NYPL Labs: Making Use of 500,000 Researchers: Tales from the Zooniverse

Date and Time
November 7, 2012
Event Details

A NYPL Labs talk with Chris Lintott - FREE
 

Zooniverse.org is the world's largest and most successful collection of online citizen science projects, and has enabled volunteers to classify more than a million galaxies, discover planets around other stars, transcribe more than a million pages of ships' logs and even sort through ancient papyri. In this talk, Zooniverse PI Chris Lintott (University of Oxford) will talk through the highlights, preview some forthcoming attractions and explain how to cope when everyone turns up at once. A particular focus will be on the research that volunteers have carried out on their own, diving deeper into collections than we would have ever thought possible or designed for.

Speaker

Chris Lintott is a researcher at the University of Oxford where he is also a junior research fellow at New College. Originally (and still technically) an astronomer interested in the chemistry of star and galaxy formation, he spends most of his time running the Zooniverse, a collection of citizen science projects that covers everything from planets to papyri. A passionate advocate of public participation in science, he is best known as co-presenter of the BBC's (very) long-running 'Sky at Night' program, and as co-author of two books with Sir Patrick Moore and Queen guitarist Brian May. One of these books, Bang! : The complete history of the Universe, has been translated into American.

NYPL Labs

NYPL Labs is an experimental design and technology unit creating richly interactive experiences around research library collections and data. Based at NYPL's flagship branch on 42nd Street, Labs operates as an in-house startup, working closely with curators to develop projects that push the envelope of library practice, engage new audiences through user collaboration and crowdsourcing, and accelerate the flow of cultural heritage content, data and code into the digital commons. Keep an eye out for future events @nypl_labs. Get in touch at labs@nypl.org