Geoscientists: we (Anne Jefferson, Pat Campbell, Suzanne Franks, and me) are looking for participants in a survey about the ways in which women geoscientists use blogs (both as readers and as writers). Here's the official request:

Over the past several years, the geoscience blogosphere has blossomed so much that this fall, the Geological Society of America (GSA) will be convening a Pardee Keynote Symposium called "Google Earth to Geoblogs: Digital Innovations in the Geosciences." Kim Hannula started wondering how blogs serve women geoscientists. Kim recruited the rest of us and we decided to approach this problem as scientists - by collecting data and analyzing the results. Specifically, we'd like to know how blogs might help in the recruitment and retention of women and minorities. We plan to discuss our results at the GSA session on "Techniques and Tools for Effective Recruitment, Retention and Promotion of Women and Minorities in the Geosciences." We have designed a survey, gone through the Institutional Review Board process (completely foreign to us geologists), and now we need help from you.

We are asking you to complete a short (5- 10 mins), anonyomous, survey. The survey focuses on your participation with science blogs, why you read science blogs and what you gain from reading science blogs. It will also ask you to list blogs you find to be particularly useful and a little about yourself. No questions are required, all are optional. We are primarily interested in the responses of women and minority geoscientists, but non-minority men, please feel free to fill out the survey as well. Your answers will be a useful point of comparison. Note also that we are definining geosciences rather broadly. If you are or can be a member of GSA, AGU, AAG, AMS, ASLO, their international counterparts, or similar organizations, please consider taking the survey.

All the data collected are anonymous and no individuals can or will be identified. Your participation in this study is completely voluntary. You are free to withdraw at any time without having any negative affect. If you have questions concerning the study, please contact Dr. Anne Jefferson at ajefferson (at) uncc (dot) edu.

To start the survey, just click here.

Sincerely,
Anne Jefferson
Kim Hannula
Pat Campbell
Suzanne Franks

We're defining "geoscientists" broadly: industry, government, academia (so AIPG, AAPG, both SEGs, etc are invited to participate), and solid earth, water, atmosphere, and planets. Once GSA is over, we'll blog about the results (and will probably put a link to the presentation - GSA usually makes it possible to share presentations.)