If you follow the online math world, one of many Brits you'll run into is 'relentlessly' enthusiastic Dr. Katie Steckles, who runs the monthly "Carnival of Math," as just one of her many projects. Definitely check out her homepage (listed below) to see all the mathy things she is up to! But somehow, I got her to sit still long enough to tell us a little bit more about her math world.
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1)
Please tell us whatever is pertinent in your background that brought
you to mathematics and blogging? When did you know you wished to be a
mathematician, and what is your current professional position?
I
chose my subject to study at A-level (age 16-18) because I was thinking
about going into medicine, but having studied maths at that level I
found it really interesting, so I changed my plans to do a degree in
maths, and then went on to a PhD. I’ve always found I was good at it,
and I love solving puzzles and working things out so it makes sense as a
subject for me. I now work full-time as a freelance maths speaker,
doing talks in schools and at science festivals, as well as YouTube
videos, podcasts, and occasional other outreach projects. I find that
blogging works well alongside this, as it means I can try out ways of
explaining things, and research topics that I can then use for other
things. It also means I feel like I’m still up-to-date with the latest
goings-on in maths research.
2)
You're involved in SO MANY different things I'll let you list all the
places you'd want readers to look for you or your work (Twitter,
Facebook, blogs, YouTube, other websites/homepages, Google+....)?
I’m on Twitter as @stecks, and I blog at aperiodical.com. I have a YouTube channel at youtube.com/user/st3cks,
although it doesn’t have much on it -- most of my videos are on the
Numberphile channel (for now -- I’m working on some more!). I have a
homepage at katiesteckles.co.uk that lists all the stuff I’m doing.
3)
At one time you were involved with "math busking" (taking math to the
streets for any-and-all interested folks) in Britain, which always
sounded like a lot of fun, and something we don't do in the U.S. But I
haven't heard much about it lately; is it still happening (and if not
why not)? Are you involved? Anything else you care to say about how fun,
effective, or difficult it is to do?
The
Maths Busking project is still going on, and they’ve trained a large
team of people to do it - although I do still occasionally do events
with them, and it’s a real challenge talking to people one-on-one, or in
small groups, or even with larger crowds because you have to keep their
attention and be engaging or else they’ll walk away. We’ve done it on
the street, at science festivals, and as cabaret entertainment at dinner
events. Buskers, like maths teachers, often face a disinterested or
occasionally hostile audience, and many of the techniques they employ
can be useful in finding ways to get maths across. It’s about choosing
topics carefully and keeping things engaging, and leaving with a
positive message. It also stemmed from the idea of things which people
hear and want to repeat or show others, like a joke or a simple trick,
and maths people often share such things with each other at conferences
and so on. Maths Busking is a great way to share little nuggets of maths
that you hope people will pass on to others too.
4)
I'm always struck by the number of excellent math communicators
heralding from Britain (out-of-proportion to the nation's size) -- even my favorite U.S. math writer, Keith
Devlin, is originally British! Just curious if you see any reason why
the British education system produces so many good math
writers/lecturers? (and I ask that, in part, because I read Brits
complaining about their math education almost as much as Americans
complain about theirs!)
I
suspect that people complaining about their childhood maths teacher is a
universal thing, although possibly not always justified -- it’s often
the case that kids go into maths lessons expecting it to be difficult or
boring, because of what the general attitude to maths is in society,
and that can set you up to fail -- and it happens everywhere. I think the
UK does well partly because we have a really rich maths research
community and lots of cool people actively doing maths; I think there’s
also a strong community of outreach in the UK compared to other
countries, not just in maths but across science, and there’s a lot more
science programming on TV at a reasonable level, good science magazines
and lots of celebrities openly interested in science, so there’s a real
culture of public engagement with science and maths. Maybe this means
more people do well at writing and talking about maths, because of the
large number of good communicators.
[Listen up America; WE need MORE of this!]
5) What are some of your own favorite math reads that you'd recommend to other math fans (books or blogs or anything else)?
