Chris Condayan, ASM's public outreach and media guru (and the guy behind the scenes of MicrobeWorld), has an editorial in the latest issue of Nature Reviews Microbiology. Cleverly titled "Culture media," Condayan encourages microbiologists to get involved sharing their knowledge online (and gives examples of ways they can do so). He notes:
As long as the internet remains free from regulation, every microbiologist has just as much access to online distribution as the BBC and CNN do. And in this day and age, if you don't start sharing knowledge and news online, you may run the risk of becoming irrelevant in the near future.
If you can't get your hands on the whole article, drop me an email and I can send it along.
Education & Careers
Comments
You folks ever use MicrobeWiki?
Posted by: RBH | August 14, 2008 4:17 PM
http://microbiowiki.wetpaint.com/
is another microbial wiki.
But it is pretty specific to one undergraduate level class on
microbiology.
Posted by: BTF | August 14, 2008 5:59 PM
Dang paywalls!
The article sounds quite relevant - is there a way I can get to it without going through a paywall?
Posted by: Epicanis | August 14, 2008 6:08 PM
I believe Tara said you could email her for a copy. If that doesn't work, drop me an email and I'll forward it to you.
Posted by: TomJoe | August 15, 2008 3:26 PM
"microbiologists be your own media"
Isn't that dangerous; culturing bacteria on your own body?
Posted by: eddie | August 17, 2008 11:53 AM
Ediie, we're already doing that 24/7/365...
Posted by: BioinfoTools | August 17, 2008 8:29 PM
Not everything is a joke. I admit much about life is purposeless but the objectives for sharing information are reasonable. There should not be a premium on knowledge. I know when I started out on the InterNUT, that was the charm of this wonderful media and then it changed and greed invaded the system. I agree with the author. Keep it accessible and keep it free. Information must remain free. Pay as you go is economics. Knowledge is science.
Hank Roth
http://inyourface.info/
Posted by: Hank Roth | August 22, 2008 5:58 AM
Thanks Tara for mentioning this. Talk about ironic - an article about sharing knowledge freely behind a pay per view firewall. LOL.
Posted by: Chris Condayan | August 28, 2008 10:42 PM