Upcoming presentations

This coming Friday I'll be at the NISO Discovery Tools Forum in Chapel Hill, NC, to talk about ResearchBlogging.org, along with fellow ResearchBlogger and librarian Eric Schnell. Here's the abstract for our presentation:

ResearchBlogging.org began simply as a way for academic bloggers to identify serious and public posts in what can also be a frivolous and private environment. Then, once these items are identified -- many of them written by experts in a field -- effective indexing, archiving, and discovery becomes a realistic possibility. To date, hundreds of bloggers have signed up for the service, and hundreds of thousands of readers have viewed their posts.

But bloggers remain a notoriously difficult group to rein in. They use a variety of different platforms and most are unaware of metadata, standards and other means for cataloging their work. In this talk, Dave Munger and Eric Schnell discuss how they are attempting to identify and apply standards to the best blogging about peer-reviewed research without handcuffing the cavalier spirit that attracts so many to the medium of blogging. They then show how this project exemplifies many of the current challenges in information system design.

In May, Greta and I will be talking about Cognitive Daily at the Association for Psychological Science convention in Chicago. We'll be part of a panel with three other psychology bloggers: Laura Freberg, John Grohol, and discussant Wray Herbert. The abstract for that session is below.

Anyone Can Blog: Psychology As Seen Through the Blogosphere

Time and Location
Sunday May 25, 2008, 9:00 AM - 10:20 AM
Missouri
Abstract

Blogging provides remarkable potential for energizing psychology students and bringing the "science" of psychology to the general public. Participants in this symposium will share their own goals and experiences with blogging, along with some helpful hints to other psychologists who want to join the blogosphere.

Laura A. Freberg (Chair)
California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo

John M. Grohol
PsychCentral.com
Nine Years of Psychology Blogging
Psych Central's / World of Psychology/ blog publishes relevant psychology and general mental health stories on a daily basis. The blog seeks to place the latest scientific research findings into everyday context, and to help people live better lives based upon the ideas of practical psychology and mental health advocacy.

Greta Munger
Davidson College
Cognitive Daily: Helping the Public Understand Basic Psychology Research and See It in Action
Our presentation will discuss how our blog can be used as a resource for teachers and students. For example, students can model our posts by summarizing research articles. We will also address how psychologists can create their own blogs to use for teaching, research, collaboration, and meeting personal goals.

Dave Munger
Research Blogging, Inc.
Cognitive Daily: Helping the Public Understand Basic Psychology Research and See It in Action
Dave will join Greta in discussing how they use Cognitive Daily to bring the science of psychology to students and the general public.

Laura A. Freberg
California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo
The Blogging Professor
Professors can find exciting ways to interact with students using blogs, but blogging raises many new questions. Does my blog represent my university, or just my personal opinion? Is writing using new technologies an example of professional development? Can I hit the right notes of professionalism and accessibility?

Wray Herbert (Discussant)
Director of Public Affairs, Association for Psychological Science