IAU Executive Committee Working Group Astronomy for Equity and Inclusion Newsletter #12 April 2021
1) Second International Comparative List of Astronomical Terms in Sign Language Released
2) IAU Office of Astronomy for Development: 2021 Annual Call for Proposals is Now Open
3) Afterglow Access Software Released to the Public
4) Astronomy Month: Activities organized in Spain, during April for people with visual impairments
5) Nominations for Science Breakthroughs of the Year Open
6) CAPjournal Articles on Inclusive Astronomy
7) Astronomers for Planet Earth Open Letter
8) Join our Sub Groups
9) Subscribe to our Basecamp and join the discussion
10) Share your News!
Dear friends,
Welcome to the twelfth issue of our monthly newsletter.
In this issue, we want to highlight the release of the Second International Comparative List of Astronomical Terms in Sign Languages, the IAU Office of Astronomy for Development 2021 Call for Proposals and the release of the free Afterglow Access Software.
Wishing you all our best,
Lina Canas & Amelia Ortiz-Gil
1) Second International Comparative List of Astronomical Terms in Sign Language Released
The IAU Executive Committee Working Group on Astronomy for Equity and Inclusion, with partners in deaf and hard of hearing communities around the world, have produced the second list of astronomical terms in sign language. The project aims to stimulate reflection on the differences between various languages, to help communities develop their own signs for particular astronomical terms that they don’t already have signs for, and to promote discussion of astronomy in deaf communities.
Learn more here: https://iau.org/news/announcements/detail/ann21024/
(in Spanish): https://www.conicet.gov.ar/se-publico-la-segunda-lista-internacional-de-terminos-astronomicos-en-lenguaje-de-signos/
In Indonesia, a group led by Yudhiakto Pramudya are working on documenting sign language and collaborating with the special school in Indonesia. Part of the project is broadcast on this channel: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PAVITSYl0wE&t=2s&ab_channel=PASTRONUAD
How can you contribute? You can contribute by looking out for someone or an association of people with hearing impairments willing to record short videos demonstrating the signs for the words in the two lists. Then it can be included in the global document alongside other languages.
2) IAU Office of Astronomy for Development: 2021 Annual Call for Proposals is Now Open
The IAU Office of Astronomy for Development has launched its 2021 Annual Call for Proposals. The call is for projects that use astronomy as a tool to address one or more challenges related to sustainable development. It is open to anyone in the world.
Deadline for Stage 1: May 31, 2021 (midnight UTC-12).
Learn more at: http://www.astro4dev.org/cfp/
3) Afterglow Access Software Released to the Public
The IDATA Team is excited to announce Afterglow Access (AgA) is now available for use by all. The AgA software is designed specifically to make an analysis of astronomical images (fits files) more accessible to the blind and visually impaired (BVI), as well as sighted individuals.
Find out more here: https://idataproject.org/
(Click on Resources and scroll down to Afterglow Access Software)
NOTE: The IDATA team strongly suggests watching the Afterglow Access Demo to learn about the various software features
4) Astronomy Month: Activities organized in Spain, during April for people with visual impairments
a) Public Talk “Los sonidos del Universo” (“The sounds of the Universe”) given by our colleague Enrique Perez Montero and based on the great number of public resources on space and astronomy sonifications, (many of them created and released by members of this working group)
b) Round Table “Paisajes astronómicos” (“Astronomical landscapes”). This was a meeting moderated by Enrique Perez Montero and Emilio García, from IAA-CSIC, with other four experts in different astrophysical domains, including, exploration of Mars, exoplanets, planetary nebulae and black holes. They were faced with the challenge of “painting” their corresponding domains in just 10 minutes without the support of any image. Later, the assistants could send their questions. Notice the importance of engaging other researchers in a more inclusive outreach.
c) Public release of “El Universo en palabras” (“The Universe in words”). This is the first video on YouTube of a series of 5 devoted to the audio-description of an astronomical image. In this case, the Whirlpool Galaxy, M51. Audio-description is a technique usually used in the Arts domain, to describe an image using just words. We do think that this technique, when applied to astronomy, not only helps people with visual impairments to understand astronomical images but also everyone who is a bit distracted by the image itself and does not look at the important things. It would be enormously interesting to try to adapt this to other languages.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nw4uwRbiNLE
Our warm thanks to our colleague Enrique Perez Montero for sharing the news.
