As I mentioned in previous posts sorry for my poor English.
I tell you a story.
All began accidentally, as I told in this post, in 2007 with the discovery of a fascinating project like GalaxyZoo.
Starting from the initial classification project numerous side projects have developed, such as the overlapping galaxies, in wich I'm particularly linked, directed by the American astronomer Dr. William Keel (interviewed by me in this post), with the result of having created the bigger Zooniverse project.
The story is related of course to astronomy but the fundamental core is people.
Through the project and the related forum I got to "know" people of various nationalities but with a common interest in astronomy and science in general.
Nothing special, you might think, like so many other stories, but it is not.
Meanwhile, the forum related to the first project stands out for special attention not only to the topics but, above all, for the soft-spoken language, even in the most heated discussions, and for the particularly correct and polite approach reserved to the newcomers (newbie). This attitude is rarely observed in the various forums on the net.
That occurs not only due to the quality of the members but, in particular, due to the moderators, Alice first of all, that explains it very well in this interview his moderator approach.
Another added value is the possibility to stay in touch with professional scientists who are not only a valuable source of informations, but also of a great willingness out of the ordinary.
And that is what concerns the story.
As mentioned before I found particularly interesting the overlapping galaxies project and I have dedicated to the project part of my spare time to try to identify the individual candidates and try to provide support through a dedicated tool for the extraction of the data reported on the forum by the various participant.
The vast number of galaxies reported make possible to make several observation campaigns needed to have solid bases for the scientific publication of the results.
So far, apparently, nothing unusual.
During the first observation campaign Dr. Keel send me an e-mail in wich he stated that he was looking one of the galaxies reported by me and he sending me, even, a row image taken by the telescope.
This started to be weird.
It was a great feeling as well as a great sign of attention from Dr. Keel.
Later on, in another e-mail, Dr Keel asked me to know my real name, instead of the nicknamed used, as many of you, on internet, to be able to cite in the incoming publication.
Also this a sign of special attention, thing steel seems normal ?
When the study was submitted for evaluation I discovered, with great surprise, that I'm not to be simply mentioned but that I appear among the authors, all real scientist. I would excpect a mere mention in the acknoledgments, that already would have been much, but certainly not this one.
All steel appear completely normal ?
To me it seemed that not and I asked myself "How many others would have done the same ?"
I don't know if a Professor or other prominent figures in science or informative field would do the same in Italy. I have strong doubts.
Dr Keel as proven not only to be a great astronomer but, above all, to be a great man, showing an out of the ordinary care toward an unknow man who has never met in person and who has contibuted only in a minor part to the preparation of the study.
This allowed me, with pride, to appear as an author in a scientific publication "Galaxy Zoo: A Catalog of Overlapping Galaxy Pairs for Dust Studies". Unbelievable.
I could thank Dr. Keel in private but I decided to do it publicly because I believe that what he did deserve a special mention.
"Thanks Bill. You're great"
And he's great not only for this approach but because he teachs to his students and coworkers too.
As a matter of fact I recently discover. googling, that Dr. Anna M. Manning, student and collaborator of Dr. Keel, in his thesis "Measuring Ultraviolet Extinction with Galex in Overlaping Galaxies", of course about overlapping galaxies, mentioned me in the acknoledgments.
"Thanks Anna. You're very nice"
Sometimes I discover to be mentioned, along with other participants to GalaxyZoo, in several scientific publications, I'm proud of this but further strengthens my beliefe that in Italy that would not have happened.
As proof just look at the poor attention being given in Italy to the project, nearly snubbed because uninportant.
The "Citizen Science" is a reality that can not be ignored. Thousands of people put their time and their kwnoledge to the service of science for the sake of it and without asking anything in return. But that is another story.
Thanks again Bill. Thank you Anna.
Sorry again for my poor English
Half65.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Vi racconto un storia.
I tell you a story.
All began accidentally, as I told in this post, in 2007 with the discovery of a fascinating project like GalaxyZoo.
Starting from the initial classification project numerous side projects have developed, such as the overlapping galaxies, in wich I'm particularly linked, directed by the American astronomer Dr. William Keel (interviewed by me in this post), with the result of having created the bigger Zooniverse project.
The story is related of course to astronomy but the fundamental core is people.
Through the project and the related forum I got to "know" people of various nationalities but with a common interest in astronomy and science in general.
