Discussion Groups?

Ostrom

I'm not sure if this is feasible but i'll throw it out there anyway,

I was recently debating something on CT with another poster concerning astronomy. I have been picking at the subject for a long time but only recently got around to making time to study it properly. Anyway, Jammy dodger replied and we had a brief exchange, which set me off looking for more information.

Through one of the posted links in the sticky (www.academicearth.org) I began viewing the lecture series 'Introduction to Astrophysics', which has been both fascinating and informative - given the response to some of the topics around in the same vein, I suspect there may be a few posters with a similar interest.

Is there any interest in perhaps designating a topic - such as the one above for example, agreeing to a regular viewing schedule and subseuent discussion/comment? It seems like such an excellent resource, and the range of topics available is broad.

I have participated in something similar before (I work in social science and did something similar for a Capital reading group), and it seemed to work ok.

Any thoughts? I know these things tend to drop participants along the way, but is it worth attempting?

thusspakeblixa

I'd definitely be interested.
I'm finished work in 2 weeks, I'd have loads of time for it then. Otherwise I have time at weekends (aside from this weekend).

Yah, that's a brilliant idea.

I'd be up for it anyway (depending on what the topic is decided to be, of course), I'm off for the summer so I've lots of time to burn. Great idea.

Ostrom

thusspakeblixa wrote: »

I'd definitely be interested.
I'm finished work in 2 weeks, I'd have loads of time for it then. Otherwise I have time at weekends (aside from this weekend).

I understand it would probably be difficult to maintain interest over time, particularly if it is a long course (the astrophysics course is 24 lecture hours). Perhaps a trial sub-forum with a vote on a particular program of study would work? If there were a way to compile a list of topics to put to vote and proceed from there?

Or it may be best to work on a themed article discussion format if the lecture series is too restrictive - perhaps set a weekly article (something substantial) and open for discussion for a few days before moving on? A weekly rotated sticky with a set reading piece sourced from a broad topic (eg astronomy, political science, biology....) could be more managable, rather than getting into sub-fora?

Mahatma coat

Sounds like a good idea, I know a few lads in the CT forum that would be up for it, depending obviously on the topic chosen, but Astrophysics looks like as good a place as any to start.

Would there be many people interested in getting one of these going? I'd like to get an idea of numbers.

thusspakeblixa

-JammyDodger- wrote: »

Would there be many people interested in getting one of these going? I'd like to get an idea of numbers.

I've already said it, but as long as it it's mainly weekends I'm up for it.

TheManWho

How would the topic be chosen?

Ian C

I'd potentially be up for it, depending perhaps on the topic. Just after launching into the Game Theory course, so that should hold my attention until we get the numbers for this!

thusspakeblixa

thusspakeblixa wrote: »

I've already said it, but as long as it it's mainly weekends I'm up for it.

I'm sure we could do it in such a way that people could watch the videos/read the articles whenever they want, then discuss it starting from a fixed date. Or something like that.

TheManWho wrote: »

How would the topic be chosen?

Perhaps people could suggest several different topics, then when a general consensus of 5/6 or however many topics is agreed upon, we could put it to a poll.

There are a lot of finer points that would need to be ironed out, but we'll leave that until we get decent numbers (I'm thinking at least 10, anyway).

Ostrom

-JammyDodger- wrote: »

I'm sure we could do it in such a way that people could watch the videos/read the articles whenever they want, then discuss it starting from a fixed date. Or something like that.



Perhaps people could suggest several different topics, then when a general consensus of 5/6 or however many topics is agreed upon, we could put it to a poll.

There are a lot of finer points that would need to be ironed out, but we'll leave that until we get decent numbers (I'm thinking at least 10, anyway).

Could we try a poll? For interest and possibly for topic?

efla

efla wrote: »

Could we try a poll? For interest and possibly for topic?

Yah, sure.

I'd like to get a general idea on what topics to put in the poll, though. Any ideas?

TheManWho

You could do two polls, the first one picking the catagory and the second picking the topic.

So the options for the first could be
Physics
Politics
The Enviornment
Astronomy
Biology
Social science

And then the second poll could decide on a specific topic from one of the above.

Ostrom

TheManWho wrote: »

You could do two polls, the first one picking the catagory and the second picking the topic.

So the options for the first could be
Physics
Politics
The Enviornment
Astronomy
Biology
Social science

And then the second poll could decide on a specific topic from one of the above.

Sounds good, I think the idea of following a complete programme on the scale of a full lecture series wouldn't work too well. Perhaps a series of papers instead? The initial poll could keep it to specific disciplines?

As above, but maybe limited to social science, astronomy, biology, etc and then maybe probe for sub topics.

This could be over-thinking it also; it may be best to single out a paper or reading at the start of each week, agree to read by a certain time (say, wednesday), and then discuss...? Judging by the forum content, it seems to be largely natural science as opposed to social.

Does anyone have any particular expertise to start with?

I think you might be right: we may be over-thinking this completely.

Perhaps the best approach is to just pick an article/short video series etc. and just go from there.

As for expertise, I've none.

