 2009 is endorsed by the United Nations and the International Council of Science.