The Pro-Am Revolution

[anotheranon]

Found through Slashdot: From astronomy to activism, from surfing to saving lives, Pro-Ams - people pursuing amateur activities to professional standards - are an increasingly important part of our society and economy.

Despite the tormented classification of "pro-am", I think the researchers might be on to something here. Though the press release seems to focus mainly on amateur astronomers and open source programmers (which are laudable efforts, don't get me wrong), but I also note there are numerous "pro-ams" in the historic costume "hobbyist" community - some of the best regarded researchers out there don't have the "official" training but out of love and fascination have done their work and ultimately lectured/published papers and otherwise been recognized by professional historians/academics.

I aspire to be a costuming/textile "pro-am"; I'm not there yet because there is so much left to learn. No one topic has obsessed me enough to really delve, but hope springs eternal that one day The One will come for me :)

Comments

Re: GO HOBBYISTS!!!!!!!

[jlsjlsjls.livejournal.com]

Very true that the hard sciences are the last ones to be accessible to the general public. But that doesn't stop an interested amateur from reading scientific papers and making connections/coming up with interesting theories. At least if they can't do it on their own, there's potential for interaction.

In a book I was reading a book on Tsavo lions (either this or this ... I read both) a few months ago, there was an interesting bit about a museum curator, whose training was in art rather than science, who had noticed (possibly because his art background made him more minutely aware of perspective and proportion) that the head-body proportions of the specimens from that region appeared to be different from those of lions in other areas and could possibly be considered a unique subspecies. He didn't get any recognition or encouragement from the scientific community, but did eventually find a professional zoologist who was interested. With the stamp of professional "respectability", they managed to get some funding and have been accumulating measurements of Tsavo lions for comparison purposes. There may be nothing to the theory itself, but it's encouraging to know that it's possible for a truly determined amateur can, eventually, find a way to access more expensive research.

Re: GO HOBBYISTS!!!!!!!

[anotheranon.livejournal.com]

A very interesting story about someone from arguably a very different background being able to contribute :) Also, thanks for the tips on the Tsavo lions book - I was fortunate enough to see them at the Field Museum in Chicago last year, and it would be nice to read a bit more about them :)

Re: GO HOBBYISTS!!!!!!!

[jlsjlsjls.livejournal.com]

***chuckles*** You've just made me realize that the two books reflect the pro/amateur thing as well. One is written by a scientist. The other is by a non-scientist who has been fascinated by the Tsavo lions most of his life, after seeing the Field Museum specimens when he was a boy; he wrote his book after finally achieving his dream trip to Tsavo in middle age and getting to hang out with the scientists who were there studying the lions. :-)