Science on Screen: The Social Network
When the Dairy Center for the Arts asked me if I'd host one of the Science on Screen shows I was intrigued. Once I found out what it actually meant, I was ecstatic!
I've always had a penchant for dissecting the scientific aspects of a film production. From the "that's not possible" scenarios in movies, to subtle usage of a given technology in a film, we are constantly guided by what a filmmaker puts on screen; fiction or not.
The Science on Screen program brings together feature films, and people with scientific expertise to discuss scientific aspects of said films. The audience experiences a "behind the curtain" view of some of the science the filmmaker, intentionally or not, incorporated into movie.
The Sloan Foundation's has a broad goal to bring public understanding of technological and scientific understanding to all of us through film. In 2011, they partnered with the Coolidge Corner Theater
to provide a grant program which supports independent cinemas across the US in bringing Science on Screen to their audiences.
I've recently been giving my right-brain more room to breathe, and I was excited to learn about some formalized energy around two of my favorite joys; science and film. I get to play the role of "expert" (hah!) on September 21, 2014 at the Boedecker Theater, in Boulder, CO. I'll be talking about the impact social networks are having in the context of "big data" in the computing/software arena prior to a screening of The Social Network.
The Social Network is one of my favorite movies (and not just because Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross did the incredible musical score). It does a beautiful job exploring the innate sociology that drives most of humanity, and the conveyance of that into the online world. That sociology results in billions of human expressions every day. Capturing, and conveying, those expressions to all of us users is a monumental software and hardware challenge. I'll be covering some aspects of that challenge.
I hope you join us. You can buy tickets here.