A Blog Around The Clock

Continuing with the introductions to the sessions on the Program, here is what will happen on Saturday, January 16th at 4:30 - 5:35pm:

A. Online Reference Managers - John Dupuis and Christina Pikas moderating, with Kevin Emamy, Jason Hoyt, Trevor Owens and Michael Habib (Scopus) in the 'hot seats'.

Description: Reference managers, sometimes called citation managers or bibliography managers, help you keep, organize, and re-use citation information. A few years ago, the options were limited to expensive proprietary desktop clients or BibTeX for people writing in LaTeX. Now we've got lots of choices, many that are online, support collaboration and information sharing, and that work with the authoring tools you use to write papers. In this session we'll hear from representatives of some of these tools and we'll talk about the features that make them useful. Together we'll discuss some tips and tricks and maybe even best practices. Discuss here.

B. Art and Science: Visual Metaphors- Glendon Mellow and Felice Frankel

Description: How has our vocabulary of metaphors changed in the wake of scientific inquiry and visualization? This year, let's take a trip through metaphors in science-based art and discuss how visual representations can enhance understanding, inspire wonder in science and the tension along the Accuracy-Artistic Divide. Discuss here.

C. Trust and Critical Thinking - Stephanie Zvan, PZ Myers, Desiree Schell, Greg Laden, Kirsten Sanford

Description: Lay audiences often lack the resources (access to studies, background knowledge of fields and methods) to evaluate the trustworthiness of scientific information as another scientist or a journalist might. Are there ways to usefully promote critical thinking about sources and presentation as we provide information? Can we teach them to navigate competing claims? And can we do it without promoting a distrust of science itself? Discuss: here.

D. Web Science: An examination of the World Wide Web and how it is transforming our society - Arikia Millikan and Nate Silver

Description: Web Science is an emerging field that attempts to study how people use the Web and communicate with each other through what is considered the "largest human information construct in history". In this session we will discuss what exactly the Web is, how it is evolving based on user behavior, and how things like search engines, blogs, and social networking tools are shaping the society in which we live. We will also explore how to analyze the Web, and what we can do to actively take part in its construction to ensure that it continues to benefit society. Discuss here.

E. Writing for more than glory: Proposals and Pitches that Pay - Rebecca Skloot

Description: What is a sellable idea? How do you develop one? Is your idea enough for a book, is there more you can do to develop it, or should it just be a magazine article or series of blog posts? This will be a hands-on nuts and bolts workshop: Come with ideas to pitch. Better yet, bring a short (1 page or less) written proposal to read and workshop. This workshop will provide handouts on proposal writing as well as sample proposals you can use to help develop your own in the future. Useful for anyone hoping to someday write for print or online publications. Discuss here.