The reason such a plethora of terms has proliferated is that each comes with the baggage - like how 'citizen science' might sound to an undocumented worker - of preconceived notions and affiliation with a particular structure of program. No one term has yet emerged to describe the wide spectrum of participatory science. Here at OST, we’ve decided to use the term ‘citizen science’ for a variety of reasons, most notably that it’s one of the easiest to understand and becoming one of the most popular. But we still have feelings about the term, so we’ve done a straw poll of staff members to see how they feel.
thinkahol * on 28 Jun 11Instead of practicing for hours, a device can now teach you a tune by taking control of your hand (see video above). The system, developed by the University of Tokyo and Sony Computer Science Laboratories, is appropriately named PossessedHand and electrically stimulates muscles in your arm that move your fingers. Tests have shown that the device can help you learn the correct fingering faster but many find the concept unsettling. Would you be willing to have your hand hacked to learn an instrument?