I
have a whole shelf of maths books (and hardly enough time to read them)
- although some of my favourite writers are Ian Stewart, Alex Bellos,
Simon Singh (whose books I’ve read since I was a kid) and Richard Elwes --
I also like Jordan Ellenberg’s latest book, and I should probably
mention Matt Parker’s book which is excellent (although I did help with
some of his proof-reading and fact-checking, and I get mentioned in the
acknowledgements, so that sort of doesn’t count).
6)
As a female in a still male-dominated field, did you meet any major
barriers along your pathway to mathematics? From your experience, do you
have any 'words-of-wisdom' or recommendations for other females
starting out on a mathematics journey?
I
don’t think I’ve ever felt like being female has been a disadvantage,
although I do wonder if anything would have been different if I were
male -- I sometimes found myself questioning whether I was good enough to
be doing maths research, in a way that I rarely saw my male colleagues
openly doing, although in private conversations it turns out everyone
thinks that at least some of the time. I understand that ‘impostor
syndrome’ is an issue that’s known to disproportionately affect females,
and I imagine it stems partly from the way women and men are taught is
the correct way to behave -- to be polite and modest, or to be manly and
self-confident, both of which can be harmful if taken too seriously. I
volunteer with a local group in Manchester, called Manchester Girl
Geeks, and we try to provide an environment for people who want to be
geeky and play with maths and computers, especially if they feel less
free to do that because they’re female (we’ve had attendees who go to
all-girls schools which don’t offer computer science as a subject
option, and helped them find external tutors and friends to share their
hobby with). It’s definitely better now than it’s been in the past, but
there’s still a way to go before everyone stops seeing maths, and
computer science especially, as being ‘for boys’. I’d say that since I
don’t have much direct experience of being disadvantaged by my gender (I
have been lucky to have parents who encouraged me whatever I wanted to
do, and an older brother into computers as a major role model), I don’t
have any particularly good advice for women who want to go into it other
than to follow what you love and don’t let anyone sway you from it if
it’s what you want to do. And, enjoy the shorter queues for the bathroom
in your department :)
7)
Your popular "Aperiodical" blog has been around for awhile now,
covering a very wide range of topics, and always seems a fun group of
folks to work with. Are there any 'behind-the-scenes' stories from
putting out such a blog over several years that readers might find funny
or entertaining?
It’s
great working with other bloggers, as it really takes the pressure off
you for feeling like you need to constantly be producing content; it
also means we can proof-read and check each other’s work. I’m grateful
to Christian for being a massive pedant and correcting all our
typesetting gaffes, and to Peter for always being keen to have
well-sourced facts and driving that. I’m not sure what my main
contribution is -- maybe it’s ideas, since I am such a magpie for fun
interesting bits of maths, but we all bring things along that we want to
write about, and then it’s a toss-up as to who has enough free time to
make it happen. We’ve done some pieces that we’ve all worked on
together, and plenty of individual stuff, but it always really feels
like a collaboration and I’m glad people enjoy it. Since we recently set
up a Slack channel to keep in closer touch (previously we had
increasingly irregular Skype chats, but we’re all doing this in our
spare time and as we’re all busier it’s more difficult to find time when
we’re all free, so Slack works well), there’s often times when we all
come in at the same time to say ‘did you see this news’, so we’re all
keeping an eye out and hopefully keeping on top of the latest maths
gossip. We also encourage each other to write our own feature pieces,
plus I keep a regular Puzzlebomb schedule, and supervise the Carnival of Maths there, so there’s always something going on.
8) Anything else you'd want to pass along to a captive audience of math enthusiasts?
If
you enjoy it, keep doing it, and share it with others -- show someone
else your favourite maths trick/puzzle/joke/theorem, and spread the
love!
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Thanks Katie for fleshing out who you are a bit more for all of us, and for contributing so much to the online world of our favorite (or, as you say, favourite) subject!
If by some slim chance you're a reader unfamiliar with Dr. Steckles' work be sure to check out several of the above links.
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