Recruiting/Diversifying AAVSO members and observers

If a future event such as the past transit of Epsilon Aurigae and corresponding Citien Sky Project can be identified that captures the imagination of many, maybe that will draw more interest to AAVSO.  I dont know if increased AAVSO membership occurred after the Epsilon Aurigae event.

Just a thought.  If a list of important and interesting stars with events can be readily accessible to the public in an easy to read format, maybe the interest drawn will recruit more members.  Post on the website a variable star of the month or observing season, with a narrative of its importance and a light curve with related links to more information.

the stars are the stars of the show...

-Paul

BPAD

A TV show that I love is "How The Universe Works" on the Science Channel.  It draws the attention of my son when I watch.  Supernovas and black holes seem to get the most episodes so I ask why not variable stars?

If an episode could show graphics of variable star behavior and explain the basic variable types, with an AAVSO member as part of the astronomer panel (Stella?), variable stars will definately draw the interest in anyone into astronomy.  The show needs some new material...  Check out link or on TV.

http://www.sciencechannel.com/tv-shows/how-the-universe-works/

-Paul

BPAD

While the forums and other website resources are a fine way for spreading information, I don't think they actually serve to create community very well.  In the PEP section, we have started having Skype sessions for interested observers, and it lets us interact in a more personal way.  Common equipment and an aspiration for quality data provide a group focus.  Other sections might consider similar virtual meetings as a way to spur and maintain interest.

Tom

Dear all,

This is my first post and I hope it is of some use. I thought that a good idea to reach to a lot of people might be teaming up with any telescope/binocular manufacturer. Since VSO can be done with any instrument no matter how small or big, and many manufacturers have well established marketing and distributtion channels I thought it would be benefficial for let's say Celestron, Orion or Skywatcher etc. to release a product, like a small wide field telescope under the name Variable Star Observer or something like that. If the AAVSO was somehow involved in such a product, or if it gave its recommendation I think it is a win win situation. The AAVSO would benefit from having more people looking into this thing called variable star observing that they just saw advertised along with the instrument, and the manufacturer would benefit from the recommendation of such a historical organization as the AAVSO. When I started getting interested in astronomy I had no idea that I could contribute to this science with literally any size of instrument, If I knew, I would probably have started observing variables at an early age. 

It is my understanding that during the 80's many people got interested in comets and comet hunting with the orange Maksutov-Newtonian scope sold by Celestron under the name Comet Catcher.

Jut my two cents.

Best

Kacper

Friends,

Thank you for your comments -- this is a very interesting discussion thread (and for some reason I too am not getting updates in my inbox any more, despite having subscribed to our forums!). From what I understand, people would like to get more information on topics of interest from the AAVSO, and this would attract more members. We do post relevant articles in our "Stellar News Feed", and on social media. Do people read/enjoy those? How about material that is included in our newsletter? Could that be improved somehow?

We are in communication with instrument companies in order to include AAVSO material within their customer packages. As Kacper mentioned, this could be a good starting point for those who don’t know that they can contribute to science with their equipment. At the same time, we rely on those companies’ good will to accommodate our requests, and not everybody is willing to help without substantial compensation. Marketing is not free.

Reaching an international community is a challenge, and we hope that we will manage to find an agreeable (and sustainable) solution to include everybody in our discussions. Our forums allow interactions no matter where our observers are (and whether a discussion is taking place during workhours or not. We hope that our meetings are good places for people to interact real-time, and we would like to enhance them and make them better for our community. Suggestions are very welcome!

Thank you all for brainstorming with us!

Best wishes – clear skies,

Stella.  

Friends,

To Brad’s point: we do have information for beginners – this is our 10-stars tutorial (for both the north and the southern hemisphere) https://www.aavso.org/10-star-training and our binoculars program https://www.aavso.org/aavso-binocular-program (information and resources). I used the latter when I started my visual observing program last year and found it very useful. Oh, and please don’t forget our mentors – they are there to help! Actually, it would be great if you consider becoming a mentor and advice new observers on their program…

Best wishes – clear skies,

Stella.

