Here is a quick write up about the project my team and I did in prep for the SpaceUp DC 2010 conference. Thanks everyone for helping!!
Ben, Jen, Carriann, Tiffany and Tim on the Mall
In preparation for the SpaceUp DC 2010 “Un Conference” the SDO EPO team took to the streets with the intent of discovering the public’s perception of science. Our methodology was to select several science related images and collect individuals first thoughts when seeing those images. We spent several hours on the National Mall in DC soliciting responses from passersby. Those one word, first responses would be collected and compared to responses to the same images taken from participants at the SpaceUp DC conference. The difference being those in attendance have a higher involvement and interest in science on average than the individuals sampled on the Mall. The words collected for each image were arranged into a “cloud” with words used more often shown to be larger compared to other words. (In the attached document the word cloud with the black background are from SpaceUp participants, and the white background is from the public.)
Results were shared during a session at SpaceUp and the following observations were made:
- SpaceUp participant words were more specific, listing the name of the spacecraft or individual in the image, for example, while answers from the public were less specific.
- SpaceUp participants used words that had a more personal connotation, for example the image of earth. The general public used “earth” most frequently, while SpaceUp participants used “home” and “fragile” to describe the image.
- SpaceUp participants used words that had a more excited and passionate connotation, for example “awesome,” “brilliant,” “discovery,” and “exploration.” Answers from the public were more descriptive, for example, “explosion,” “rocket,” “computer.”
| spaceupdc2010.pdf |
Read Think Geek's article on SpaceUp DC
