café Sci
Somerville, MAOrganized by: Ben Wiehe, WGBH/NOVA scienceNOW
I started café Sci because many of the people living in Boston have only a vague understanding of the exciting research that is going on right in their own neighborhoods. I also chose the science café format because I think it has the potential to make science a popular cultural force, like live music or sports. café Sci is designed to attract a young audience—twenty- and thirty-somethings—who may not typically talk about science.
Our cafés are held on a weeknight at a local pub called the Thirsty Scholar that is popular with locals who consider it a friendly place to relax. The place is hopping even before café Sci starts. Toward 6:30, when the café starts, seats rapidly fill up, drinks flow, and the pub sets out a buffet of free appetizers. Attendance typically ranges from 60 to 100 people.
We start things off with a brief introduction of the guest scientist. To provide background information on the evening's topic, we show a short NOVA scienceNOW video clip (less than five minutes). Then the guest scientist takes about five minutes to talk about his or her interests and work. This quickly turns into a group discussion, which is the focus of the event. We make sure everyone has a chance to speak, and we keep the language from getting too technical. As people's attention starts to fade (usually after about 20 minutes), we end the group discussion. At this point the evening generally breaks into smaller discussions that may continue for hours into the evening.