The Virginia Science Festival, on September 26, 2015, featured hands-on experiences, live performances, and interactive demonstrations that inspired a wonder in science for all ages. Professor Ed Fox represented the Department of Computer Science by hosting a table at the event. Dr. Fox is the principle investigator on a NSF-funded project called IDEAL (Integrated Digital Event Archive & Library). The table was located inside the Moss Center for the Arts. Dr. Fox in addition to volunteers Jieun Chon and Sunshin Lee (graduate research assistant) demonstrated their data and software. The CS@VT team collected Post-It notes indicating what world event and community activity had greatest personal importance from individuals who stopped at the table. The input, from the participants, will help guide gathering of tweets and webpages, and the development of improved methods for searching, browsing, analyzing, and visualizing the resulting Big Data collections. The table engaged hundreds of visitors of all ages in citizen science.
