BIG e-news: Issue 2 - September 2007

It's gone a bit quiet at BIG HQ while the post-Event holidays kick in. We are relieved to see the up-turn in the weather and hope it lasts for a while yet so that we can all enjoy an Indian summer. Anyway, welcome to the second issue of the BIG e-news. We welcome comments and articles, long or short, to include in future bulletins. This month we are pleased to announce the long-awaited details of the BIG Bursary for 2008. We've had a lot of interest and the deadline is at the end of the month so get your thinking caps on!

A word from the new Chair

Noel Jackson, Centre for Life, Newcastle

I was delighted to be elected chair at the BIG Event in July and would like to thank all members for their confidence and kind words following my election.

I hope that I will be able to live up to your collective expectations though, from what people have said, I think they were looking for someone with a more nautical background. I have been exhorted to "keep a firm hand on the tiller", "steer us through some choppy water", "make sure we are heading in the right direction" and even "keep the committee shipshape". I take it that the last must be a reference to someone's preferred seating plan during committee meetings.

BIG's great strength is the collective knowledge of its members which they so willingly share. Of course most is incredibly interesting but probably completely useless. However, there is always someone who knows about the problem you are trying to tackle. BIG's great weakness is that individual members are spread over the whole country (sorry Gerd, I meant continent). BIG's role must be to allow keen individuals to get in touch, work together and share experiences. BIG chat is a wonderful first step but in order to live up to our name we need to move to the next stage of getting together and interacting.

BIG is not a top-down organization so it's no good waiting for the committee to organize the event in which you are particularly interested. If it's worth doing, you do it. BIG will advertise it and if other members agree with you, then they will support your event. Of course, the committee will continue to organize a range of activities that we believe will interest a wide range of members. At present I know that story-telling and a fabricators' workshop have generated a lot of interest. However, I don't think that the committee has, or should have, the monopoly of organizing BIG events. So as you are a creative person, why not apply your creativity to thinking about what you want to know and what you want to share.

To return to the nautical analogy, our ship is not run on the Royal Naval pattern with a strong hierarchy of command. We are more like the egalitarian pirate vessels where each and every one of us has a part to play in the mutual success of the voyage. This is particularly true where disciplines other than scientists are concerned. All aspects of interactivity are welcome at BIG but, at present, it does seem to be the science communicators who are doing all the running. The current programme reflects the interests of those who are contributing. So please put on your pirate thinking caps and think about what you can offer our organization.

As for me, I'm off to get my job description changed to Science Pirate. I think that will be fun.

BIG Event, Magna 25-27 July

Savita Custead, BIG Event Coordinator

The BIG Event 2007 was another great success! This year hosting honours went to Magna Science Adventure Centre, who did an amazing job hosting the UK's science communicators only a couple of weeks after dealing with huge floods.

88 delegates attended over three days, with over 30 sessions on everything and anything to do with interactivity. This year's event included sessions on communicating maths and engineering, and covered a number of different communication formats including outreach and science festivals. We were able to take advantage of the large spaces available at Magna and hold a session inside a starlab dome, and one in a camper van in the parking lot. Science shows are always a big part of BIG, and in 2007 we enjoyed both experienced and emerging presenters showing demos, videos and props. This year's keynote speaker was Linda Conlon, Director of LIFE Science Centre and outgoing chair of Ecsite-uk. Linda gave an overview of movement in the field, particularly around funding, and gave us all an insight into the House of Commons investigation.

Other events and highlights:

Ben Craven brought back the BIG Event speed dating where delegates got to meet each other and show off something they had been working on – a system that was updated and improved where no one met twice.

BIG Eventers enjoyed Magna by night on the Wednesday evening with some food and drinks.

James Piercy hosted the Guinness World Record Attempt at stretching a Curly-Wurly – with Helen Weddle taking the trophy and securing a life-time of fame.

The annual Evening Event party was held in honour of Josh Phillips. BIG folk took the chance to unwind at the Sheffield United Football Club, and have some dinner before rolling up the carpet with a Ceildh. Noel Jackson, BIG's newest chair, took over some of the calling duties, taking us through a number of dances.

The Best Demo competition brought out the best of BIG skills – and top prize went to Ben Craven for teaching us all about vision.

We're already planning for 2008! Get in touch if you have an idea for a session you'd like to run, or would be interested in attending (we'll find someone to run it!). Keep in touch.

See more event photos.

Other BIG news

What's new pussycat?

Are you or your colleagues on the move? Let us know who's doing what and we will let the members know.

Karen Bultitude has received a promotion to Senior Lecturer in Science Communication at UWE... Kenny Webster is now Informal Learning Manager at Thinktank ... Penny Fiddler is new Ecsite-UK Director ... Congratulations to Mark Lewney who has been awarded the IoP Schools Lecture Tour for 2007... Congratulations to Science Made Simple in Cardiff whose innovative project 'Visualise' has been shortlisted for an award at the Edinburgh Festival.... Congratulations to Rachel Dobbs on the birth of baby Eve.

