When we mention the nature of children, what do we think of?
The first is curiosity.
Without curiosity and thirst for knowledge as the driving force, human beings would not be able to produce those inventions that bring great value to society. For individuals, with curiosity about all things, understanding the richness and variety of the world, no matter what kind of life situation they encounter in the future, they will have the ability to live with great interest and enjoyment.
I have heard a saying that the larger the island of knowledge, the longer the ocean of curiosity.
I don’t know if you have noticed that children in remote mountainous areas may not have the opportunity to go to museums and ocean parks. They can only obtain limited, single-dimensional knowledge from books and TV to imagine the appearance and shape of animals. The natural beauty of a continent.
Limited educational resources and teachers are unable to answer the strange questions that children face: Why do people walk from the sea to the shore? How did fish evolve into humans? Is the salamander a human?
If children's curiosity is not responded to and their thirst for knowledge cannot be satisfied, the light of exploring the world in their eyes will gradually dim.
How to connect the island of knowledge with children's curiosity? Digital technology may be that rainbow bridge.
On May 14th, Public Science Day of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, at the "Exploration and Thinking of Science Communication in the Digital Age" salon held by the Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology, Chinese Academy of Sciences (hereinafter referred to as "Institute of Paleontology, Chinese Academy of Sciences"), we see In the digital age, what science communication should look like.
Baidu Encyclopedia cooperates with the Institute of Paleontology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences to trace the origin and connection of life based on the framework and logic of biological evolution, create a full range of paleontological digital science content from authoritative entries, hardcore videos, 3D model animations, etc. A comprehensive encyclopedia knowledge map of encyclopedia entries.
The combination of academic strength and digital encyclopedia makes paleontological science popularization different. From this event, let’s take a look at how science communication can extend the coastline of children’s curiosity to the future through the knowledge island of encyclopedia in the digital age. .
(May 14, Chinese Academy of Sciences Public Science Day Salon Encyclopedia made a report)
tree of Life
grew up on the island of knowledge
First of all, it is necessary to answer a question: There are many ways to understand the evolution process of paleontological life, such as reading books, listening to lectures, visiting museums, watching short videos of popular science...Why do we need a comprehensive encyclopedia knowledge platform for paleontology?
This is about the three characteristics of the paleontological knowledge platform of Encyclopedia:
1. Structured
We know that all human information is fragmented, and billions of levels of knowledge are stuffed into children's brains, which is difficult to remember and understand. Through logical and structured precipitation, knowledge can be better passed on. A knowledge graph is a structured knowledge representation that can express richer semantics and knowledge.
Take the cooperation between Baidu Encyclopedia and the Institute of Paleospine of the Chinese Academy of Sciences as an example. Scientists and Encyclopedia traced back to the source, constructed and implemented a set of knowledge context, and formed a tree-like systematic knowledge data.
The entire paleontological digital science popularization is based on the evolution of life, based on the specimens and related data in the field of paleontebrates and ancient humans from the Deepbone (deep bone) platform of the Institute of Paleontology, Chinese Academy of Sciences. A relationship chain is formed between them, and the process of biological evolution is shown in the form of a structured context.
For example, the first phase of the knowledge topic "The Rise of Ancient Fish" has been launched, and the "Evolutionary Tree of Ancient Fish" allows the audience to quickly outline, grasp the context of biological evolution through a structured and systematic species knowledge system, and understand the "from fish to man" Evolutionary process", feeling the charm of biological evolution.
(Baidu Encyclopedia "The Rise of Ancient Fish" knowledge topic evolution tree part)
With the knowledge map as the basis of cognition, when children see giant salamanders, they don’t just stop at the fragmented information such as “salamander” and “protection of animals”. The structure of the tree of life will appear in their minds, and they know that this is the structure of the aquatic spine. The group of animals transitioning to terrestrial vertebrates has a deeper understanding of creatures and the world.
2. Digitization
As a digital science dissemination platform, the Baike platform has the characteristics of real-time online, unlimited expansion, and timely updates, which can well make up for the shortcomings of traditional literature, books, videos, etc., which have limited knowledge carrying capacity and lagging knowledge updates.
Through the encyclopedia entry as a window, children can click on the entry to expand in detail and understand all the content they are interested in without being limited by resources, without worrying about parents or teachers not being able to answer and leaving regrets.
At the same time, the digital platform also provides more presentation methods. For example, in the topic of "The Rise of Ancient Fish", Baidu Encyclopedia and the Institute of Paleospine of the Chinese Academy of Sciences exclusively cooperated to create a 3D model animation of ancient fish. Being in the ancient seabed, science popularization has also become vivid, lively and interesting.
(Kong Ray 3D dynamic model display video)
(Baidu Encyclopedia × Institute of Paleospine, Chinese Academy of Sciences, the first digital exhibition of life evolution)
3. Authoritative
The explosive growth of Internet information has flooded the Internet with all kinds of good and bad popular science information. The cooperation between Baidu Encyclopedia and the Institute of Paleospine of the Chinese Academy of Sciences is to join hands with professional academic forces. Leading experts from the Institute of Paleospine of the Chinese Academy of Sciences are stationed in the Academic Committee of Encyclopedia to build a national team of science popularization and ensure the accuracy of entry content.