Ostrom

I'm a sociologist by trade, I can dig out some suitable readings if there is any interest at some point.

My own preference: At the moment I'm keen on astronomy/astrophysics/cosmology at a very basic level, and judging by the forum content, this may be a good place to start?

thusspakeblixa

I'll just say that I do political science and social studies in college, so my preference would be to do something else at a purely introductory level.

Ok, that rules out pretty much everything on the social science side of things.

I'm up for pretty much anything, really. So, as soon as someone suggests something I'm pretty sure I'll agree. I'll have a look around and I'll see if I can find any good (short) lecture series.

TheManWho

Is it worth a subforum?, or do you need an administrators approval for one of those.

TheManWho

TheManWho wrote: »

Is it worth a subforum?, or do you need an administrators approval for one of those.

It would need administrators approval. Unfortunately, the forum isn't generating enough traffic at the moment to warrent a sub-forum. Let's hope the traffic/posting starts to pick up in the next new weeks/months (although all new forums experience a slow growth after their creation).

A Neurotic

I'm also up for this. No particular topic preference... I'm easy.

Fremen

I'd be intereted in something like that, yeah. Personally, I'd go for something science-y. I'll keep my eyes open for topic suggestions over the next few days.

Permabear

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A doctorate in modernist poetics? That's very interesting; I've no problem with a doctorate in poetics... But in modernist poetics? You could have at least done your thesis on poetry that was good.:P (Just kidding).

There seems to be a general consensus that the topic of discussion won't be related to the social sciences. A few people have expressed an interest in astronomy/astrophysics. Would this suit everybody? If we could decide on a specific area, it would be a lot easier to find an article/lecture series for discussion.

Ostrom

How about some basic cosmology? Or perhaps something that presents a kuhn style overview of paradigmatic change throughout the history of astronomy? That would allow us to criticise different models by examining developments in areas such as mathematics / experimentation and the work of key individuals (galileo, newton, keplar) from first principles

Permabear

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efla

It's good to see you mention Wordsworth, there's some hope yet! Modernism has never been my cup of tea.

efla wrote: »

How about some basic cosmology? Or perhaps something that presents a kuhn style overview of paradigmatic change throughout the history of astronomy? That would allow us to criticise different models by examining developments in areas such as mathematics / experimentation and the work of key individuals (galileo, newton, keplar) from first principles

That's exactly what I've been thinking about too. I think it'd be a perfect way to start. I've been looking through some lecture series' to try to find something that matches what you've said, I think I may have found one that suits. I'll have a look through it and post it tomorrow.

Fremen

efla wrote: »

How about some basic cosmology? Or perhaps something that presents a kuhn style overview of paradigmatic change throughout the history of astronomy? That would allow us to criticise different models by examining developments in areas such as mathematics / experimentation and the work of key individuals (galileo, newton, keplar) from first principles

Not a bad idea. The Perimeter institute in theoretical physics record public lectures from time to time. I found this one in particular fascinating. It's a discussion about the modern perception of Galileo. Everyone knows the story of how the church forced him to recant, but in fact, given the information available at the time, the geocentric model was just as valid as his heliocentric model. (link for the forum sticky here).

I think efla's on to something. A topic in the rigorous sciences might not leave much to talk about. There's only so much you can say after watching a lecture on, say, conservation of angular momentum. Something with a little leeway for personal opinion or discussion would be a good idea, and the history of science might bring people up to a modern standard of scientific knowledge without bogging them down in technicalities.

Permabear

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Fremen, that video you've linked to seems perfect: it's not too short, and it deals with the topic which we've agreed would be perfect. Would people like this as the topic of our first discussion?

Fremen

-JammyDodger- wrote: »

Fremen, that video you've linked to seems perfect: it's not too short, and it deals with the topic which we've agreed would be perfect. Would people like this as the topic of our first discussion?

Thanks JammyDodger. Believe it or not, I wrote that while I was drunk.

Coriolanus

I'd be extremely interested. Like most posting I'd be leaning towards science subjects but wouldn't object to pretty much anything.

Nev.

Fremen

Fremen wrote: »

Thanks JammyDodger. Believe it or not, I wrote that while I was drunk.

It was very coherent for drunk posting I have to say.

I watched the talk that you linked to. I have to say that I didn't know the whole Galileo vrs. the Catholic Church issue was as complicated as that; I've always thought it was a cut-and-dry case of Church supression, whereas clearly -- if what the speaker says is true -- that isn't the case. The speaker seems to be a bit of a Christian apologetic, though; he portrayed Galileo in a relatively bad light (dishonest, conniving, etc.), and painted the Church as being correct with regards to the whole issue.

It seems like a perfect video to get the whole discussion groups idea going, anyway. If a few others agree that they would like to talk about it, I/or whoever will create a new thread and we can do it there.

TheManWho

Unless it was fully factual, it felt a little onesided to me. I saw the lecture as just a series of reasons why it wasn't the churches fault, and how Galileo supressed himself. For example - I may have heard wrong but one of the reasons the Pope didn't fully listen to Galileos case was because he was very busy and got fed up under all the pressure. That's hardly a good reason.