updates about the project progress
May & June 2010
The organisation for the 2010 British Science Festival events are well in hand. Invitations to the scientist contributors to the launch — a celebration dinner at Birmingham Botanical Gardens, went out less than two weeks ago. Already over 70 people have booked, which is brilliant. Reservations are now open at http://newoptimists.eventbrite.com (cheaper than via the Festival Box Office!)
Many of the scientists will be there, plus Jenny Uglow and the editor Keith Richards. Also the BBC's David Shukman will compere/speak, and the Ben Markland Quartet with singer Sara Colman have been commissioned to create a composition in the moment under the direction of the diner audience . . .
We're also running a Q&A session on 15th September, five scientists plus Sue Beardsmore chairing; we'll webcast as well as be there at Aston University. Editor Keith Richards and I will be telling the story behind The New Optimists on 16th September, a (free) lunchtime session at Waterstones New Street.
The Linus Publishing Company now exists, with a logo! It'll shortly be owned by a company limited by guarantee, with objects that will allow us to get charitable status should we need to. It's been legally, well, complicated – and we're very close now to having it as a proper not-for-profit organisation.
The book MS itself is set to go to print this week. At last! It's been a frustrating couple of months, inevitably so I'm supposing. All the different strands of activity have had to come together. A glitch in one strand, and everything is held up.
The Afterword, which I was struggling with last time I wrote an update, is posted here. It's due acknowledgment of the 100-plus wonderful people who've morphed an initial harebrained idea into a tangible reality. As I say there, I salute them all!
Only the newoptimists.com website to go . . . for various reasons, mostly technical, also branding issues, it's been a longer haul than I'd imagined. A flurry of emails and another meeting, and we should be able to go live in early July.
April 2010
The book cover design for The New Optimists is finalised — we 're delighted with it. It has seven stunning images by Spike Walker, many times Wellcome Image Award winner including a 2009 winning award of human IVF. I'll post an image of it shortly.
As for the words in the book itself, we already had Jenny Uglow's Foreword, and now Keith Richards has written his Introduction giving the structure of the book. I've been persuaded to write an 'Afterword' giving the story of the project which I'm currently agonising over - a dose of the medicine I gave to the scientist contributors, eh!
And, finally, I'm delighted to say that both Aston University and the University of Birmingham (College of Medical and Dental Sciences) are now generous sponsors of the production costs of the book.
(PS There's been a slight delay with the website production, as we have to get the social media plug-ins and other tools right. We're beavering away and will keep you posted on developments.)
March 2010
The title decision made! The New Optimists: Scientists view tomorrow's world & what it means to us.
We've bought the domain names newoptimists.com and co.uk and will launch the dedicated website late-April. The British Science Association have confirmed that we'll be running two events at the Science Festival. One is at Aston University on 15th September (evening) — a Q&A panel of four scientists taking questions from the public, some gleaned via social media and others put forward by the audience there and then. The other event will be over lunchtime on 16th September at Waterstones New Street when Kate Cooper (project director) and Keith Richards (editor) will be telling their story of how the book came about.
February 2010
As well as receiving Jenny Uglow's draft of her Foreword (lyrical, wonderful pertinent, a superb context for the scientists' essays!), there has been much behind-the-scenes work. The stuff of page design, thinking about the cover, working out how to help the reader orientate themselves through the collection . . oh, and what the title will be, still undecided. We've also put together the business proposition for the multi-media publishing venture which will morph out of this project with the welcome help of David Edmonds.
January 2010
With the finishing touches being put to the MS before sending to the publisher in mid-January, we're now planning the production of vid/podcasts. Subject to getting funding, Yohance Watson and Justice Innis (of 1 Day fame; both actors alhtough their preference is behind-camera not in front of it) will be producers of short films. We're also talking to another group of film-makers in the city - of which more later.
Spike Walker, the Penkridge-based microscopist and 2009 Wellcome Image Award winner, has given us permission to use his images. Initially a zoologist, Spike has been winning prizes for his visually delicious images for years.
A sample of his exquisite work is this image of a "Fairy Fly" wasp, which won a 2008 Olympus award.
December 2009
We've decided the publication launch
will be on 14th September 2010, the first evening of the 2010 British
Science Festival. It will be at a celebration dinner for the
contributors and others here in Birmingham. Scientists from this
'Optimism Project' will also participate in a Q&A panel session at
the Festival, facilitated by a media interviewer, at the Festival on
15th September.
With a detailed project plan now in place, we're on schedule in the early design stage for the book, and in setting up systems to create multi-media spin-offs. We'll be applying for funding in the New Year to involve young people in helping us produce such materials. We are also in the process of setting up a charity, The Linus Trust, for management of profits from the project.
October 2009
We've had over 80 submissions at this
final, final deadline. The next stage is to collate the essays before
sending them as a draft to the publisher at the end of November.
Currently, we're planning how to 'trail' the book using web and
podcasts, social media as well as traditional channels.
After taking legal advice, we've decided to set up this project as a charity. This will be called The Linus Trust after the double Nobel Prizewinner Linus Pauling, also Linus Torvalds of Linux fame (who was named after Pauling) and . . . should you like the idea of a comfort-blanket holding intellectual, Linus van Pelt too.
September 2009
About 75 submissions are already in. Keith Richards, on completing the first stage edit of the initial contributions, writes:
"What I'm left with at the end of working closely with these papers is the conviction that your original conception is bang on: exciting things are happening . . . I'll see what ideas I come up with for organising the collection. There are obvious topics (the brain, evolution, etc) but there are also less obvious ones that might be more revealing . . . I think we need to strike a convincing balance between scientific optimism and the sadder tone of quiet doubt in the face of human venality and incompetence. In short, I want to negotiate Pope's "glory, jest and riddle of the world" in terms of what we have here."