Wake Up and Smell the Media

Like many amateur astronomers, I'm a member of an organization called the Astronomical League. The A.L. is a sort of organizational body that helps coordinate the efforts of astronomy clubs throughout the United States. The A.L. puts out a quarterly publication called "The Reflector" which updates members on exciting news in the world of amateur astronomy, as well as highlights particularly exceptional efforts by member organizations in certain areas such as outreach and citizen science.

Last year, The Reflector published a special issue devoted to the problem of trying to increase outreach efforts and attract more young people to the hobby due to the fact that the amateur astronomy community is "graying." The letters page in the June 2013 issue, however, was revealing as to the true cause of why a younger crowd is turning away from stargazing. While many assigned blame to any number of causes, all of them were terribly myopic in failing to see the problem right in front of their faces. Reading that letters page filled me with very little hope for the future of the hobby. This lack of hope wasn't for the reasons given by other concerned astronomers. In fact, it's the attitudes many amateur astronomers have towards the “distractions” in the modern world that are more at fault than the distractions themselves in driving nails into the hobby's coffin.

Over the last two years of reading The Reflector, the letters page of magazines like Astronomy and Sky & Telescope, and the Cloudy Nights astronomy forums, I've seen blame for the "graying" of the hobby leveled against an unfathomable number of inane targets such as social networking sites, sports, video games, television, popular music, iPods and smartphones. The problem is there will always be new forms of media, and amateur astronomers face a choice; to embrace the new media and use it as a tool to promote the hobby, or retreat into an angry, insular self-pity spiral that will drive away young people with a budding interest in space science.

I'm 31 years old, and I got into amateur astronomy when I was 10. My “gateway drug” that triggered an initial interest in space science was deeply rooted in the popular media. Specifically, it was one of the most iconic and heavily watched TV shows from 1986 to 1993; Star Trek the Next Generation. That show captured my imagination from the time I was 5 years old, and got me interested in space exploration and (later) observational astronomy. Media can be a powerful tool, and unfortunately it has been deeply underutilized in the last few years for this purpose. Sadly, the people who have the most power and responsibility to do so are also shunning media and technology.

A startling example of this luddite attitude came to my attention by way of the Cloudy Nights astronomy forums during the lead-up to the Neil DeGrasse Tyson-hosted remake of “COSMOS.” The amount of negativity aimed at the series on Cloudy Nights was utterly staggering. Everything from the way the trailer was edited to the choice of network were being slammed by belligerent astronomers on a nostalgia trip, and the controversy didn't die down when the series aired. The show became an all but forbidden subject on the forums due to the vitriol being spouted. All of these bitter fogeys were failing to recognize some fairly important points:

• If you were to place a modern-day COSMOS series on PBS today, the only people who would wind up watching it are people who would be watching the original COSMOS anyway. It would reach a much smaller audience than the original and would instantly fade into obscurity. I know this is a blunt way of saying it, but it's the truth.
• By placing it on a major network with a reputation for exciting programming and advertising it broadly to the masses, it will gain an enormous audience far greater than the original. Also, many of these individuals fail to recognize the programming differences between Fox NETWORK and Fox NEWS which are actually managed in a significantly different fashion despite sharing a parent company.
• The new COSMOS, if successful, could attract a vast amount of fresh interest in astronomy. It could easily be the biggest draw to the hobby in the last 30 years.

Are you beginning to see the problem yet? Simultaneously complaining about the show and complaining about a lack of interest in the hobby exposes a deep and saddening level of cognitive dissonance, and the seeds of a vicious, self-defeating cycle begin to develop. First, complain about how new media is drawing attention away from astronomy. Second, when somebody finds a way to use the new media to astronomy's advantage, get angry and shut it down because “it isn't how we did things in my day.” Step 3; retreat into self pity because there isn't enough interest in the hobby.

The accusations against social networking sites are also ludicrous given the fact that science advocates like Phil Plait, Adam Savage, Neil DeGrasse Tyson and Elise Andrew (curator of “I Fucking Love Science”) have been using Twitter and Facebook to enormous effect to generate and maintain interest in a multitude of science topics. Elise Andrew's page has just shy of 7 million followers and is growing every day. She not only uses her page to publicize recent developments in science, but also to dispel common myths and misconceptions about science. It is a tremendous force for good on the social networking sites, in spite of the crude name. The blame being placed on sports, popular music and iPods is utterly baffling to me. Sports and music have always been around. Also, iPods are no more a threat to amateur astronomy than the Sony Walkman was. To blame popular music and iPods on the decline in amateur astronomy is like blaming it on Irving Berlin and the phonograph. These arguments reek of moral panic, and the less said about them the better.

When it comes to video games, it is very true that very few have anything in the way of legitimate educational content. Regardless, I've seen firsthand the potential of this form of media to spread interest in STEM fields. Last year I was participating in a solar astronomy demonstration for an outreach event at the Space Foundation Discovery Center in Colorado Springs. The event had activities for the kids, a meet and greet with former I.S.S. Commander Leroy Chiao, and a seminar for the grown-ups on how technology created for space exploration has been repurposed for the beer brewing industry. One surprise that came out of the event was talking to multiple parents who brought their children to the event because the kids had developed an interest in rocketry and space exploration because of a video game, specifically “Kerbal Space Program.” Having since played the game, I can see why this fun and funny game can be a powerful draw, and its realistic depictions of physics are impressive.

Smartphones, tablets and similar devices are derided as well, but this misses the fact that they can be powerful tools in the hands of beginning amateur astronomers. Afocal adapters built for iPhones are ushering in a whole new generation of entry-level astrophotography. Modern computer-pointed telescopes can be connected by WiFi to iPads and iPhones. Some of our club members do amazing things at outreach events with an iPad to do an integrated telescope and multimedia presentation. In a way, they combine the power of all of the other forms of media discussed here into a tool that is greater than the sum of its parts, one that can make the experience of beginning astronomy much more engrossing.

Technology and media are not enemies of amateur astronomy. They are powerful tools that can be used to bring newcomers into the hobby IF, and ONLY IF, we make the choice to use them effectively. Unfortunately the only barrier is the attitudes of the amateur astronomers themselves. Science outreach needs to evolve or die, and far too many astronomers are more than content to roll over and stop breathing. The interest is there. The tools are RIGHT THERE. Unfortunately (and I've seen this manifested by young prospective members who come to one meeting of an astronomy club and never come back as well as hearing feedback from the general public at outreach events), it's the stodgy attitude of the amateur astronomy community as a whole that's doing an EXCELLENT job of turning the potentially interested youth off of the hobby forever.

This cognitive dissonance and shifting of blame needs to end NOW or the hobby of amateur astronomy, as well as the future of all STEM fields in the United States, will be deader than a doornail. We have the tools, and we need to use them. Shaking our fists at the youth of today while ranting about the Pokemon and the Hippity Hop music does us no good whatsoever, and in time will only hasten the demise of scientific interest and literacy.

It's time to wake up and smell the media.