As to young people and unrepresented groups - change the practice of holding AAVSO meetings in expensive hotels (nice though they are I have to say, and don't grudge the outlay). Surely with the AAVSO's culturally academic base we could hold meetings in the many college campuses you have over there. Bear in mind also that not all AAVSO members come from the US of A and that for foreigners attending a meeting in the LA Hilton or whatever represents a sizeable financial outlay when combined with air fares and other transportation costs. Example - when I attend an AAVSO meeting I fly from my local regional airport to Amsterdam and then over to you guys.

One benefit of 'college' locations is that we are also more likely to attract any students that may be around, who could also of course 'spread the word'.

It seems to me that the most promising demographic in which to generate increased membership for AAVSO is those already interested in Astronomy who have not latched onto variable star observing. If you agree with that assessment, then the most promising avenues for reaching these people are ones that have a strong following. How about having a monthly AAVSO variable star article in the Columns/Departments section of Sky and Telescope? It is arguably the most widely read/viewed amateur astronomy publication. Other avenues might include the NASA educational website, articles and webcasts on Google Sky, and perhaps SLOOH. I am sure there are a number of others. The Idea is you want to be visible where people who already have an interest in astronomy will see AAVSO as a regular active participant that with “stuff” that gets their attention. Not too deep on the site but with links that will peel the onion in layers as far as they want to go (or as far as current knowledge goes). Many of those links will be to existing AAVSO features like VSX and the references in VSX, VSP. Light curve generator Variable Star of the Season, JAAVSO articles etc. and then to journal article references contained in some of those locations. You draw them into what AAVSO already has and make it their conduit of information. That may mean making videos about how to use a number of the services and tools we have rather than reading instructions and parsing language written by computer programmers to find out easily and quickly how to use the services and tools. But now I am getting into weedy details rather than what I think are the key concepts of a successful approach.

That seems to me to be a much more fruitful approach than trying to create new social media sites that currently have no following or sending out more “stuff” to people who already know about AAVSO and are either already members or for some reason have chosen not to be members. Why people who are familiar with AAVSO and use AAVSO resources but don’t join is a completely different topic.

The bottom line for me is that AAVSO should regularly be where the people with interest in astronomy already go for information and fun and our presence on those sites should draw them to AAVSO site and useful information and services we already have in place. Make AAVSO webpages go-to locations for information.

Another potential avenue is to be in regular contact with astronomy clubs around the world and in particular their newsletter editors and webmasters to provide them with a stream of information, targets of interest alerts, and campaign information so that it gets to their members and try to have an AAVSO liaison in every one of the clubs.  Get AAVSO branded “stuff” from AAVSO on all their websites and in their monthly newsletters with links that draw them into the AAVSO website for “more on this topic” more about this interesting star or more details of this observing campaign. 

Brad Walter, WBY

Agree with Brad. The magazines and related media are already committed to answering the question "What's so cool about astronomy?"--indeed, their livelihoods depend on it, and their production values are amazing. It's not clear we can do better from scratch.

But what AAVSO *can* do is answer the second, participation-driving question: "But what can *I* do?" They're not doing an imaginative job for variable stars (tables of Algol minima--really?), and there we can help. If we regularly provide the magazines etc engaging material (way beyond monthly tables of Algol minima), they'll use it, as reader involvement helps sustain their own circulation. Symbiosis--worth exploring.

I agree with everybody here in addition and without getting into politics we've all seen worthless tweets lately I think if you don't already have a Twitter account ..you should.

We all carry a fully High Definition TV Broadcasting system in our pockets, we should have weekly Facebook live events including live capture of subs and experts explaining what's going on. It doesn't have to be fancy, and it's free.

An AAVSO Youtube Channel? Instagram? All free..

We should have more Choice courses and those courses should be layered and by this I mean we should have quick operational courses with minimum  theory geared to get newbies going right away producing acceptable science and then more courses heavy on theory all the way to PHD levels if someone wants to pursue those as they get more experienced.

Finally we need entry level procedures for EVERY possible hardware software combination to make the submission process manageable. Say Jane or Timmy have an entry level Celestron with an Atik 420 camera and a V filter and the software that came with the camera and that's all he/she can afford. There should be procedures already posted by one of our members with that same system that informs the newbie how to setup, edit the header, and upload to Vphot...1,2,3....then as that person gains more experience and knowledge he/she can delve deeper into the theory.

