Serendip delights in facilitating the ongoing exchange of narratives about science between different groups of people or as literary critic Roland Barthes wrote in S/Z, ‘narrative is determined not by a desire to narrate but by a desire to exchange.’ This has led to newer exhibits returning to previous exhibits and then turning to the future. Serendip draws together or toward itself, as much as a website can be a self, open-ended inquiries, develop a higher degree of critical thinking about the role of science education in society. It is self-referential and nonlinear in nature because of its commitment to getting things progressively less wrong through exchange with others.
Serendip is a digital ecosystem that has disposed with disciplinary boundaries in order to facilitate the creation of novel connections between different kinds of knowledge, different ways of knowing, and different producers of knowledge. The website is devoted to telling, revising, and retelling stories about science.
Co-founder Paul Grobstein writes that ‘the story of science as story suggests that science can and should serve three distinctive functions for humanity: providing stories that may increase (but never guarantee) human well-being, serving as a supportive nexus for human exploration and story telling in general, and exemplifying a commitment to skepticism and a resulting open-ended and continuing exploration of what might yet be.’ Therefore, the website was created according to the belief that diversity and inclusion are essential to fuel conversations about the role of science in society.
Serendip hosts a digital ecosystem dedicated to the exploration of science and its implications for climate change, disability studies, gender studies, literature, mental health, pedagogy, and technology. Please go to the contributing to page for more information.
Serendip Sanctuary, Australia