Sipping Science in a Cafe

Sipping Science in a Caf´e Franco Bagnoli1,b,c, Giovanna Pacinib,c aDept Energy and CSDC, University of Florence via S. Marta 3, 50139 Firenze,Italy 2. Also INFN, sez. Firenze bCSDC, University of Firenze, via G. Sansone 1, 50019 Sesto Fiorentino, Italy cAssociazione Culturale Caff`e-Scienza, c/o CNR-ISC, Via Madonna del Piano 10, 50019 Sesto Fiorentino, Italy Abstract We present here the European project SciCaf´e - networking of science caf´es in Europe and neighboring countries, and the contributions of the CSDC-Caff`eScienza partner in Florence, Itay. Keywords: Science caf´e, science and society, science participation. PACS: 01.75.+m, 01.40.Fk, 01.10.Fv Imagine yourself into a pub or a caf´e, drinking a beer or a tea. You are relaxed and almost happy. You may ask yourself: what am I missing now? Science! of course. A science caf´e is a discussion about some topic in science and technology as scientists do. This does not mean drawing formulas on napkins, but discussing with experts all on the same ground, where the attendees, and not the experts, are at home. In other words, a science caf´e is a conference “upside down”: hosted in a pub or in a caf´e (but never in a conference hall), it generally starts with a short introduction by experts that present themselves and the subject of the discussion, after which the microphone is offered to the public and the rest of the event is driven by questions. The machinery of a science caf´e is illustrated in the Fig 1. In Florence, Italy, this activity is carried out by the non-profit association “Caff`e-Scienza” [1], formed by academic and CNR researchers, but also many “ordinary” people. Our association organizes the traditional science caf´es (caff`e- scienza) monthly and other initiatives such as the junior science caf´es (with high school students). As in other science caf´es, our public is mainly composed by middle-age, highly educated people. Since 2005, an average of 60 people attends our 6-7 caff`e-scienza each year, with some success (last year, our ex-president Paolo Politi won the Italian Physics Society award for science communication). But recently a new wave started. In 2007, many people from several science caf´es in Europe met in Ajaccio (Corse) for the 10th anniversaire of the network Bars et Caf´es des sciences. In this occasion it was proposed to apply for a suitable UE grant for the constitution of an European network of science caf´es. There were already networks among UK, USA and French science caf´es, but no European coordination. Moreover, these networks mainly deal with a presentation of the various locations. In January 2010, the European Project Scicaf´e [2] has started. The project’s main target is to create a European network of science caf´es. We aim to identify the best practices used in this kind of scientific popularization and participation, promote the birth of new caf´es, especially in eastern countries and in Africa; enlarge the audience of our events to young people and other classes. The project is essentially in the phase of data collecting, however some of us have started experimenting new techniques that resulted to be quite interesting, and forced us to learn new skills. we shall illustrate some of these experiments carried out by our association, in collaboration with others. Most of them were suggested by our public through a questionnaire, that is now being administered to an European public through our partners in the consortium. Cafferenze. Sometimes an interesting theme is not suited for a science caf´e, mainly because it is too technical and the public may have a few questions to ask. So we launched an hybrid between a science caf´e (caff`e-scienza) and a conference (conferenza), that we called “cafferenza”. They are quite successful (and hosted in a beautiful library [3]). Moka and RadioMoka. We started a newsletter (Moka, the Italian name for the coffee machine in Fig. 1-left) and a radio transmission (RadioMoka [4]), this last experience really required quite different skills from those that we studied in the university! Audio and video streaming We are collaborating with RadioSpin [5], one of the web Email addresses: franco.bagnoli@unifi.it (Franco Bagnoli), giovanna.pacini@complexworld.net (Giovanna Pacini) Preprint submitted to Elsevier April 13, 2019 arXiv:1105.3836v1 [physics.pop-ph] 19 May 2011 Figure 1: (left) A joke about the double meaning (in Italian) of the word “caff`e”: it means a caf´e (place) and a coffee, so a science caf´e (caff`e- scienza) may indicate a discussion or a special coffee brand. The Italian name for the coffee machine is moka. (right) The location of the contributors to the science caf´e web book. radios of the University of Firenze, and, with our twin association formascienza in Rome, experimenting with the video streaming service offered by one of our partners, DBC-tv [6] and other independent services [7]. Thanks to DBC-tv, now our events can be attended even from Second Life, and actually we hav

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