Nothing special, you might think, like so many other stories, but it is not.
Meanwhile, the forum related to the first project stands out for special attention not only to the topics but, above all, for the soft-spoken language, even in the most heated discussions, and for the particularly correct and polite approach reserved to the newcomers (newbie). This attitude is rarely observed in the various forums on the net.
That occurs not only due to the quality of the members but, in particular, due to the moderators, Alice first of all, that explains it very well in this interview his moderator approach.
Another added value is the possibility to stay in touch with professional scientists who are not only a valuable source of informations, but also of a great willingness out of the ordinary.
And that is what concerns the story.
As mentioned before I found particularly interesting the overlapping galaxies project and I have dedicated to the project part of my spare time to try to identify the individual candidates and try to provide support through a dedicated tool for the extraction of the data reported on the forum by the various participant.
The vast number of galaxies reported make possible to make several observation campaigns needed to have solid bases for the scientific publication of the results.
So far, apparently, nothing unusual.
During the first observation campaign Dr. Keel send me an e-mail in wich he stated that he was looking one of the galaxies reported by me and he sending me, even, a row image taken by the telescope.
This started to be weird.
It was a great feeling as well as a great sign of attention from Dr. Keel.
Later on, in another e-mail, Dr Keel asked me to know my real name, instead of the nicknamed used, as many of you, on internet, to be able to cite in the incoming publication.
Also this a sign of special attention, thing steel seems normal ?
When the study was submitted for evaluation I discovered, with great surprise, that I'm not to be simply mentioned but that I appear among the authors, all real scientist. I would excpect a mere mention in the acknoledgments, that already would have been much, but certainly not this one.
All steel appear completely normal ?
To me it seemed that not and I asked myself "How many others would have done the same ?"
I don't know if a Professor or other prominent figures in science or informative field would do the same in Italy. I have strong doubts.
Dr Keel as proven not only to be a great astronomer but, above all, to be a great man, showing an out of the ordinary care toward an unknow man who has never met in person and who has contibuted only in a minor part to the preparation of the study.
This allowed me, with pride, to appear as an author in a scientific publication "Galaxy Zoo: A Catalog of Overlapping Galaxy Pairs for Dust Studies". Unbelievable.
I could thank Dr. Keel in private but I decided to do it publicly because I believe that what he did deserve a special mention.
"Thanks Bill. You're great"
And he's great not only for this approach but because he teachs to his students and coworkers too.
As a matter of fact I recently discover. googling, that Dr. Anna M. Manning, student and collaborator of Dr. Keel, in his thesis "Measuring Ultraviolet Extinction with Galex in Overlaping Galaxies", of course about overlapping galaxies, mentioned me in the acknoledgments.
"Thanks Anna. You're very nice"
Sometimes I discover to be mentioned, along with other participants to GalaxyZoo, in several scientific publications, I'm proud of this but further strengthens my beliefe that in Italy that would not have happened.
As proof just look at the poor attention being given in Italy to the project, nearly snubbed because uninportant.
The "Citizen Science" is a reality that can not be ignored. Thousands of people put their time and their kwnoledge to the service of science for the sake of it and without asking anything in return. But that is another story.
Thanks again Bill. Thank you Anna.
Sorry again for my poor English
Half65.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Vi racconto un storia.
Tutto ha inizio per caso, come raccontato in questo post, nel 2007 con la scoperta di un progetto affascinante come GalaxyZoo.
A partire dal progetto iniziale di classificazione si sono sviluppati numerosissimi progetti paralleli, come quello delle galassie sovrapposte, a cui sono particolarmente legato, diretto dall'astronomo americano Dr. William Keel (da me intervistato in questo post), fino a sfociare nel più grande progetto rappresentato da Zooniverse.
La storia è legata naturalmente all'astronomia ma il fulcro fondamentale sono le persone.
Attraverso il progetto ed il forum correlato ho avuto modo di "conoscere" persone di varie nazionalità ma con un comune interesse per l'astronomia e per la scienza in generale.
Niente di particolare, si potrebbe pensare, simile a tante altre storie, ma non è così.
Intanto il forum correlato al primo progetto si distingue per la particolare attenzione, non solo per i temi trattati ma, soprattutto, per la pacatezza dei toni, anche nelle discussioni più accese, e per l'approccio particolarmente corretto e gentile riservato ai nuovi arrivati (newbie).