There's something about that first successful light curve that's addictive and the emphasis should be to help them get that first light curve ASAP. Hollywood Moviemakers understand that clearly that's why they start a movie with lots of action at the beginning, you have to get them in the first 5 minutes and if you do..they'll stay with you for the duration of the film...

I can help setup Facebook, Youtube, and I'm a filmmaker on the side (Went to film school as a hobby and have been making short films ever since..) if you need my services at all (Pro Bono and in my ever dwindling spare time..).

I know this post sounds kind of glib, but I assure you that it is not. Personally I enjoy science theory and overcoming the frustration of  hardware software problems but I'm deeply motivated and a lot of peole especially millenials need to be reached using their language...

Best!

Hello all,

Very interesting discussion, and thank you for your contributions. I hear that we need to be more in media of interest – online blogs, magazines, newsletters. I agree, such contributions will be very valuable, especially in both English and non-English speaking means of communication. We need to reach people in means they read, and we need to do that frequently. Such communication will get the AAVSO in front of people all over the world, without adding one more email in their inbox. At the same time, with small science staff onboard, who focus on working with volunteers on projects, conducting data quality checks, helping observers with questions they have, observer training, curating our journal (and all publications such as our newsletter and bulletin), working with professional astronomers on our alerts, working on manual translations, ensuring software updates and updating our web page material as needed and ensure our database maintenance, we are limited in our ability to produce material for different publishing avenues.

This is where your help is indispensable: as members of the AAVSO, you are ambassadors of the organization. You can reach to your club and talk about your love of variable star astronomy, what attracted you to observing, or why the night sky is of interest and should be of interest to observers all over the world. You can provide testimonials of the power of many observers collaborating in projects, contributing to cutting-edge science, working on exciting projects. You can direct people to our web pages for information and training material You can share your experience with observing (which will actually benefit beginner observers) and you will inspire others to follow your footsteps. I would like to encourage you all to produce material for newsletters, astronomy magazines and astronomy online media. The more the better. And if you would like to volunteer working with us to produce such articles, please email at aavso@aavso.org.

And I hope you are all following us on fb, twitter and Instagram… :)

Best wishes – clear skies,

Stella.

Stella, 

I am sure there are many members including myself that would be willing to help with such a project, BUT you have to be the management sponsor for such a project and be the driving force to develop a workable plan, resource assessment, volunteer recruitment and establishing senior management contact with high profile channels. If you don't plan for success at the beginning such a visible project could damage the AAVSO brand if it isn't done well and we end up disappointing our partners. A project like this requires a high level of commitment within the AAVSO staff and council to plan and get off the ground. If that commitment is there, then I don't think you will lack volunteers. Without it, I think it cannot work. This cannot be a catch-as-catch-can activity or be left up to the membership to attempt to organize informally.Once it is up and running with the channels in place and volunteers to do the continuing work it need not take much staff time. 

Brad Walter

Good Day All,

We have discussed this topic many times before and there has not been a real solution.  We need to get back to the first priciples - observing.  I live in 'sunny Vermont' and the local clubs and groups have little opportunity to hold star parties.  I have purchased a small grab and go telescope for doing both variable star  observing and side walk astronomy.  The teachable moment occurs at the eyepiece.  We must encourage our loacl astronomy groups to hold regular star parties so that we can generate interest in observing.  Once the individual gets hooked we then came move on to citizen/science types of projects.

Getting younger people interested is difficult.  They are still in school, or just starting their career and/or family.  For high school age individuals we should take a page from the Astro League and reconize an outstanding young observer.  We may be able to partner with the Astro League on such a project.  There is little doubt that we need a more diverse and younger group of observers; however we are competing with the lure of computer science and business.  I hope that the movie Hidden Numbers will inspire young women of colour to think about science.

Sorry about the not well thought out plan; however this is something I have dealt with during my professional life and now in retirement.

Cheers,

Bob

The Stellafane annual convention is coming in a few weeks. This is one of the premier astro events in the country. I see there is a special exoplanet workshop this year, as well as an "observing olympics" challenge for deep sky objects. 

