January 25, 2010
Category: General information
Last week's ScienceOnline2010, our fourth annual science communication conference in North Carolina, was our biggest, best and most successful event yet, and from the long list of blog and media coverage and the Flickr pictures, YouTube videos and Twitter mentions of the conference (all using the tag #scio10), it certainly seems the BlogTogether spirit was coursing through the 267 participants.
Anton and I can't be happier, or more proud, of what this conference achieved. More than anything, we are astounded by the openness with which so many people came together to share, explore, question, listen and narrate in order to reflect the importance of science in their lives and how the Web can be used to share their passions for science. See my post, Making it real: People and Books and Web and Science at ScienceOnline2010 (and please give us your feedback through this form).
Our gratitude goes to all who attended the conference and participated so energetically in the conversations there.
And special thanks goes to the following individuals and organizations that helped us grow and improve this conference. Please thank them for making ScienceOnline2010 possible -- click through to their sites to learn more about each person or organization. (We thanked the sponsors of ScienceOnline'09 here, the second event here and the first event here.):
Read on »
Posted by Coturnix at 12:07 AM • 0 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
January 24, 2010
Category: Demos • Food Tour • Friday • General information • Lab Tour • Saturday • Sessions • Sunday • Thursday • Workshops
People
You cannot see the feedback that many participants at ScienceOnline2010 have already provided to Anton and me (keep them coming - we take the responses very seriously), but the recurring theme for the "highlight of the conference" question was "Meeting the People"; and the main request for the future is "provide more time for informal conversations".
You will see even more of that kind of sentiment if you peruse the growing list of blog coverage. Or glean it from photographs posted on Flickr and Picasa here, here, here, here and here. Or on YouTube videos here and here....
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Posted by Coturnix at 11:59 AM • 0 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
January 15, 2010
Category: Saturday • Sessions • Workshops
The history of science has never been more relevant. As we struggle with communicating science effectively and breaking down barriers to the open access of scientific knowledge it's essential to learn from the lessons of the past as we move forwards. Science relies on the open communication of ideas (and the open societies that foster it). However, this is a continuing battle and as communicators of science we need many tools in our toolbox to build the current open access movement.
John Mckay and I (the resident primate at ScienceBlogs) will be facilitating a discussion on the history of open access and how vital it's been for scientific innovation on Saturday from 3:15 - 4:20 as part of Section C: An Open History of Science. We'll present some of the historical barriers that have stood in the way of what Robert K. Merton called "the ethos of science" and foster discussion on how we can remove those barriers today. For related links on how the history of science can inform today's practice see The Scientific Revolution is Open, The Grassroots of Scientific Revolution, and the four part series on Deconstructing Social Darwinism at The Primate Diaries.
We may be enjoying the pinnacle of the modern scientific revolution here in the West, but the developing world needs these tools most of all. Considering that the greatest issues involving climate, population, pollution and conservation exist in the Global South the dearth of access to subscription journals is of paramount importance. The Directory of Open Access Journals now has more than 4,500 entries and the list is growing every day. This is the future of scientific communication and we're building that future right now.
Posted by EMJ at 11:00 AM • 0 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
January 14, 2010
Category: Sessions
Is there a place for citizen scientists in the world of digital biology?
Many of the citizen science projects that I've been reading about have a common structure. There's a University lab at the top, outreach educators in the middle, and a group of citizens out in the field collecting data.
After the data are collected, they end up in a database somewhere and the University researchers analyze them and write papers. At least that's my impression so far.
It seems to me, that with all kinds of databases out there, on-line, there should be plenty of opportunity for both citizens and student groups to participate in analyzing the data.
But do they?
Cross posted at Discovering Biology in a Digital World
#scio10
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Posted by Sandra Porter at 3:32 PM • 1 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: General information
Following along in the tradition of Bora's introductions of the various attendees for the upcoming Science Online 2010 conference, I thought I'd list all the library people that are attended. I'm not going to try and introduce each of the library people, I'll leave that to Bora, but I thought it might be nice to have us all listed in one place.
