A Blog Around The Clock

Yes, about 200-something people will be participating in the Science Blogging Conference in the real space and real time, being physically present. But, both those who are here and those who are not should also participate online.

Here are the three main places to do so:

1. The Wiki

The main conference wiki, set up by Anton Zuiker, is the center of the conference universe. Look around and see what is happening. Check the 'Recent Activity' tab to see who made changes to what page recently. Feel free to edit pages - no need to enter the e-mail address (it will reject your edit) - just solve the captcha and edit. If you mess a page up and do not know how to fix it, don't worry, move on - someone tech-savvy is likely to come along soon and will fix the page after you (and if you know how to fix it and see a messed-up page, please fix it for others).

The main pages on the wiki for you to look at are the individual session pages. If you go to the Program page you will see, next to each session's description, a link to take to "Join the discussion online." Click on it and read what others have put there and edit the page to add your own ideas, comments, questions, useful links, etc... On Saturday early morning, the Program page will also have all the information about recordings - several sessions will be recorded in some way: audio, video or screencast and these recordings will be uploaded in several places. Some sessions will have live video streaming and an attached chat-room so people not physically present can participate in real time.

The media and blog responses will be all collected on the Blog and Media Coverage page of the wiki. I will be updating the page manually as frequently as I can. Help me by tagging your posts with "scienceblogging.com" (either add that tag, or make sure that word appears in the text, or that you include the link to the main conference homepage) and/or e-mailing me the links.

2. Pibb chatrooms

Brian Russell has set up a separate chatroom for each session. Register with and log into Pibb, click on the "Chat Room" link and ask to be allowed into the ncsciencebloggingconference1 chat room. On the right, you will see a menu of all the sessions - pick one and start chatting.

3. Sonecast Media Center

Tola Oguntoyinbo has designed a special website for us - the Science Blogging Conference Commons. This is the place where you can easily register and log in, see all the conference-related conversation and media: blogposts, photos, videos, podcasts, etc. and you can add comments and even chat there. Play around it a bit to get used to it and use it on Saturday and afterwards as much as you can.

4. What you can do?

If you are not physically present, check the above three sites, see what sessions are going on with live video and chat and join in the conversation.

If you are going to be there - bring in your cameras, video cameras, microphones, laptops and make the best use of the equipment. Post your pictures on Flickr. Post your videos on YouTube. Upload your podcasts somewhere. Write blog posts. Whatever you do - always tag your work with 'scienceblogging.com' so it gets aggregated in one place for all to see.

This also goes for the Friday events - if you will be attending the Blogging Skills Session or one of the Lab Tours or the Friday Dinner (and, due to some last-minute cancellations, all three of those events now have a few open slots for you to come in!), please blog about them, take pictures, record podcasts and videos and tag them so everyone can see them.

You can also monitor and join in the discussion on The Wall of the Conference Facebook page.

Finally, I expect that Twitter will be atwitter throughout the conference - listen in and join the conversation.