The idea of data jamming, exploring openly available data in
a collaborative way, sounds a lot like jazz.
A data jam is an event that brings people together to explore data that intrigue
them, either for some practical or basic scientific reason. Because problem solving and new analyses are
stimulated by an open-ended, creative approach, the idea of improvising
together on a theme is an appropriate one.
One of the most important ways to work with data and to
share its importance is working toward some “story” that the data tell. This is also parallel with jazz in that a jam
explores some rhythmic and thematic foundation, and spins out a musical story
based on those core elements.
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| Participants and judges at the 2014 BES Data Jam. |
Of course, a story should be shared, for the delight of an
audience or for the lesson it imparts to life as it is lived.
So put all these elements together and you have a sense of
the BES Data Jam to be held this Spring.
Students – either individuals or teams -- are challenged to use BES data
and to present them in engaging, novel ways.
Each Data Jam participant or team will produce a poster summarizing
the project and its findings. But the presentation will also include some other,
more artistic display – such as a video, song, photograph(s), drawings, poem, or
any creative product that embodies something about the insights from the data
analysis. The winning projects will be
judged by scientists and communicators for scientific soundness and creativity
of the presentation. The idea is to do
things that engage the creativity and collaborative spirit of the student
researchers and teams, but which also engage people beyond the sciences.
The details about registering for and participating in the
Data Jam are here http://beslter.org/frame5-stuff.html. Students and their teachers should have a
look at the materials describing the Data Jam and get their scientific and
artistic creative juices flowing.
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