IDL2021 Newsletter December 2020

Dear Supporters of the International Day of Light,

Thank you all again for your fantastic support in making the celebration of the International Day of Light such a success.  The International Day of Light in 2020 saw a wide variety of events take place in 69 countries, reaching an estimated audience of more than 750,000.  You can read all about this year’s activities in the final report.

We are now enthusiastically preparing for the International Day of Light 2021, and we can anticipate a strong focus on hybrid and online events in many countries. Although virtual events cannot replace hands-on outreach, they do provide other opportunities to hear from a broad range of international speakers, and allow us to reach a much larger audience.  A separate item below gives some additional ideas about online and hybrid event organization for 2021.

We are now welcoming registration of events for next year.  In 2021, the International Day of Light falls on a Sunday, and so we are suggesting a strong global focus during the Saturday-to-Saturday period 15-22 May.  Of course, we remain completely flexible, and events celebrating light at all other times of the year can also be recognized as part of the International Day of Light!  Just contact us if you have any questions, and we will be happy to help.

We will also be developing new initiatives with international partners. For example, we will be working especially closely with the International Astronomical Union to promote broad public engagement with science, and to highlight the wonder of the light from the cosmos.  This is described more below.

And as well as continuing to communicate the beauty and excitement of science through the medium of light, we will be developing new resources to help you communicate the key messages of how appreciating and supporting science and technology more widely is a necessary and central part of today’s world.  Public outreach can play a crucial role in ensuring societal confidence and trust in science and scientists, and an additional emphasis of the International Day of Light in 2021 will be on improving interactions and engagement between science and society.

As we begin our planning, we encourage all within the International Day of Light community to continue following and engaging with our social media channels using the hashtag #LightDay2021 and the official channels: @IDLOfficial on Twitter, @DayOfLight2021 on Instagram, and the @InternationalDayOfLight on Facebook. And once again, we acknowledge the continued commitment and support from the Steering Committee and other partners. Information about our partnership and how to get involved is here.

John Dudley and Joseph Niemela
IDL 2021 Steering Committee Chairs
Email: john.dudley@univ-fcomte.fr
Email: niemela@ictp.it

Bethany Downer
IDL Communications Coordinator
Email: contact@lightday.org

IAU Office for Astronomy Outreach and IDL to Collaborate for
#LightDay2021

Light is a fundamental aspect of astronomy research. In fact, one of the key IDL goals is to raise awareness that technologies and design can play an important role in the achievement of greater energy efficiency, in particular by limiting energy waste, and in the reduction of light pollution, which is key to the preservation of dark skies.

The IDL Secretariat will continue collaborating with the International Astronomical Union for the 2021 International Day of Light. In 2019 and 2020, this collaboration focussed on the celebrations surrounding the IAU100's 100th anniversary (IAU100). In 2021, the IAU's Office for Astronomy Outreach (OAO) will continue active engagement with IDL by collaboratively highlighting and raising awareness of common themes and values, including the preservation of dark skies, the United Nations International Day of Women & Girls in Science, science literacy, and more. Stay tuned!

You can follow updates from the IAU OAO on Twitter and Facebook.

SPIE Announces Winners of their International Day of Light Photo Contest

The SPIE International Day of Light Photo Contest is held each year to help raise awareness about IDL and the vital role that light and light-based technologies play in daily life. Lightsources.org partnered with us once again to award a Science and Technology prize. This year, photographers from Portugal, China, and the Philippines were named winners of the contest, from 2,000 entries depicting the world-of-light theme. New in 2020, SPIE created a youth category and recognized three young and talented photographers from the US, Russia, and United Arab Emirates.

See the winning photos and some of the other impressive submissions at spie.org/contest.

Image: Youth Category Winner | Reflecting The Best | Bhavya Shylaja Suresh

Planning a Virtual or Hybrid Event for 2021

It is likely that events in many countries in May 2021 will still need to be carried out either entirely or partially online. To this end, we would like to provide some timely tips to help you with your planning. Note that these tips are not aimed at large scientific conferences where the organizers will already have much experience in online events, but are focused more on smaller gatherings to be held at local universities or schools. These tips can also be read in conjunction with our general advice on event organization.

1.  Types of Event.  A Virtual Event is one where speakers and audience participate remotely from their own computers rather than gathering face to face at a specific location.  Also very common is the Hybrid Event where there may be a local audience gathered together physically in a room or lecture hall, and they will listen to talks both from local speakers delivered face to face, as well as talks that will be projected on a screen from international speakers participating remotely.  It is also possible with a Hybrid event to stream or grant access to all presentations to a remote audience for those unable to attend in person. In May 2021, we may well be able to anticipate that many local gatherings will be able to take place with suitable precaution, but it is likely that international travel will still be disrupted.  We would therefore recommend that event organizers already begin preparing their IDL 2021 event with a hybrid format in mind.

2.  Platform and Logistics.  There is a wide range of software platforms that can be used to manage online events and to give streamed access to an online audience. Experience seems to suggest that there are more options and improved reliability using a paid service, but costs can be extremely reasonable if you require this just for one event.  In any case, many universities and schools will already provide full access to a suitable platform.  As an additional possibility, if you are part of a Student Chapter of a Scientific Society (e.g.one of our Steering Committee members) they may be able to provide you with access or advice.

3.  Timing. Keeping an audience engaged for a full day with online presentations can be difficult.  One way to do so is to split the event into distinct morning and afternoon sessions with a range of themes and speakers to ensure the audience remains interested.  However, our experience suggests that even an event spanning only an afternoon can cover a wide range of subjects and can be very effective in spreading the messages of the International Day of Light.  So if all you have available is an afternoon, that can be perfect for a wonderful event!

4.  Programme. The choice of programme depends strongly on the local audience and the particular topics that you wish to cover. But since its inception in 2018, we have now seen over 1000 events take place around the world, and the most memorable always seem to be those that combine topic areas that may be familiar to the local audience as well as those that link to broader areas of light. To help you plan, we can strongly recommend that you look at our resources section and review the programmes of the various International Year and Day of Light events that are available for download.  Although it may not be possible to be as ambitious, these programmes give examples on how to organize short thematic sessions bringing together multiple speakers on particular topics.  Also remember that we have placed online a range of videos for you to use, all of which can be incorporated into your planning.

5.  In terms of potential speakers, we have a speaker database that you can draw on, and many of our Steering Committee partners have Travelling Lecturers that you can contact.  Please reach out early!

6.  Register and Promote.  As always, please let us know of your plans via the event registration form!  We will delighted to promote your event via our global calendar, and if you have something special planned, we may also be able to run a special news item if you contact us in advance.

IDL is on Instagram!

The International Day of Light launched an Instagram page for 2020 and this channel will continue to be used for updates about #LightDay2021! Follow @DayOfLight2021 for updates about about the next Day Of Light in May 2021, including news and announcements, as well as a special collection of photography that features the role and beauty of light in our daily lives!

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International Day of Light Secretariat · Abdus Salam International Centre for Theoretical Physics ICTP · Str. Costiera 11 · Trieste, TS 34151 · Italy