Job vacancies - time for a change

There are lots of lovely jobs out there on the BIG web site. Take a look or add your own vacancy - free of charge - to www.big.uk.com/jobs

A BIG guide to enhancing partnerships

Karen Bultitude, Science Communication Unit, University of the West of England

Working in partnership with other people and organisations has many obvious advantages - but also some potential downsides...

This advice document grew out of a session at the recent BIG Event which explored how we can avoid those pitfalls, providing tips and tricks from recent successful UK-wide projects, including Wasted: The Trouble with Rubbish, Doing Dialogue and Meet the Gene Machine. The floor was then opened to enable BIGgers to share their own pearls of wisdom and help develop a BIG advice guide for people embarking on multi-partnered programmes. A big thanks to everyone who contributed – here is a summary of our collective knowledge.

Key tips - what we thought was important...

• Clear definition of expectations and what different people want to get out of the project
• Use of a facilitator - TQ has used an external person from Cardiff uni for example - stated in the original agreement
• Having an appropriate level of representation - how high in the organisation is the agreement made? How is it used to build an initial level of trust for organisations involved - can require discipline to complete before starting projects.
• Building in what life looks like 'after the contract' - ownership, IP, legacy. Turning objectives into outcomes
• Getting outside the building and working together face to face - for example the doing dialogue (and others...) model of creating resources together
• Neutral venues for working/meeting
• Importance of having more than one person involved in a project - handing over/succession/continuity
• Importance of internal and external communication - for example, Life using a software called WriteBook (free) - also available: Backpack

Challenges - what can we do?

• managing partnerships where there are no formal agreements
• role of volunteers
• in-kind support
• Partnerships that don't happen ... planning and delivery timescales different at various centres - trying to put them together - asking the right questions about timescales, funding requirements, what staff level is going to be committed?
• Allowing space for open discussions on "real" agendas

Forming partnerships

• Selling yourself to organisations
• Finding the right person: an organisation's press officer can often point you in the right direction
• organised meeting to form new partnerships (marketplace)
• Using conferences (ie BIG and Ecsite) to form relationships that develop into partnerships - call Intech, they're great.

Other factors

• personalities
• what level of staff are involved in partnerships - depends for each organisation

Other stuff:

• Project management tools - list/spread through BIG?
• Independent project managers

How to argue with ... Intelligent Design in 300 words

Mark Lewney, Freelance Science Presenter

If you tried to predict whether it will rain on your next birthday, and found that you couldn't, would you conclude that the weather is controlled by an intelligent being?

Nobody believes that storms are the anger of Zeus any more, or that angels push the sun around the Earth. That's not to say that we have a perfect understanding of climate, gravity or any other phenomenon. It's just saying that we accept these phenomena as natural, and that any appeal to a "designing" entity is utterly unnecessary.

Now, everywhere on Earth you find different fossils distributed in a similar pattern: Trilobites only way down deep, dinosaurs only in middle layers, and humans only near the surface. The Fact of Evolution is this: Species continually died out, to be replaced by other species which weren't there before, over millions of years. You cannot deny the Fact of Evolution any more than you can deny the Earth's roundness or the Holocaust.

The Theory of Evolution explains this Fact: Mutations in the DNA of those creatures gradually accumulated, ultimately yielding new species, and the longer the timescale the more dramatic the changes. You cannot deny the Theory of Evolution without denying the very science of genetics.

However, the fossil record is imperfect, as is our understanding of genetics (and climate, and gravity). So, you might deny that some particular genetic change occurred quite as naturally as the very similar mutations we can replicate in the lab.

You might therefore assign to an "Intelligence" the task of changing the genome of a creature in a manner which the usual, natural mechanisms couldn't accomplish in literally a million years.

This Gap is so tiny that God can only fill it if He is reduced to being a menial molecule-pusher. Some "glory" that gives Him!

Free money! BIG Annual Professional Development Bursary

Every year the BIG Bursary provides financial assistance to pursue professional development opportunities. Up to £500 is offered to cover travel, conference registration fees, materials or other expenses related to the professional development opportunity. Apply for it. You can only benefit.

Who can apply?

Single or group applicants who are current BIG members

What does BIG get out of it?

The Bursary is intended to disseminate relevant experience and best practice for the benefit of all members. If your application is successful, you will be expected to write an article for BIG e-news, give a presentation on your Bursary-funded experience at the next BIG Event and sit on the Selection Board for the following year's Bursary.

How do you apply?

Fill in the form, of course.

Application form and more details on the big Bursary page

The closing date for applications is 30 September 2007.

The Selection Board is willing to consider funding a wide variety of opportunities that are related to interactivity and hands-on learning. However, the Bursary cannot be used to fund attendance at the BIG Event, Fabricators' Week, or any other BIG-organised activity. Additionally, any activity that may be considered as advertising or marketing is also ineligible. The proposal must be for an activity that will provide personal professional development, not profit.

And finally…

With best wishes from the BIG Executive 2007-08

Noel Jackson, Chair
Karen Bultitute, Vice-Chair
Rachel Mason, Treasurer
James Piercy, Secretary
and Sarah Vining, Administrator

Contact BIG