Questo atteggiamento si riscontra raramente nei vari forum presenti sulla rete.
Avviene non solo grazie alla qualità dei membri ma, in particolare, per merito dei moderatori, Alice in primis, che spiega molto bene in questa intervista il suo approccio di moderatore.
Altro valore aggiunto è la possibilità di stare in contatto con scienziati professionisti che si sono rilevati non solo una preziosa fonte di informazioni ma di una disponibilità fuori dal comune.
Ed è su questo che verte la storia.
Come accennato ho trovato particolarmente interessante il progetto delle galassie sovrapposte ed ho dedicato al progetto parte del mio tempo libero per cercare di individuare i singoli candidati e cercando di fornire un aiuto attraverso un tool dedicato all'estrazione dei dati segnalati sul forum dai vari partecipanti.
L'elevato numero di galassie segnalate ha consentito di effettuare numerose campagne di osservazioni necessarie per riuscire ad avere basi solide per la pubblicazione scientifica dei risultati.
Fin qui apparentemente niente di strano.
Durante la prima campagna di osservazioni il Dr. Keel mi inviò una mail nella quale mi comunicava che stava osservando una delle galassie da me segnalate, inviandomi anche un'immagine grezza presa dal telescopio.
Questo già comincia ad essere strano.
Fu una grande emozione oltre ad un grande segnale di attenzione da parte del Dr. Keel.
Successivamente, in un'altra mail, lo stesso Dr. Keel, mi chiedeva di conoscere il mio vero nome, essendo conosciuto, come molti su internet, con uno pseudonimo, per poterlo citare nella pubblicazione in uscita.
Anche quest'altro segnale di particolare attenzione, vi sembra ancora normale ?
Quando lo studio venne proposto per la pubblicazione appresi, con vera sorpresa, di non essere semplicemente citato ma di comparire fra gli autori, tutti veri scienziati. Mi sarei aspettato una semplice citazione nei ringraziamenti, già sarebbe stato tanto, certamente non questo.
Vi sembra ancora tutto normale ?
A me non è sembrato tale e così mi sono chiesto: "Quanti altri avrebbero fatto lo stesso ?"
Non so' se un professore universitario o altre figure di rilievo nel campo scientifico o divulgativo avrebbero fatto lo stesso in Italia. Ho dei forti dubbi.
Il Dott. Keel ha dimostrato non solo di essere un grande astronomo ma, soprattutto, di essere un grande uomo, evidenziando una attenzione, nei confronti di uno sconosciuto che non ha mai incontrato di persona e che ha contribuito solo in minima parte alla stesura del lavoro, fuori dal comune.
Questo mi ha consentito, con orgoglio, di apparire come autore in una pubblicazione scientifica "Galaxy Zoo: A Catalog of Overlapping Galaxy Pairs for Dust Studies". Incredibile.
Avrei potuto ringraziare il Dott. Keel in privato ma ho ritenuto opportuno farlo pubblicamente perchè, ritengo, quello che ha fatto meriti un particolare attenzione.
"Thanks Bill. Sei semplicemente un grande."
E' un grande, non solo per questo suo approccio, ma perchè lo trasmette ai suoi collaboratori e studenti.
Ho infatti recentemente scoperto, girovagando in internet, che la Dott.sa Anna M. Manning, allieva e collaboratrice del Dott. Keel, nella sua tesi di Laurea "Measuring Ultraviolet Extinction with Galex in Overlapping Galaxies", naturalmente sulle galassie sovrapposte, mi ha citato nei ringraziamenti.
"Thanks Anna. Sei stata veramente gentile."
Ogni tanto scopro di essere citato, insieme ad altri partecipanti al progetto di GalaxyZoo in varie pubblicazioni scientifiche. Questo mi inorgoglisce e rafforza ancora di più la mia convinzione che in Italia non sarebbe successo.
A riprova di questo basti vedere la scarsa, anzi quasi nulla, attenzione che viene data al progetto, quasi venisse snobbato perchè di poco conto.
La "Citizen Science", la scienza del cittadino, è una realtà che non può essere ignorata. Migliaia di persone mettono il proprio tempo e le proprie conoscenze al servizio della scienza per il solo gusto di farlo e senza chiedere niente in cambio. Ma questa è un'altra storia.
Grazie ancora Bill. Grazie Anna.
Half65
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