China Digital Science and Technology Museum (CDSTM) constructed jointly by China Association for Science and Technology (CAST), Ministry of Education (MOE), and Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) is an on-line national platform for the science popularization and through internet. With the purpose of stimulating the interests in science and help improve the scientific literacy, CDSTM has been established as a garden of science popularization for the whole public, and especially for children and youth. On this platform, the public could enrich their knowledge of science, experience science process, arouse their creativity, learn the most recent advancement of science and technology, and share the extensive resources for science popularization.
In November of 2007, CDSTM was declared by the Grand Jury of WSA 2007 to be the E-Science medal winner of World Summit Award. The honor shows the international recognition of CDSTM in its work for science popularization and its contribution to the effort in the cross of Digital Divide. World Summit Award was launched as part of the United Nations Summit on the Information Society, and is the unique global competition for recognition as the best in e-Content and Creativity.
THE PLATFORM FOR WALKING IN SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY
In response to its task, CDSTM has covered all-round elite scientific improvement of the mankind, from Space Discovery to Life Secrets, Human and Nature to Historical Civilization, Health and Care to Engineering and Technology, etc. Through 90 theme museums and their vivid multimedia exhibition forms, the general public could easily access the science concepts, experience the research process, and fully appreciate the pleasure and amusement of scientific civilization.
THE PLATFORM FOR CREATIVITY EXHIBITION
Children and youth are the groups of people with the most liveliness and creativity. CDSTM has provided them a great arena for showing their creative ability. Through various lively and attractive activities, CDSTM has been trying to arouse the youngsters’ interests in science and technology, and their creativity and the ability of practice.
THE ACCESS TO THE DYNAMIC RESOURCES
The science and technology are developing in every minute during the information era. CDSTM is intended to act with the era pulse of science and technology, exhaustively annotating the events, closely following the movement, highly focusing on the hot topics, and strongly promoting the exchange of ideas. CDSTM is also a reliable information bridge between the general public and great masters of sciences.
THE TREASURE HOUSE OF SCIENTIFIC RESOURCES FOR POPULAR SCIENCE
Knowledge is the common fortune of the mankind. CDSTM is intending to collect all possible resources of science and technology for the help and the service to the work for science popularization.
In a digital way on net, CDSTM is spreading scientific civilization, taking you from primitive to nowadays, from the virtual to the real; and sharing with you the amusement of science, the excellence of life, and the compact effect of science and technology to the life and the human society during our time.
In the context of the national major scientific and technological projects and problems of science and technology closely related to people's daily life, the column for popular science transfers the front edge of the development of science and technology and deeply dissects the scientific connotation behind the events of science and technology and its major impact on people's life in order to advocate idea of science and improve the public's awareness of the national development strategy for science and technology , decisions on science and technology and major scientific and technological projects.
Armed with the Internet and ICT, the interactive exhibits integrate and improve all types of hands/minds-on resources, so as to build a virtual environment or platform for the users to understand how to think like a scientist and experience the procedure of science inquiry across the hurdles of time and space, which will trigger creativity, a more serious science attitude and a stronger capability of solving scientific problems.
The main task of the Resources Section is to build the high quality database of popular science resources and to provide source materials for the popular science workers for their exploiting and creating the works of popular science.
The Resources Section has totally nine databases of resources. Different popular science works and information are stored separately in the databases and they are photographs of science popularization, science popularization exhibitions on special topics, cartoon works of popular science, audiovisual products of popular science, popular science reports, research materials of s popular science, education bases of popular science and exhibits for science and technology museums. All of these will effectively solve the rising problems of shortage of popular science resources and materials, the problems generally faced in present China when creating the works, exploiting the resources and carrying out the activities of science popularization, so that to provide the resources guarantee to carry out the popular science publicities and for the prosperity of popular science creations.
At present, the Resources Section mainly collects and integrates the quality resources of popular science developed in the past few years in China. Many of them are created by the professionals of popular science resources development and have played very good role in plenty of China's important and major activities of science popularization.
In the context of the national major scientific and technological projects and problems of science and technology closely related to people's daily life, the column for popular science transfers the front edge of the development of science and technology and deeply dissects the scientific connotation behind the events of science and technology and its major impact on people's life in order to advocate idea of science and improve the public's awareness of the national development strategy for science and technology , decisions on science and technology and major scientific and technological projects.