This post is not about a cool visualization, but about a call for explaining science combined, potentially, with a visualization. A recent New York Times article by Claudia Dreifus reported about the actor and writer Alan Alda whose mission is to help scientists to communicate to a wider audience. His organization started a contest for scientists to trigger their thinking: “Tell us what a flame is in a way that an 11-year-old can understand. The point was to challenge scientists to explain something difficult in words that were both easy to understand and accurate.” When they started, they received already 6,000 entries, now they are up to 20,000. If you want to participate this year, you need to explain to an 11-year old “What is color?” The deadline is March 1, 2014. The rules for the contest state that “entries can be submitted in writing, as videos, or as graphics. This year, the contest has two categories– Written and Visual – and entries will be judged within their category.” So get your thinking started with that 11-year old in your mind!
Alan Alda Center for Communicating Science Competition