I did a quick list in my post a while back, but I revisited the attendee list after it closed and noticed a couple of people that weren't in the first list.
As I said in the earlier post, there's been a good tradition of librarians and library people attending Science Online and this year looks to be no exception. So, here's the updated list. Of course, it's only the people whose names I recognize or who I was able to figure out had a library connection so I may be missing a couple. If I've missed you, let me know and I'll add you.
I'm lucky enough to have met a good number of the above librarians and I'm really looking forward to meeting Stephanie and Dorothea who I've know online for a while but haven't had a chance to mean in person yet.
There are also a few library-themed sessions at the conference. It's worth following the links to the wiki description pages as those have a lot more information on what the session will be about and when kinds of questions/issues will be discussed:
Repositories for Fun and Profit - Dorothea Salo (Friday workshop)
Description: Why are my librarians bothering me with all this repository nonsense? What's a repository, and how is it different from a website? What can a repository do for me? Why should I bother with them? Does anybody use them? What's all this about metadata, anyway? Find out from a real live repository librarian!
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 will discuss some tips and tricks, best practices and maybe even get into upcoming features, wish lists and the future of citation management software.
Scientists! What can your librarian do for you? - Stephanie Willen Brown and Dorothea Salo
Description: Find free, scholarly, science stuff on the Internet, via your public or state library, or on the "free Web." Learn tips & tricks for getting full-text science research at all levels, through resources like DOAJ and NC Live (for those with a North Carolina library card; other states often offer free resources to library card holders). Find out about some options for storing science material at your academic institution's Institutional Repository. We will also talk about the broader access to material stored in institutional repositories and elsewhere on the Web.
Demo: Scangrants by Hope Leman
Description: ScanGrants is a free, subscribable (via email or RSS) online listing of grant opportunities, prizes and scholarships in the health and life sciences and community service fields.
I can't wait to get to the conference. I'll be arriving fairly late on Friday night, mostly because my son is coming with me and it just wasn't convenient for us to leave any earlier. I'll be posting summaries and impressions here at cross-posting at the ScienceOnline blog.
(Cross-posted from Confessions of a Science Librarian.)
Posted by John Dupuis at 1:22 PM • 0 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: General information
Yes, we have it.
You can check out the app in iTunes here.
Features include a schedule quick-reference, information about the conference as a whole, and a brief nod to the participating sponsors.
The app is named 'SciOnline10' due to the (visible) naming restrictions on the device. Searching for Science, Online, or ScienceOnline2010 (or the app name, SciOnline10) will find it on the App Store if the link doesn't work for you.
Posted by Coturnix at 9:11 AM • 0 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
January 13, 2010
Category:
Several blog posts posts were written (by me or Stephanie Zvan) explicitly in preparation for Science Online 2010 Session C, Trust and Critical Thinking organized by Stephanie Zvan and including PZ Myers, Desiree Schell, Greg Laden, and Kirsten Sanford
The most recent post, just put up, is this one:
Read on »
Posted by Greg Laden at 3:02 PM • 0 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category:
Do citizen science efforts ever go beyond "feel good" contributions? Do the data get published in peer-reviewed journals?
Cross-posted at Discovering Biology in a Digital World.
In an earlier post, I started a list of citizen science projects that allow students to make a contribution. Many commentors are graciously adding to that list and I thank you all! I'm glad to learn there are so many interesting projects and ways for people to get involved. Science is so empowering!
My question today concerns things like outcomes and deliverables. We'd like to assume that good things are coming from citizen science because people are involved, but I don't know if that's really true and being a scientist, I want to avoid over-doing the assumptions.
Does the research from citizen science ever get published?
Last Wednesday, at the University of Washington, I learned about one such study. If you know of others, I'd love to see citations in the comments.
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Posted by Sandra Porter at 12:30 PM • 0 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