At the same time, based on the knowledge accumulation of Baidu Encyclopedia, authoritatively edited and reviewed more than 100 paleontology entries such as ancient fish and dinosaurs. For example, the entry [Tyrannosaurus rex] has a total of 1.5W words in the full text and 45 foreign references, so as to ensure that the content of the entry is complete, professional, and cutting-edge, and then fully presented in the form of knowledge topics.
The "tree of life" of paleontology grows on the "island of knowledge" of the digital encyclopedia, and science communication has more vitality.
(Baidu Encyclopedia × Institute of Paleospine, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Tyrannosaurus Rex authoritative module display)
The two islands of science and the public
Visiting museums is one of my hobbies. One year when I was traveling in Shandong, I found a county-level Shanwang Museum of Paleontological Fossils. After checking in, I was both happy and regretful. I was happy that there were only our group of visitors at the scene, and the experience of "private" visiting was excellent; It is because there are too few audiences, low popularity, a large number of paleontological fossil collections and careful curation in the museum, and it is very common that there are few people to appreciate.
Zhu Min, academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, researcher of the Institute of Paleospine of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, and director of the Academic Committee of the Encyclopedia, also emphasized in the discussion of the Academic Committee of the Encyclopedia: as a scientific researcher, one should assume social responsibilities, do a good job in the scientific research knowledge base, and implement knowledge inclusively. There are no classes. Good science popularization content is to allow authoritative voices to reach and influence more people in a timely manner. It not only improves the immunity of "scientific rumors", but also the key to improving scientific literacy.
Science and the audience cannot stand each other as two isolated islands. How can we provide accessible, professional, reliable, creative and interesting scientific content?
In the face of this problem, it seems that technology giants like Baidu should assume more social responsibilities and build a "rainbow bridge" that connects science with the public. Baidu Encyclopedia's platform and technology provide such a possibility.
Encounter at the Rainbow Bridge of Encyclopedia
The two places are separated by smoke and waves, and the wind and the moon are the same for a day. Baidu Encyclopedia came with "Hongqiao", and there is a possibility of reunion between paleontological knowledge and the public.
We know that comprehensive and authoritative knowledge popularization content is not a single technology, but a system engineering. In order to realize the grand vision of building a large human knowledge base, it poses many challenges to the technical capabilities of platform builders.
For example, most of the construction methods of traditional knowledge platforms rely on manual and machine mining, and it is difficult to balance scale and quality. The combination of technology and knowledge is an urgent problem to be solved.
The technological advantages enable Baidu Encyclopedia to realize in-depth understanding, excavation and presentation of domain knowledge. This is the premise of this collaboration with the Institute of Paleontology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, and it is also the real base of the rainbow bridge between science and the public.
In the next cooperation, Baidu Encyclopedia will also use a variety of innovative technologies to bring more possibilities to the field of knowledge:
One is the knowledge-enhanced large language model.
Knowledge widely exists in various data such as text, structured, visual, and time series. To fully mine explicit and implicit knowledge in information requires powerful computing, analysis, and understanding capabilities of large models. For example, Baidu's knowledge-enhanced large language model can integrate learning from massive data and large-scale knowledge, and use modal data to complete the knowledge map and enhance reasoning capabilities, making the knowledge map more cutting-edge and credible.
The second is AI technology.
Baidu has accumulated more than ten years in the field of AI, which can provide support for generative AI and intelligent interaction, and create efficient and vivid digital human, text and other images. The combination of digital human and 3D modeling technology provides real-time and vivid explanations for the audience, making the knowledge points more vivid, interesting and attractive.
The third is interactive technology.
Baidu also has corresponding products and accumulations in the fields of VR and metaverse, which can create a highly simulated virtual reality environment and bring immersive visual experience. , to help scientifically construct virtual reality images, and facilitate the convenient dissemination of Guyu's digital content through immersive interactive experiences.
You may ask: What is the use of knowing dinosaurs and fish? But in the eyes of children, knowledge does not have to be "useful".
Einstein once said, I have no special talent, only a strong curiosity, and those who are always curious are those who are always making progress. Light up the curiosity in children's eyes and stimulate the public's interest in scientific exploration. This kind of scientific communication is already very precious. Encyclopedia's "Rainbow Bridge" has landed, so that scientific knowledge is no longer trapped in isolated islands, and the coastline of curiosity will continue to extend to all things, the universe, and the world.
The cooperation between Baidu Encyclopedia and the Institute of Paleolithic Spine of the Chinese Academy of Sciences has taken the step of diversified exploration of "academic + technology". Next, Baidu’s massive AI technology will continue to empower the digital popular science content of paleontology, making paleontology not only visible, but also clear, bringing the ancient ocean hundreds of millions of years ago into reality and presenting it to the public.
