On writing a novel

Kristin: It’s the end of the first week of November. As such, I have a confession to make: I’ve just passed the 10,000 word milestone for my NaNoWriMo novel. I’m sure you have some questions, so I’ll do my best to answer them.

What is a NaNoWriMo novel?

NaNoWriMo stands for National Novel Writing Month which takes place in November each year. The goal is to write 50,000 words of a novel during November. You can find out more about the insanity at www.nanowrimo.org. This arbitrary deadline is designed to help prospective authors overcome procrastination by getting them to commit.

But you’re not an author. Why write a novel?

Why engage in the arts? I’ve been mulling over the purpose of “the arts” for the last few months, from both a professional perspective and a personal perspective. And for me it’s about expression and the act of being creative. I find few chances to practice at being creative without a purpose. For example, we’ve just written a set of energy and resource scenarios. Creative? Yes. Challenging? Yes. But delivered for a specification. The opportunity to write a novel, even a very bad one, is an opportunity to be creative with no purpose. From the NaNoWriMo FAQs:

“…we do NaNoWriMo … because the glow from making big, messy art, and watching others make big, messy art, lasts for a long, long time. The act of sustained creation does bizarre, wonderful things to you. It changes the way you read. And changes, a little bit, your sense of self. We like that.”

How are you finding it?

Exhilarating! My characters are far more interesting than anything on TV, and I can’t wait to finish the days’ work to return to them. Interestingly, I’m finding positive flow-on effects for work as well. Trying to fit this in (around Jury Service, home refurbishments, children and an exciting suite of consulting and commercialisation projects) has made me more focused and I’m finding it easier to start and structure those long reports. Ancillary IP! (Thanks Gavin Artz at ANAT). I’m also enjoying the camaraderie that comes from knowing there are about 100 (maybe 400?) people in Adelaide (and over 100,000 around the world) all doing the same, all with varying levels of success.

Well, what happens at the end of November?

If everything goes to plan I’ll have at least 50,000 words of varying quality. And the satisfaction of knowing I was able to reach that goal. I might write more,  I might edit what I’ve got, or I might print it out and burn it. But feel free to send your encouragement my way!

Filed under: Art, Books , Art, nanowrimo

Local Eating Challenges (and why I loved Adelaide)

Kate: Eat local campaigns where people are encouraged to eat locally sourced food have become a worldwide phenomenon amongst people concerned about reducing the environmental impact of food production. This week the Sydney based Live Local Website was launched and includes a much twittered about ‘live local challenge‘ where people have signed up to attempt to only eat locally sourced food for a week. Many eat local campaigns have been inspired by the 100-mile diet which was a book (published in 2005) documenting American’s Alisa Smith and J.B. MacKinnon’s one year experiment where they tried to only eat food sourced from a 100 mile radius of their hometown. Locally raised and sourced food has been called ‘the new organic’. Even the Oxford Press made ‘locavore‘ the word of the year in 2007. Research has suggested that it is better for local economies, better for the environment and better for your health to eat food sourced from your local region. Eating food sourced from a farmer’s market for example returns profits directly to producers (compared to a supermarket where growers may typically receive 20%), generally means less energy consumption and usually means fresher, more flavorsome product. The downside of a local diet can be a lack of variety and often key staples (I’m including chocolate, wine and coffee) at certain times of the year, the cost and the time it takes to track down and purchase items.

When I visited Adelaide last week for Bridge8’s 5th Year Birthday Party I was very impressed (and incredibly jealous!) of the ease with which people in Adelaide can meet the live local challenge. In fact I suspect the concept may well be lost on some Adelaidians because they take easy access to reasonably priced fabulous local produce for granted! South Australia’s premier tourist attraction is Adelaide’s Central Market, located in the heart of the city and easily accessed via public transport. I was mightily impressed by the variety of fruit, vegetables, small goods, and café food which was easily distinguished (due to clear labelling) as sourced from agricultural regions surrounding Adelaide. There was even a good selection of local seafood. In Brisbane you frequently find fish shops without anything sourced from Moreton Bay. The other thing I found exciting was the fact that the prices of great quality produce seemed reasonable, there were lots of organic options and the markets seemed to be frequented by a real cross section of the community. In Brisbane we’ve had to re-establish farmer’s markets in recent years (our central market was moved out of the city centre in the 1960s and is predominantly wholesale) but they’re generally expensive (there are some cheaper ones but I’d have to drive to outer suburbs), don’t have huge variety and I’ve often suspected that some of the ‘farmers’ are people who’ve picked up boxes (of not necessarily local produce) at the wholesale market that morning. A recent phenomenon in Brisbane is the popularity of fruit and vegetable box schemes including FoodConnect which is attempting to reconnect consumers with local producers. This is a great initiative but I’d much prefer to saunter around a central market and chose my own selection of produce. With the variety of produce in Adelaide’s markets and the great local wines and chocolates I can imagine a pretty good ‘live local’ life in Adelaide.

Filed under: Awareness, Books, Environment, Futures, People

The Evolution of Creative Ideas.