5) Nominations for Science Breakthroughs of the Year Open
The Falling Walls conference is currently accepting nominations for Science Breakthroughs of the Year. Nominations can be made in one of 10 categories, including some relevant to astronomy outreach and communication. Nominations from anywhere in the world must be submitted by 15 June 2021. Our colleague, Nicolas Bonne, won the 2020 Falling Walls Breakthrough of the Year in the Science Engagement category.
Learn more here: https://falling-walls.com/breakthroughyear
6) CAPjournal Articles on Inclusive Astronomy
The CAPjournal is a free peer-reviewed journal for astronomy communicators, online and in print. There are several articles related to inclusive astronomy you can find by browsing the different issues at https://www.capjournal.org/issues/index.php
We have identified a few examples below:
Dedoscopio Project: Making Astronomy Accessible to Blind and Visually Impaired (BVI) Communities Across Chile
(Paredes-Sabando, P.; Fuentes- Muñoz, C.) page 27
https://www.capjournal.org/issues/29/29_27.php
LightSound: The Sound of An Eclipse
(Bieryla, A.; Diaz-Merced, W.; Davis, D.; Hyman, S.; Troncoso Iribarren, P.; García, B.; Labbe, E.) page 38
https://www.capjournal.org/issues/28/28_38.php
Inspiring Stars: Implementing a Workshop on Astronomy for Inclusion for Thai Outreach Practitioners and Science Teachers
(Nitiyanant, P.; Wutsang, S.; Karuehanon, S.; Insiri, W.) page 43
https://www.capjournal.org/issues/28/28_43.php
Touch the Universe: Developing and Disseminating Tactile Telescope Models Created with a 3D Printer
(Usuda-Sato, K.; Nakayama, H.; Fujiwara, H.; Usuda, T.) page 24
https://www.capjournal.org/issues/26/26_24.php
7) Astronomers for Planet Earth Open Letter
Astronomers for Planet Earth is a volunteer network of astronomers, astronomy students, and astronomy educators committed to bringing their voices to the struggle against climate change and for climate justice, with over 1000 members, from 57 countries: The group has written an open letter to astronomy departments, institutions and societies to adopt sustainability as a primary goal.
You can read the letter at:
https://astronomersforplanet.earth/open-letter
8) Join our Sub Groups
The IAU EC WG on Astronomy for Equity and Inclusion sub-groups are subsets of the working group created to focus, both discussions and actions, on the different fields across inclusion.
The sub-groups
- Intend to build upon specific networks within IAU and bring in external expertise, with their members steering and informing the WGs global actions.
- Identify specific needs in the community and draft courses of action and guidelines, aligned with both the IAU Strategic Plan 2020-2030 and the Springboard of Action leveraging all dimensions of inclusion on research, outreach, education and development.
- Are in contact and close collaboration with each other through email, basecamp or online meetings, accessing the intersectionality aspects inherent to the field, avoiding duplication of the efforts carried.
We would like to invite all of you to join one or more of the subWGs according to your particular interests and expertise. Further information about the subWGs can be found here.
9) Subscribe to our Basecamp and join the discussion
We have set up a common Basecamp dedicated to all communications. As we understand that not all tools are 100% accessible we want to offer various channels tailored to our different needs. As all the actions carried by the WG, our suggestions are open for discussion and we intend to involve our members as much as possible. Therefore if you identify any tool that would suit you please kindly let us know and we will try to implement it.
You can subscribe to our Basecamp by sending a message to Amelia Ortiz-Gil and Lina Canas with the subject: Inclusion WG Basecamp at astro4inclusion [at] oao.iau.org.
10) Share your News!
Reach out to us and share news, activities, articles, resources and events from the astronomy community for inclusion around the world. We are looking forward to reading your contributions!
Follow us on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/Astro4Inclusion/