Digital Reach

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SCIENCE COULD SERVE society better if more ordinary people
could understand, appreciate and question it. With the
spread of the Internet and people’s increasing trust in it,
internet-based science popularization embraces new challenges
and offers new opportunities. Virtual Science Museums of China
takes measures to transfer the knowl-
edge, methods, procedures and responsibilities of science,
promoting exchange and mutual understanding between the
science community and the public.
Technology does not inspire, but content will. Virtual Science
Museums of China uses information and communication tech-
nology (ICT) to make scientific content easier to understand,
more enjoyable to receive and fun to play with.
The Internet became very popular in China at the end of the
1990s. Yet there were few websites with comprehensive science-
related content. As a leading academic institution with more than
100 institutes and over 40,000 science workers, the Chinese
Academy of Sciences (CAS) felt it their responsibility to promote a
public appreciation of science. The Computer Network Information
Centre (CNIC), the birthplace of China’s Internet and a sub-orga-
nization of CAS, initiated the VSMC project on 25 October 1999
with the support of CAS research centres and scientists. With 60
virtual museums in the Chinese language and 12 in English, VSMC
had counted 42 million visitors in total by 31 March 2005 and
nearly 30,000 visitors on average each day since 2002, ranking
highly among websites for science popularization in China.
In February 2004, VSMC was selected as one of the most excel-
lent cultural websites by the Organizing Committee for the China
Internet Manners and Culture Project and was recommended all
over the country. In September 2005, VSMC was recognized as
one of the best websites for the public understanding of science
by the Union of Internet-based Science Popularization under the
China Internet Society.
The VSMC pattern of Internet-based science popularisation
According to the 16th Statistical Survey Report on Internet
Development in China, the number of Internet users in China had
reached 103 million by 30 June 2005, with the youth holding a
dominant position. Seventy-seven per cent of Internet users think
the Internet helps them greatly with study. Internet-based science
popularization in China has become a new trend with great poten-
tial, targeted mainly at the youth.
The table below helps explain how VSMC works to promote
the public understanding and appreciation of science. As a
producer of science information, over 40,000 science workers in
CAS input knowledge and thinking methods into virtual
museums (Info 1). A professional information service team of
VSMC serves as full-time science popularization workers, who
work creatively to produce and transfer Info 2 to Internet users
while communicating with science workers and inspiring them to
reach their full potential. In order to provide better service, science
popularization workers will continuously improve Info 2 by
Virtual Science Museums of China: a success
in Internet-based science popularization
Yun Xiao, Jianhui Li, Wen Li, Yu Chen, Baoping Yan
51-60 3.0%
Data Source: CNNIC
41-50 7.4%
36-40 7.3%
31-35 10.4%
25-30 17.4%
18-24 37.7%
Under 18 15.8%
Above 60 1.0%
Internet users in China by Age
V S M C
Science popularisation workers
Science workers
Public Info 1 Info 3
Info 2
Info 4
VSMC pattern of science communication