Un autre regard sur la Terre et réseaux sociaux - Présentation pour l'IAC 2012 à Naples

IAC 2012 - E1.7.13 - New Worlds - Innovative Space Education and Outreach - 1

Blogs and social media: new tools for outreach, education and

training on space applications:

Know-how and experience ofPlanète Sciences and CNES

Gil DENIS (Planète Sciences Midi-Pyrénées)Séverine KLEIN (Centre National d’Etudes Spatiales)

Bérengère GUEGUEN (Planète Sciences Midi-Pyrénées)


Planète Sciences: key figures…

• Non profit organisation, born in 1962.• More than 1.000 volunteers and

specialised educators.• 100 full-time employees. Annual budget: 6 M€.• 10 regional entities.• Works with 100.000 young people every year

(much more with the large public events).• Proposes activities in more that 700 schools.• Organises scientific summer camps.• Organises training and education sessions

for teachers and educators.• Partnerships with scientific and research

organisations, industry and cultural organisations.


Planète Sciences: our pedagogic approach• Objective: raise interest of young people in

sciences and techniques

• Original pedagogical approach:– Activities at school and during extra-curricular

time with hands-on activities, projects or workshops, science schools.

– A scientific and technical component: young people live a real experimental practice: ask questions andmake assumptions, imagine an experimental device, set up a metrology, exploit the results, etc.

– A methodological dimension: project approach and team work, similar to industrial methods.

• Focus on activities fostering a multidisciplinary work: space, robotics, astronomy, environment, meteo, etc.

• Benefits: complement school activities, raise interest for scientific and technical careers, educate the future citizens.


CNES: education and outreach activities

• CNES (Centre National d’Etudes Spatiales) is the French space agency. • Created in 1961, CNES mission is to maintain independent access to

space and develop innovative missions in telecommunications, earth observation and exploration of the Universe.

• Raising awareness of space activities, education and training is also one of the priorities of CNES.

• CNES’ Youth and Education department is active in three main areas:– Raise awareness and provide space culture information (web, events)– Develop and provide educational tools and facilities for hands-on experiment

projects (satellite data, technical equipments, parabolic flights, experimental balloons and rockets, etc.)

– Train teachers and scientific communicators.• CNES works in close cooperation with education, teachers and

specialised associations (such as Planète Sciences) to achieve this target.


A typical example : un ballon pour l’école

Impressive results obtained with young pupils : more pleasure and interest for maths and physics


A strategic objective: raise awareness of space activities

• Still a very low awareness of the potential of the space tools by the operational users and the general public.

• When it succeeds, space is hidden ! (GPS) • One major drawback: the need fro long term

continuity is not well understood (e.g. GMES budget and decision-making issues).

• Space mainly perceived as a tool for scienceand research.

• Improving this situation requires a long term action.

• This action plan shall include effort in the communication, education and professional training domains.

• Addressing this issue only for higher education levels is too late: Awareness to science shall start early with the youngest people. Space is a subject that excites young people from the early age.


The growing use of social media: new opportunitiesfor communication, education and outreach activities?

• The social media: a disruption in communication and Internet• Roles of CNES and Planète Sciences:

– Similar objectives and long term partnership between CNES and PlanèteSciences (1962): propose educational activities for children and teachers.

– Beyond the classical tools (rockets, satellites), increasing interest for spaces applications and services in the daily life : new opportunities for education and training activities.

• Increasing presence on social media with different objectives and means:– For Planète Sciences: extend the perimeter of its traditional educational

activities on the digital media, where young people are very active.– For CNES: this new trend is a part of the communication strategy, in order

to reach a wider audience.• Exchanging the first lessons learnt: an opportunity to better analyse the

results of the two actions.


Planète Sciences and the blogosphere

• Rationale: same objectives, new tools, new users.• Triggered by the impact of EO images on young

children and teachers.• Attractive support to address either the scientific

and technical issues or the application domains. • Interpretation of satellites images is also a good

opportunity to understand the importance of scientific and critical examination.

• Planète Sciences works usually in the classroom.• Social media: an experiment in order to reach

a wider audience and to evaluate the value of our methods in a virtual world.

• Part of a wider scientific and technical program based on hands-on activities and targeting young people and teachers.


“Un autre regard sur la Terre” in a nutshell

• Non-profit education initiative in the field of scientific and technical culture, especially for young people, teachers and educators.

• Started in April 2010. Cruise speed as from September 2010.

• Main objectives: inform, raise awareness and curiosity of the young public.

• Focused on the role of earth observation satellites and their environmental applications.

• Provides education tools for the discovery and study of space techniques, environmental issues and sustainable development.

• Managed and animated by volunteers.


Typical contents on “Un autre regard sur la Terre”

• Structure:– The image is the starting point.– An attractive text, with input of scientific and

industrial partners (CNES, ESA, Astrium, research, etc.)

