Free Astronomy Magazine March-April 2020

45 MARCH-APRIL 2020 OUR EXPERIENCES Dissemination in the era of digital mass media is highlighted by a few very delicate points. The web has al- lowed rapid and widespread popu- larization with a few simple steps, reaching an audience with very dif- ferent levels of understanding. That said, the content posted on Face- book, Twitter, and other platforms, for example, are produced indiffer- ently by doctors in physics, by young people in training, or by people without any knowledge in the field. Those who publish should choose who they are trying to reach with their information, as the choice of who to target is subject to difficulties in having to reach a base without sacrificing the rigor of the content. In publishing on social networks, a direct and rapid approach to the content problem prevails, often with the display of a “hook” that attracts the desired “click” or “like.” The approach to concepts that go beyond the human scale, especially prevalent in astrophysics and cos- mology, leads us to make compar- isons that, on many occasions, ei- ther lower the intellectual level or over/underestimate the public’s un- derstanding instead of illustrating the issue. On the other hand, hav- ing data on an astronomical scale as one’s working material can make us fall into the temptation of grandil- oquence one might consider unnec- essary when the subject is treated in context. All of these behaviors are almost symptoms of the society in which we live, but they give rele- vance to an area that had not even been dreamed of 30 years ago. As with any topic, the exaggeration of these points, especially in an infi- nite space such as the Internet, sometimes reverses the message. The direct approach to information that, over time, the Internet has benefited us since, although it leaves more people at home, it also reaches a greater number of ama- teur astronomers who want to make progress in their hobby. Tradi- tional astronomy societies have had to adapt (a word we will use several times in this article). Instead of past- ing ads in universities to advertise our events, we now create “posts” in the media the web offers us. That said, social networks are also a dou- ble-edged sword for this hobby. serve in terms of darkness, distance, and general comfort for having the most pleasant night possible (condi- tions improved by the presence of observing company). It is in these cases that many people ask themselves: “Where could I take my next steps?” After searching the Internet for a while, the search en- gines show, among all the results, associations like ours in their own town, something that they might not otherwise have known existed. So, in this sense, it could be said Internet media and social networks