Not My Elements

A friend sent this link to me recently, as it has some similarities to experimental work I've done in the past. It's pretty cool, but no, I had nothing to do with this promotional piece for Adobe Catalyst.

What is GalaxyGoo?

Many of my friends in the Flash community know me as "galaxygoo". The thing is, galaxygoo isn't just my online persona, it's actually the name of the non-profit that I founded about 10 years ago.

When I first started visiting online Flash forums, and everyone used avatar names, my main focus was GalaxyGoo (the non-profit). It made sense to me, at the time, to go by the name "galaxygoo" and spread the name of my non-profit. The online community was really thriving in those days, and I got to know a lot of people who liked what I was doing at GalaxyGoo.

Then anonymity went out of style, and people in the Flash community began to step out from behind their online avatars. This was around the time the forums declined and individual blogs took over. I started using my real name in the community. But "galaxygoo" still stuck. Especially since I blogged as part of the GalaxyGoo website.

All along, there were these two communities that I participated in: 1) GalaxyGoo science and arts and 2)Flash. A few people participate in both, but mostly they were two separate groups. In each group, there was a bit of puzzlement about what the other group was.

Recently, I moved my Flash blogging here, so that the GalaxyGoo website can more clearly focus on science visualization and education issues.

So, now we get to the question "what is GalaxyGoo?" The short answer is that GalaxyGoo is a non-profit, based in San Francisco, dedicated to increasing science literacy. We develop educational materials that help students better understand concepts in Science and Math, and publish them for public benefit online.

One of our most popular resources is an animation of the molecular biology of an HIV infection, which is used by AIDS educators around the world for free.

Another is our Neuromuscular Junction Simulation, which is used primarily by college students in anatomy and physiology.

We also developed a hands-on activity for learning about cells. The students, build 3d models of cells from the inside out, and then slice them open to examine the cross-sections. We took this activity to the Maker Faire, where kids and grownups of all ages built their own cells and took them home. We were able to raise enough money at a small fund raising event, to cover the cost of all the clay for the workshops. The workshops were such a success, that we hope to hold more of them soon.

So, that's what GalaxyGoo is. Any questions?

My top picks for first 25-line Contest

There were so many amazing entries in this first round of the 25-line contest. It was just so hard to pick just 10!

First I narrowed it down to about 25 entries. Then down to 12, and then 10. For my top three, I went mostly on visuals. They stood out to me, a little, from the rest. As hard as it was, it was wonderfully inspiring.

Thank you, Keith! For putting together such a great contest and asking me to be one of the guest judges.

As requested, here is my short-list for entries to the first 25-line contest:

017
011
034

Voting open for 25-lines contest

Today, Keith opened up voting for this month's finalists for the 25-Line ActionScript Contest.

There were so many amazing entries. It was really tough for us to narrow it down to ten finalists. So, Keith decided to have twelve finalists this round.

I don't know how you'd pick just one favorite. It was hard enough to pick just ten.

GalaxyGoo Needs Your Help!

As many of you know, in my spare time I run GalaxyGoo, a small non-profit dedicated to science literacy. Over the years I've donated my time to developing learning tools with scientists, educators artists, and more. These tools have always been free and we hope they always will be.

In addition to the science projects, many amazing Flash developers have contributed experimental ActionScript projects.

With the economic downturn, funding has become more and more scarce. At the same time our server expenses keep increasing, as GalaxyGoo resources become more and more popular.

You can help! Your donation, of any size, will help GalaxyGoo cover server expenses and more. There are many ways to support GalaxyGoo, but Network For Good charges the lowest handling fees, so more of your donation gets to GalaxyGoo.

Also, if you're still shopping for gifts, try browsing the GalaxyGoo Museum Shop. I've personally selected items to feature, from our affiliates. A small portion of each sale through our links, results in a commission for GalaxyGoo.

If enough is raised, we'd love to update our most popular resources like the molecular biology of and HIV infection, and build new resources like the life cycle of a Malaria infection.