Photo of my son Iestyn at the Statue of Darwin erected for this celebratory year at the Natural History Museum, London. I hope he will remain endlessly curious.

Kate: This year is the 150th year since Charles Darwin published his book, On the Origin of the Species and one of the many celebrations of Darwin’s life this year is the book published by UK scientist Steve Jones Darwin’s Island: The Galapagos in the Garden of England (listen to him interviewed here). Charles Darwin was undoubtedly an incredibly creative man who brought together diverse and apparently unrelated strands of evidence from the natural world to create a unifying theory of biology. Jones shows that as many of these strands came from Darwin’s ramblings and experiments in his garden and surrounding countryside as from his voyages in the Beagle. Darwin apparently described himself as a man of enlarged curiosity and what Jones finds most inspiring about him was that he was endlessly interested in things we could all notice if we only took the time to. In a recent interview with Robyn Williams Jones said ‘What Darwin really proves … about Science is that any fool can do it’. Darwin’s last book The Formation of Vegetable Mould through the Action of Worms drew evidence from observations over his life including an experiment where he placed a yardstick in his garden to show how earthworms could raise the surface of the earth. What might seem an insignificant subject to some, the ‘lowly’ earthworm was to Darwin more evidence that gradual changes over long periods of time can lead to large and sometimes surprising consequences.

Darwin’s curiosity of the world was apparently maintained in spite of his schooling. He’s quoted as saying that ‘Nothing could have been worse for the development of my mind than Dr Butler’s school’. He neglected his medical studies at University to concentrate on self directed study of invertebrates, taxidermy and plants, eventually flunking out and switching to theology.

Can science educators draw insights from Darwin’s life to encourage students to pursue scientific inquiry today? I think that Darwin illustrates that creative science comes from simple curiosity, especially when this involves questioning and roaming across subjects, unbounded by ’scientific fields of inquiry’. Silo thinking is not conducive to creative insight. The ‘creative contaminants’ of art, music, film, theatre, the web and design being integrated into science education as highlighted at the ECSITE 2009 conference (See Jennifer’s blog) seem on the right track. Also perhaps educators can draw inspiration from Darwin’s fascination with the trivial and emphasise the insights from simple observations rather than focus on impressive technological approaches of modern science. We’re not all Darwin (being independently wealthy and able to travel the world for 5 years on a voyage of discovery are obviously beneficial!) but as Steve Jones said ‘Science, Any Fool Can Do it’.

Filed under: Books, Creativity, Learning, Science

Educating Kids about Nanotechnology

Jenna: In line with Bridge8’s work on nanotechnology education, such as the SHINE project, author Marlene Bourne, an internationally recognised expert on MEMS (micro-electro-mechanical systems) and its convergence with nanotechnology, has written the book MEMS & Nanotechnology for Kids, the first book of its kind to teach children about MEMS and nanotechnology.The 32 page book gives a basic introduction to MEMS and nanotechnology and explores what can be found at the micro- and nano-scale, and then takes a look at various MEMS devices and nanomaterials. Products discussed include accelerometers, gyro sensors, pressure sensors, ink jet nozzles, optical MEMS, lab-on-a-chip, aerogels, carbon nanotubes, dendrimers, fullerenes, nanoclay, nanofibers, nanoparticles and nanowhiskers.Readers learn how MEMS devices work, what makes nanomaterials special, and why they are useful in all kinds of products kids are familiar with, such as bikes and video games. MEMS & Nanotechnology for Kids was written for students ages 11-14 to inspire interest in science and engineering, although younger children and adults alike may also benefit from the easy-to-read explanations. The hardcover book is beautifully illustrated with nearly 80 full-colour photographs that are visually powerful.

Filed under: Awareness, Books, Learning, Nanomaterials, Nanotechnology , public nano

Does God belong in the science classroom?

Sarah: The answer is a resounding ‘No!’ from The National Academy of Sciences and Institute of Medicine, USA with their new publication Science, Evolution and Creationism (2008). Generated in response to recent “efforts to introduce non-scientific concepts about evolution into science classrooms”, the 88-page book provides an explanation of how the scientific method, by virtue of observation, experimentation and gathering evidence, generates theories.  In science, theories can be regarded as ’comprehensive explanations of important features of nature that are supported by many facts gathered over time’.  Some of the key pieces of evidence which strengthen the theory of evolution include:

1. the fossil record – fossils of ancient life forms which do not closely resemble today’s inhabitants on earth are found in old rocks, while the remains of more familiar and recent life forms are found in young rocks;
2. genetic research – the passage of inheritable traits in animals and plants from generation to generation can be tracked by studying DNA; and
3. common ancestry – there are common structures and behaviours among many and diverse species.

The authors of the book argue that since creationism is not a science, to teach it in science classrooms will ‘confuse students about the processes, nature and limits of science’. The current Australian Opposition Leader Dr Nelson attracted criticism when he suggested that the creationist concept of ‘Intelligent Design’ should be accepted in the science classrooms of Australian schools. Whether it will be discussed in Prime Minister Rudd’s upcoming government review of education remains to be seen.

Filed under: Books, Learning, Science , public science