– For more information: a selection of reference links.– Suggestions for exploitation in the classroom:

environmental and societal issues, technical or scientific concepts (light, orbits, atmosphere).

• Two access levels: – Awareness and discovery: users find an article

while browsing the Internet.– In-depth understanding: more detailed explanations

and resources.– Challenge: create a flow between the 2 levels.


CNES and social media: experience and strategy

• The first steps of CNES in social media – Facebook page created in 2008.Twitter feed in 2009.

Regular but low level activity. – 2010: social media are included in the CNES

communication strategy. Growing activity and interactions.– Livetweets with space events (Q&A with CNES experts).– First "Tweetup" in 2011: bloggers meet a panel of experts.

• 4 main objectives:– Information dissemination: reach a wider audience (18-35). – Means of influence: through fans and enthusiast people. Community of

ambassadors and spokesmen. New spheres not directly involved in space technologies.

– Image vector: CNES innovates in space technologies but also in communication.

– A social tool: develop interactivity and address new communities, beyond the “space club”.


Evaluation of impactsPlanète Sciences – Un autre regard sur la Terre

• Increasing traffic: 300,000 viewed pages and 150,000 unique visitors in 09/2012.

• 341 articles and 24 static web pages.• Increasing duration of visits. Interest

of the users goes beyond the triggering event.

• French language but visits from 164 countries.

• Statistics and messages confirm the interest of teachers and education actors.

• Google is the main traffic source.• Access through social media is still marginal but highest traffic

evolution, with Facebook and Twitter. New and promising action on professional networks.


Evaluation of impacts – CNES

• In 2012, Facebook and Twitter are the 3rd and 4th sources of traffic on the CNES web site, right after Google and direct access (5th and 16th positions in 2011.

• Social media bring more traffic than other CNES sites, industry, space agencies and research organisations.

• Driven by events: 10% of visits to the site during Curiosity’s landing on Mars, the traffic generated by social networks represents, 2% onaverage.

• In August 2012, the CNES has over 8000 fans on Facebook and nearly as many followers on Twitter.

• CNES is also regularly active Dailymotion and Flickr. Lower and experimental presence on Instagram, Scoop.it, Tumblr and SoundCloud.


Profile of the Internet users

• Each social media has a specific function.

• Facebook: – A discovery tool, where “friends” share

their preferred content. – Mainly neophytes. – Contents are shared with kindness and

even enthusiasm, but are not often subject to debate and interaction.

• Twitter: – A tool for information distribution to

opinion leaders.– More opportunities for conversations and

interactions.Scientists and

students21%

IT specialists24%

Journalists, media and communication

professionals31%

Other (incl. local actors around CNES centres

24%

Profile of CNES Twitter users


Lessons learnt

• The event is a catalyst:– Greatest impact and viral effects with major space events (Ariane 5, MSL).

• The image is a very powerful lever:– Easy and fast reading (even better than video).– Images from space (earth observation, astronomy, human flights): powerful

source of information for communication or education activities.

• It is difficult to pass background messages... – Links to files, detailed articles are contents raise

less interest, at least for the non-informed public.– CNES events: even when users are highly engaged

during an event, they are absorbed by the event and not very receptive to core messages.

– Planète Sciences Midi-Pyrénées objective: transform the short term interest in a long lasting curiosity.

– Some blog pages become very popular, well after the initial event itself.


The best of all worlds? Tricky issues and risks

– High speed propagation of unofficial or not validated information.

– Lower responsiveness of professional organisations – Understanding the role of bloggers and influencers is

only emerging.

– Border between the private and professional information. – Charter of good practices, – Raise staff awareness: risks attached to an improper use

of these networks.

– Attacks, rumours or incidents with impacts on reputation. – E-reputation monitoring (daily sensing, detection of weak

signals).– Identification of spheres of influence.– Integration of these new media in crisis communication

procedures.

Speed means visibility:

Use of social media by employees:

Managing thee-reputation:


Conclusions and recommendations

• Social media: key components of the new digital communication.

• Their growing role shall be taken in the communication strategy.

• No single model: specific solutions for each situation and each objective.

• Social media will not replace the usual digital tools. Clear objectives to each platform or tool.

• This approach is meaningful only if part of a long-term strategy.

• A solid knowledge of the culture of the organization is required for the management of an online community.

• One issue often underestimated: resources and manpower are needed (initial investment is not enough. Without a sustainable effort, it can quickly become counterproductive.


More information

[email protected]

www.regard-sur-la-terre.over-blog.com

www.facebook.com/RegardSurTerre

www.twitter.com/RegardSurTerre

[email protected]

www.image-cnes.fr

www.facebook.com/pages/CNES

www.twitter.com/CNES_France

Un autre regard sur la Terre et réseaux sociaux - Présentation pour l'IAC 2012 à Naples

Education

Transcript of Un autre regard sur la Terre et réseaux sociaux - Présentation pour l'IAC 2012 à Naples