Science Cafes'- a defiantly live channel of science communication

One of the greatest stories ever told is how the  scientific community has been group-sourcing, extending, and improving  since the sixteenth century. The scientific portrait of the universe, from  the smallest to the grandest scales, has become consequential for every  individual and for the global population. Some of the traditional ways  that the scientific story has been getting out to the general public have  been through mediated channels of communication such as print, radio, and  television. More recent channels have been proliferating most  extensively on the Internet and all have their  virtues. For the past several years I have been developing a less  mediated, more direct, and live channel of communication for my friends  and neighbors in the Washington, D.C. area with the Science Café. With origins  across Europe in the  1990's, the science café movement is growing and is one of the best ways I  have experienced open dialogues between the scientific community and the  community at large. In this talk, I will discuss the seismic  transformations within the practice of science communication and suggest  how changes welcome opportunities and challenges for scientists to engage the  public more directly.

Speaker: Ivan Amato, Founder, DC Science Cafe