I have the chance to suggest a maths project to BBC Lab UK which we
could run alongside the BBC2 TV series that I am currently filming
called The Code.
BBC Lab UK is a fantastic citizen science project getting people
involved in doing real science. You can take a look at the sort of
projects they've already done: http://www.bbc.co.uk/labuk/
I wondered if anyone had some really good ideas for a project that
would get people doing real mathematics. At it's best these
experiments generate genuine new research. I think it is important
that we find a project which doesn't just involve using someone's
spare computer time like the GIMPS project. That's the computer doing
the maths not the person. Something like the Galazy Zoo project where
you need human eyes to classify galaxies is an excellent model because
a computer can't do what humans can do.
I think mathematics is a difficult nut to crack as far as a genuine
citizen science project goes. Tim Gowers had an interesting attempt
via his blog but I think he is the first to admit that ultimately it
came down to a group of hard-core mathematicians who stayed the
course. But it might be worth looking at his experience for ideas.
Check out http://polymathprojects.org/ and http://gowers.wordpress.com/
Anyway, any ideas people have that could get some maths being done on
the BBC Lab UK site would be brilliant.
Thanks
Marcus.
Marcus du Sautoy
Simonyi Professor for the Public Understanding of Science and
Professor of Mathematics at the University of Oxford.
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