Concept

I've been wrestling with a few potential website ideas for this project: a repository of tried and tested home science demos, with accompanying explanations; a 'dating' service for researchers interested in communicating science and schools who want them to visit; a repository of geeky science posters; a site for organising science flashmobs; an expansion the physics of sailing - for pirates...

None of these struck me as particularly inspired or inspiring, but then a little idea attacked.  It's significantly more arty, and I believe it could have good potential for exploring the medium.  It's a continuation of some concepts which I explored in an essay for the Science and its Social Contexts module, which focused around the idea of different perceptions, of seeing and "seeing as", and can be read here. 

I'm fascinated by the idea of fluidity in ideas and the influence of knowledge on perception, by the process of upgrading knowledge, of venturing further by continual testing and examination. 

The site idea was triggered by a few words I read on Open Reflections, regarding the concept of 'liquid books'.  Stepping away from traditional methods of publication, which freeze manuscripts at the moment they are sent for print, platforms such as wikipedia "challenge the essentialist notions underlying the perceived stability of scholarly works" and reject authority and fixity in favour of a more biological approach, where a living text can adapt in the face of new knowledge.

Critical to this process is making the revisions transparent and evident, revealing the presence of previous ideas and the history of updates and changes.  I feel that rather than undermining the authority of the presented piece, change-history lends a refreshing air of frankness and transparency, and the lack of finality signals an openness to new developments.  

What I'd like to create in my site is a work which reveals, highlights and embroiders the history of a scientific notion or view of a particular subject, and shows how one way of looking at it may flow into the next in a process of refinement and revision.  I want to illustrate that scientific knowledge is not doctrine, but an evolving constellation of best theories where everything can be questioned.  

Most importantly to me, the site must do this in an elegant, beautiful and accessible way.

I'll make a few separate posts to discuss ideas.