Its a bit late right now, but maybe a special AAVSO booth could still be setup in a very conspicuous area, such as around the clubhouse or telescope field areas. Surely several "high level" representatives of AAVSO will likely be there. Certainly, I know of a foremost visual observer of great reknown who always attends :)

In addition to the deep sky challenge, how about a visual variable challenge? Put together a quick list of a dozen "easy to observe variables" with charts and good comps, and let the participants give it a shot! It would be quite interesting to see how obsevers with zero experience would do with their estimates compared to the experienced light curves.

I would think some organizers of the convention are on this forum, or know someone, so it may still be possible to put an "AAVSO observing challenge" on the website? 

Mike

In looking at the posts on this topic, I see lots of pictures of white people of, well, middle years, to put it politely.  As an old codger, I cannot help but wonder whether we become trapped by our own experiences and perspectives, and tend to neglect how fundamentally some things have changed.

Speaking of my own experience, when I first became interested in science it was a highly respected field.  Here in the US, virtually everyone recognized the debt of gratitude owed the scientists, mathematicians and engineers who had made the Allies' victory in WW2 possible.  Adding to that was the impetus on developing scientific and engineering capabilities that came along with the launch of Sputnik.  In the US, that has changed radically, and science is under attack from a number of quarters.  I fear that cannot but help drive younger people away from science in general and the AAVSO in particular.  [ I realize I am painting with a broad brush, and by no means wish to imply that the above-described situation is universal across the many lands that our membership represents.  It's just the perspective of an old guy who grew up in the US.]

Whatever the motivations and distractions are, I think that if we want to be serious about expanding our demographics and lowering our average age, we need the insights of younger members, and members from under-represented communities.  Let's ask them how they got interested, and what we as a group could do to encourage more people just like them to get involved.

I think that the last paragraph in brother Bob's post above is highly pertinent to the question of the difficulty in encouraging new members and I'd like to expand on it a bit.

For those who don't know me, I've been in the hobby more than 60 years and been with the AAVSO 54 of them. Over the course of that interval I've seen the direction of the entire hobby shift, along with the sort of individuals it attracts and their interests. Half a century ago the population's younger demographic was highly enthused by the excitement of U.S. space program and the potentials it held in the future. At the same time, a large segment of our society was willing to devote large segments of their leisure time to seriously pursuing hobbies and other outside interests. That situation has long since changed.

Today the world has turned upside down from that sort of outlook. I peruse several astronomical forums, but find almost exclusively individuals best characterized as "casual observers". Younger people now want instant gratification, not dedicating an hour or two at the eyepiece on a clear night locating and estimating the brightness of variables. If fact, most hobbyists I encounter on-line place a very low priority on the hobby. I note that perhaps 75% of those on-line are newcomers who will last no more than a year or two before moving on to follow some other interest. To them it is just a passing fancy. Most never bother to learn much about the hobby and observational astronomy. Instead they are counting on their GoTo telescopes to show them celestial sights. What interest there is today also seems directed toward observing so-called deep sky objects, to no real point beyond simply being able to say they've seen this or that one. If one has any doubts about this just look at S&T's content today.

The concept of joining a more serious group that has a scientific purpose is alien to them, at least  today's hobbyists from the United States. In fact, when I do occasionally suggest trying the AAVSO to those on forums as soon as I point out that participation does require devoting some time to the pursuit instead of stargrazing they rebel! Their cry is, "What fun is there in that?", or "I'd quit the hobby before doing that!" At the same time, one quite regularly sees newbie's questions regarding entering into CCD work. However once they learn that this area requires far more than just slapping their detector on the rear of their scope they quickly lose interest. Nearly everyone seems to want instant results without expending any time and energy.

From what I've observed, the seemingly most likely fertile ground for the organization to press recruitment of youger adults is in countries outside of the United States. On the whole those individuals appear to have a significantly different outlook toward the hobby than those stateside. They are much more willing to spend truly productivel time in the hobby to gain meaningful results and are willing to engage in utilizing more of their clear nights to do so. Anyone checking the AAVSO's annual reports compiled over the years, or the lists of contributors to our lightcurves, will quickly note that participation by U.S. individuals has steadily dwindled with time and that from other countries is becoming the observing life blood of the organization.

J.Bortle   (BRJ)

I would generally agree with much of what John Bortle has described. I have been involved in Astronomy for about 50 years now, but more on the ATM - telescope making side than VSO. Yet, my observations and experiences regarding the changes in perception and interest of the general public towards serious pursuits of a scientific nature, are much the same.

