Cosmic Collections - the Cosmos and Culture website competition
Winners announced - and new, combined site to come.
What next? Help us understand what questions to ask in evaluation - take our short survey about our project http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/5ZNSCQ6
On 24 September 2009 the Science Museum launched a competition to release hundreds of stories from our recently opened Cosmos & Culture exhibition on to the web. We're giving you the chance to make your own website with our objects - and we're offering £1000 prizes for the winning entries.
Got some great ideas, but not sure how to turn them into a website? Sign up below to find some team mates.Log in (top right-hand corner) with username cosmonaut — password collections to edit this page.
The data relating to the remarkable objects on display has been made open to the public so that competition entrants can 'mash it up', combining it with external resources and software to create new interfaces. This is a bold experiment for the Science Museum - we're releasing our data and what happens next is completely up to you. Your challenge is to create brand new web interfaces for the objects - to shine a new light onto them and bring the stories behind them to life. In the meantime, check out some of the videos about Cosmos & Culture exhibition and astronomy on youtube.
Who can enter?
You don't need to be in London to enter the competition - submission and judging take place online, and we'd love to see international entries. Collaboration and multi-disciplinary teams are encouraged - add your details below to find potential team mates.
Contact us
If you want to get in contact, email us or tweet @coscultcom or with the hash tag #coscultcom. The tag for images, video, blog posts, etc, for the competition and launch event is 'coscultcom'.
Log in (top right-hand corner) with username cosmonaut — password collections to edit this page.
We've made a public account so you can edit pages without having to sign up - use the details above to log in and add yourself to the list.
| Your name, contact details |
Stuff I know lots about... |
I'd like to meet people who know about... |
Coming to the launch? |
| [Edit this page to add your name here e.g. Mia] |
[e.g. web developer with knowledge of museum audiences ] |
[e.g. designers, jQuery skills, astronomers] |
[yes/maybe/no] |
Richard
|
Web design/UI, GNU/Linux, FLOSS, operating systems, computer hardware. |
the above and linked data. |
yes |
| Corinne |
Audience research or user experience; FOSS user perspective. Desktop publishing, design and website usability. Teaching andlearning. |
FOSS integration in public, voluntary, and education sectors. |
yes |
| Jim |
Web design/UI; Photoshop, xhtml, css, hand coding, w3 standards, SEO |
Web Development, Emerging technologies, SEO, Design and Layout |
yes |
| Thomas |
Archaeology, European Prehistory, Geomatics, |
|
yes |
| Alice |
Science communication theory. |
Something other than science communication theory. |
yes |
| Cathrine |
Design, interactions, nanotechnology, ice cream |
Astronomy, programming |
yes |
| Michel |
Explaining science to non-experts / Some basic experience in web design from school days(www.fest.de.tf (not updated since 2004 and lost the server login - hence the empty links anddisplay flaws) |
web design / development / history |
yes |
| fatima |
General science! |
Astronomy... |
yes |
| Stuart |
Astronomy |
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yes |
| Natalie |
I know a lot about illustration, and i'm fascinated by the cosmos! |
Wed design and astronomy! |
yes |
| Adam |
Actionscript, PHP, Javascript, Databases, UI |
Design, Astronomy, History/Content |
yes |
| Tony |
Informal Science Education (museums), Astronomy, some scripting years back (IDL, matlab) |
Web design/development, |
no :( |
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Comments (11)
Public edit account said
at 1:16 am on Oct 21, 2009
this sounds a little complicated - good luck - will do some research and see if it looks feasable for me to do this - astrokat
Mia said
at 11:52 pm on Oct 21, 2009
Thanks! What kind of skills do you have, and what kinds of skills would you like?
Public edit account said
at 6:57 pm on Oct 25, 2009
Concerning the above list... how do I go about actually contacting any of you?
Mia said
at 2:48 pm on Nov 3, 2009
The best way is probably to list yourself with some contact details, and I'll pass them on via the event RSVP list and/or twitter.
Dan W said
at 1:10 am on Nov 4, 2009
How do I enter the competition? And what are the criteria you are judging by?
Mia said
at 1:14 am on Nov 4, 2009
Hi Dan - good questions! You enter by submitting a website by midnight on November 28 (GMT) - you don't need to pre-register.
The criteria are listed on http://www.sciencemuseum.org.uk/visitmuseum/galleries/cosmos_and_culture/mash-up_competition.aspx - I'll add more detail soon but feel free to ask any questions in the meantime.
For quick reference, I've copied them here - entries will be judged by the panel on the following criteria:
* Use of collections data
* Creativity
* Accessibility
* User experience
* Ease of deployment and maintenance
Dan W said
at 1:57 am on Nov 4, 2009
Thanks for the quick reply. Where do I submit my entry?
Mia said
at 8:07 pm on Nov 5, 2009
I've updated http://bit.ly/coscultcom page with submission info - thanks for the prompt. Basically, send an email to web.team@sciencemuseum.org.uk and point us to a working version of your site.
Ali's also written some tips for entrants based on questions she's received and to flesh out the criteria a bit.
Public edit account said
at 1:56 pm on Nov 26, 2009
What a shame I only discovered this competition yesterday! I have a background in astronomy and have done some basic web design but nothing as complicated as this. It definitely looks interesting & good luck to all those entering!
PS: Is there a mailing list/RSS feed I can subscribe to in order to find out about similar events/competitions in the future?
Thomas M.
Mia said
at 2:46 pm on Nov 26, 2009
What a shame! How did you find out about it in the end?
There's a mailing list for discussion of the Science Museum APIs - http://groups.google.com/group/science-museum-apis
There's an RSS feed for the Museum Developers blog: http://sciencemuseumdiscovery.com/blogs/museumdev/
Hopefully we'll have some kind of museum hack day in future, I'll make sure I post on the blog about it if it happens.
Public edit account said
at 2:10 pm on Dec 7, 2009
Thanks for your reply, I'll look out for the next opportunity.
I saw the competition announcement on the British Astronomical Association website, it was on the front page but sadly I read about it too late to enter.
Thomas M.
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