Prof. Yan Baoping Computer Network Information Center of CAS HTTP://kepu

1. Current Status and Future Prospects of Public Understanding of Science based on Internet in China Prof. Yan Baoping Computer Network Information Center of CAS HTTP://www.kepu.net.cn

2. Outline • Internet in China • Why public understanding of science based on Internet in China • What’s the current status • Overview • Some cases • China Popular Science Exhibition • A series of virtual museums about public understanding of science based on Internet • Problems faced by us • Suggestions

3. Internet in China • Computers connected to Internet: 9,420,000 • Directly connected: 1,490,000 • Dialing up: 7,930,000 • The number of Internet users: 23,860,000 • users directly connected : 3,850,000 • Users through dialing up : 16,390,000 • Users in both ways: 3,620,000 • The Number of websites in China: 37,950 • The total bandwidth connected to other countries • 2799M • Including American, Canada, Japan, Australia,German and so on

4. Internet in China (2) • Percentage of users under 35 ages: 90% According to the report by CNNIC in 2000.12

5. Why public understanding of science based on Internet in China • More and more young people in china are using or attempting to use the Internet • There are many Advantages by using Internet to get information • No time limit • No space limit • Open • Interactivity • Multimedia • Information can be saved and reused

6. What’s the current status • Overview • No more than 200 websites provide popular science information service • The percentage is only 0.5% • The are no more than 20 websites which only provide popular science information service

7. Some cases (1) • Websites for social commonweal • China Popular Science Exhibition • http://www.kepu.net.cn • Sponsored by CNIC, CAS • China Public Understanding of Science • http://www.cpus.gov.cn • sponsored by the Department of Policy, Regulation and System Reforming, Ministry of Science and Technology • China People’s Science and Technology • http://www.cpst.net.cn • sponsored by China Association of Science and Technology

8. Some cases (2) • Websites for social commonweal • Beijing Windows for Science Communication • http://www.bjkp.gov.cn • sponsored by Beijing Association of Science and Technology • Characteristics of these websites • Supported by central or local government • somewhat authoritative and policy-oriented • managed and operated in a standard way • contents are more plentiful and systematic

9. Some cases (3) • Websites for commercial interest • SCITOM of TOM.COM • http://www.scitom.com.cn • China Science Communication City • http://www.stcity.net.cn • Science of Netease • http://science.163.com • Characteristics of these websites • Driven by commercial interest, these web sites target at practicability with original and vivid design.

10. Some cases (4) • Personal websites • Big Eyes Website for Science Communication and Education • http://www.eyecn.com • built and maintained by a group of teacher volunteers • Wuliucun China Culture and Science Communication • http://go.163.com/~sltao • built by Dr. Tao Shilong • Characteristics of these websites • Personal interest, no restrict and no funding • contents selected randomly • can not be updated in time

11. China popular Science Exhibition • Background • Sponsored by CAS, NSFC, MST • Many institutes and scientists in CAS attend enthusiastically • Advantage in scientific information • Biggest scientific database in China • Advantage in network • CSTNET • Opened up on Oct, 1999 • Lake museum, Astronomy museum, Plant museum, Hydrobiology museum

12. Status of the website (2000.12) • Virtual Museums • In Chinese version：19 • In English version：3 • Total data: 1105M • Total HTML Files: 27,862 • Total Picture Files: 25,256 • Total Multimedia Files: 500 • Mirror Sites: • Taiwan, China • Nanjing City, China • Tianjing City, China • One site will be in USA

13. Status of the website (2000.12) • Requested Logo for the main site • Page view per day: 10,000+ • Users per day: 1000+ • Files requested per day: 60,000+ • Record of the page view : 20,611(2000.11.2) • Record of files requested: 198,706（2000.10.26)

16. Feature of the website • Scientific • Systematic • Organized in different discipline • Authoritative • Contents were written by scientists and experts • Interesting • Make full use of multimedia and other technologies • Highlight the Chinese special contents

17. Future plan for the China Popular Science Exhibition • Develop more virtual museums in Chinese version • Develop as many virtual museums in English version as we can • Have more mirror sites which will spread all over the world • Design and develop some multimedia compact disks based on the website • Publish a series of books based on the website • Organize some activities, such as science trips and science summer camps • More international and internal cooperation

18. Problems Faced by Us • contents lack recreation for Internet • neglected the interactivity of Internet and the diversity of media • Seriously lacking of contents • No internal cooperation • No international cooperation • Short of funding

19. Suggestions • Build some websites for public understanding of science on national level • Research the characteristics of public understanding of science based on Internet • R&D new technologies • Multimedia • Virtual Reality • More internal cooperation • Develop international cooperation

20. The virtual museums about public understanding of science will be built up by all scientists together in the world!

21. THANK YOU!