Back in those days, many more people would do hands-on stuff, be it making telescope mirrors, gardening, or tinkering with their automobiles. Today you cannot tinker with a computer-controlled vehicle with engine compartment so filled with "black box" gadgetry, that you can't even fit your hands inside to change a spark plug!

Not to mention how the internet and smartphone revolution has so changed the way Americans handle their usual daily life. Indeed, most now get their "instant gratification" by posting social media messages of quite trivial content, rather than taking the time to do something substantial and useful for themselves or for society in more traditional ways.

Science has always been "hard" for the average majority of people. But, with the increasing complexity of science and technology, it has gotten to the point that "nobody" understands it anymore, or cares to even try. Eg., smartphones "come from somewhere far away", and you just go buy them. If they break, you trash it and buy another. People do not know anything about how, where, who, what designs or manufactures them, how they work, they just "exist". Steve Jobs probably failed to predict the very serious negative side of his new invention - turning us towards laziness and detachment from the real, natural world!

So, unfortunately, the social forces that are changing our society in the USA seem like a tsunami of gargantuan proportions, and beyond control and modification. Our world has become divided between the miniscule handful of scientific minds, who actually continue with new discovery and invention, vs. the 99.999% of the rest of the people who are ignorant and agnostic about it.

Whether the rest of the world is going to suffer the same fate, is hard to say. But the malaise seems to be overtaking the USA first and foremost. I do agree that it appears that many other countries have more average people that prefer to be involved in meaningful pursuits such as citizen science, and this might be the best avenue to pursue with the recruitment and diversification of new observers...

Mike

Look, 50 years ago people didn't fix their phones, either--they didn't even own them! Bell Telephone did. Not the best example...

It doesn't advance our strategy to bemoan the perceived state of the nation. What might help (I hope) is to figure out who the next observers could be. There are a tremendous number of very bright 20-40 year old Americans doing science, math, and tech--believe me, until recently I reviewed hundreds of STEM resumes a year: the smart, energetic, creative ones are definitely out there, but they do seem more sequestered from the general population than they used to be. And don't be fooled--there are very, very many young people who like fixing things and creating new things ("makers"). They just do it with Raspberry Pis and code fragments and solder rather than grease and spark plugs.

So might any of them be interested in astronomy? I'm guessing yes, but in America it may not often start with direct observing, which for Visual takes time and schedule flexibility that they don't have, and for CCD, face it, takes saved money. Or something like AAVSONet, which might be more useful for recruiting than any other single AAVSO development I've seen recently. Especially as borders may not matter much for that--AAVSONet may be a real opportunity for internationalAAVSO development. AAVSONet plus a trained, sympathetic local mentor could give a strong start just about anywhere in the world.

By contrast, for young Americans with creative but indoors orientation, it might more often start along the lines of software and data than in direct observing. We usually think of collecting data then treating it. But maybe that's the wrong direction for learning. Maybe data can be rendered a great intro to observing; you see this all the time in lab work in biology, physics etc. ("Hey, how do they get this raw data, anyway?" "You want to control the raw data?--go get it."). Understanding data before I bought my first V filter was exactly how I myself came to visual-star observing. And I'm, um, not 20 years old.

So then, let's consider working with and benefiting from this possible data-first orientation more than fighting it. Maybe the glass isn't even half full--it's full, just in a way we're not used to. Let's figure it out.

One night at the last meeting we had five people (each one greatly admired by the membership for what they have each personally done for the AAVSO) organize a pep-talk about AAVSOnet.  They were motivated people that were looking for help to do something they each have invested a great deal of energy, wealth, and experience in.  There is no doubt that they support AAVSOnet and want to see it take off.  You'd think that if five of the heavy hitters in an organization were behind something that the organization would be at least partly in.

Yet, AAVSOnet is a program that the Council has decided to carve out of the general effort, remove staff support for, and let it go on its own.  It may just be cooincidence that only one officer of the organization was present at the meeting.  But that absence didn't send a good message about the connection between the collective will of the active membership and the leadership of the organization.

