The Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias (IAC), through its "Unit of Communication and Scientific Culture (UC3 for its Spanish initials) today, Tuesday March 1st, is launching its new official pages in the social networks, to be specific in Facebook and Twitter, plus a new Blog called "Vía Láctea s/n". With this initiative the IAC aims to intensify its popularization of ASTRONOMY 2.0.
In recent decades Internet has become one of the main channels of information. Research institutions, such as universities and scientific institutes, who want to inform the general public must use the web to give maximum diffusion of their news. In this context, journalism and popularization maximize their impact if they are used alongside the social networks, above all Facebook and Twitter. The effect is maximized by producing their own blog. The IAC, a "Severo Ochoa Centre of Excellence", must be active within the social networks. This is a necessity which nobody would dispute nowadays, and is essential for scientific communications.
SCIENTIFIC CULTURE
Augmenting the official presence of the IAC in these networks is a response to the need for strengthening one of the basic commitments of the institution: to amplify scientific culture in society using the results of the research and the technological development within this international centre, and to spread the knowledge of astronomical concepts in general using language which is easy to understand, and using methods appropriate for different age groups and social profiles.
In addition the IAC will use these virtual communities to promote popularization initiatives related to Astronomy. In this way diverse projects such as "SolarLab" which give secondary schools at all levels, the opportunity to observe the Sun using specialized telescopes, will have their space for participation within the web, while the material we produce for educational use will be available to a much larger number of users.
The followers of the social networks of the IAC will be able to learn at first hand about scientific events, lectures, collaborations, and other relevant information for researchers and other specialists, as well as for the general public. It will also be possible to make comments, and ask questions, to which the social networks team of the IAC will respond, with the help of the scientists and technicians of the Institute. This will create an on-going dialogue between the interested public and the specialists.
VÍA LÁCTEA, S/N
The IAC's Blog, called "Vía Láctea s/n", a name which refers to the street where the IAC Headquarters is situated, in the municipality of San Cristóbal de La Laguna (Tenerife), will offer a space where texts and images from varied sources and authors can be shared.
In this blog, we will publish, in a literary style, written work related to scientific discoveries, historical events, and up to date themes related to Astronomy and Astrophysics, authored mainly by scientists, popularizers, and journalists.
At the present time the IAC is already present in other multimedia communities, such as YouTube, Dailymotion,.Vimeo, and Flickr, a presence which will be maintained, and updated more frequently in this new period.
In the near future the IAC will continue to get involved in new models of communication via the web.
Links:
- Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/InstitutodeAstrofisicadeCanarias
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/IAC_Astrofisica
- Blog: www.iac.es/blog/vialactea
- Youtube: http://www.youtube.com/IACvideos
- Dailymotion: http://www.dailymotion.com/-IAC-
- Vimeo: http://vimeo.com/astrofisicaiac
- Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/institutodeastrofisicadecanarias
Email: redessociales [at] iac.es (redessociales[at]iac[dot]es)