Our problems are not all external.  We need to realize that it doesn't make sense to cut off enthusiastic members driving something by their collective will and then in our next breath ask "what can we do to increase our base and its activity?"

We need to be more membership driven.  Some of the social media suggestions in this thread are geared toward that.  But also the officers of the organization need to do more to support productive people with contagious enthusiasm, not curb, control, micromanage, and then cut them out.  If this is about the AAVSO then our leadership needs to empower and suport what the members are doing not necessarilly rush to get out in front of them.

Sorry if that's too frank and too much inside baseball for some people.  But I think a lot of the issues that really cause this organization to falter are not dicussed enough in the open.  We've bled a lot of enthusiasm and talent over the years I've been a member and I'd like to see more people set egos aside and ask why.

Friends,

Very interesting discussion! All suggestions so far, can be summarized as follows. The AAVSO needs to:

• Participate in TV shows (e.g. "How The Universe Works")
• Monthly features in astronomy magazines and blogs
• Webcasts and articles
• Social media presence (fb, twitter, Instagram, youtube)
• Work with vendors/instrument companies
• AAVSO meetings all over the world
• Work with local astronomy groups

And all the above consistently (per Brad’s point). Since we cannot hire a communications team at this point, I will repeat my invitation for volunteers to join, in the hopes of forming a relevant working group to participate in all those above activities.

Thoughts? Volunteers?

Best wishes – clear skies,

Stella.

PS: If anyone is at Stellafane this year, I will be happy to meetup and talk in person. We’ll have a table there…

I hope some of you caught my talk on the AAVSO observing sections last year at Stellafane. I will be there this year as always so please feel free to bend my ear. I will be spending most of my time as coordinator of the talks in the McGregor Library so I will be easy to find.

Will try to find a way to work gratuitous AAVSO references into my Shadowgram talk....

KL

Out of curiosity, how many members does the AAVSO currently have?

    As far as recruiting new members and observers to the AAVSO, it seems to me that we can "spread the word" about how exciting variables can be. For instance, how many paople have seen an exploding star, a supernova, in a galaxy far, far, away, across the wide universe?  To date, I have seen only four. However, an exploding star is an event far more exciting than an eclipse (my opinion) and I think that sharing observations of supernovae with the public might help in gaining new members and observers.

I think AAVSO could get more members, by appealing to those already having considerable experiences with the more eye-candy aspects, such as lunar, double star, and DSO observing and who are ready to move on to a next, more specialized activity. That would likely not include many of the young.

Our lives are a series of choices and at certain stages many or our activities are dictated by the relative importance of those choices such as building careers and raising children. Therefore, it seems reasonable that AAVSO membership is skewed towards older adults with more discretionary time and funds.

However, it helps if the seeds of interest in astronomy are sewn early. One thing we can do is devote time to mentoring school aged children in astronomy at the eyepiece and in more "bookish" aspects as well. What works depends on the person you are mentoring.

Many amateur astronomers spend a lot of time doing star parties and sidewalk astronomy in an attempt to ignite a few sparks of interest. In my experience, the next step is harder. That step is helping that "oh wow" moment grow into a substantial flame of abiding interest before life obligations get in the way so that interest can remain a glowing ember to re-ignite when time and situation allow.

Fanning the spark into full flame takes a lot of time with small groups and one-on-one. It takes contact and involvement with clubs, schools, libraries cub scouts and boy scouts, other youth organizations and parks. Most of all, in my experience, it is recognizing that spark and spending lots of time with kids and their parents doing astronomy. 

On thing our club has done is to let schools in the area served by my club know that mentoring assistance is available for Intel ISEF science fair projects. In Texas, middle schools get credit from the Texas Education Agency for their level of of participation in ISEF so they are interested in having mentors. High schools do not get credit, and therefore, are often not as interested. In some years I have spent hundreds of hours mentoring students preparing ISEF projects. Sometimes the results are spectacular, sometimes frustrating, but almost all of the time it is rewarding and beneficial to all involved including the mentor. 

So my method is get 'em really interested and involved while they are young with a lot of personal attention. Then even if the pressures of young adulthood prevent active participation in astronomy citizen science, they are more likely to return to it when they can.  Star parties and sidewalk astronomy are just the first step in the process. The sustained effort with individuals kids is really important.

Brad Walter