Blogging
clock | May 14, 2007The other day I was chatting with my brother (the smarter brother of Sherlock Holmes) on the phone, and he said something that may have some truth to it - I was predisposed, from early childhood, to understand and like the Web and the blogs. How? By reading and re-reading a million times the books about the adventures of The Three Investigators. Actually, only four of the early books in the series were tranlated into Serbo-Croatian, but I read them over and over. Later, here in the USA, I managed to find and read a few more in English.
What does that have to do with blogging? Well, back…
clock | May 13, 2007Today's Obligatory Reading of the Day is this essay by Kagro X:
Have you ever read, seen, or heard a mainstream media account of some event in which you've been personally involved? Or in which you have developed, under whatever circumstances, some sort of expertise? Ninety-nine times out of hundred, people with that sort of personal or specialized knowledge of the events covered will come away with some sort of substantial complaint about the quality of the coverage...
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Why, though, should the general audience settle for "sufficient?" Or perhaps more to the point, why…
clock | May 11, 2007Happy birthday to Melissa McEwen aka Shakespeare's Sister, a great blogger and friend!
clock | May 8, 2007I will be offline for a couple of days so I will not be able to post at my usual frantic pace. Instead, I decided to write something that will take you a couple of days to read through: a very long, meandering post, full of personal anecdotes. But there is a common theme throughout and I hope you see where I'm going with it and what conclusions I want you to draw from it.
Pigeons, crows, rats and cockroaches
I was born and grew up in a big, dirty city and I am not going back (my ex-Yugoslav readers have probably already recognized the reference to the good old song Back to the Big, Dirty…
purepedantry | May 7, 2007I know some of the others (among them Jason) have talked about this, but I thought I would mention it. The May 4th issue of Cell has an article by Laura Bonetta about scientific blogging. Money quote:
The concept of scientists reaching out to a lay audience is not new. "Scientists are an opinionated bunch and they have given their thoughts on discoveries or events by speaking with journalists, writing letters to journals, authoring commentaries," says Matthew C. Nisbet, a professor in the School of Communication at American University in Washington DC. "Blogs provide a lot more of that…
clock | May 6, 2007Three out of ten Republican presidential candidates raised hands in the recent debate indicating they do not believe in evolution. Jason has an excellent round-up of responses (Arianna Huffington rocks!) with some good comments by readers as well. How can you help combat scientific ignorance? If your blog is NOT a science blog, try to do what Mike suggests and link to five science-related posts every week.
There is plenty of stuff here at scienceblogs.com, but you can also use this page when you are looking for science posts, especially the science-related carnivals listed at the very…
aardvarchaeology | May 6, 2007Wednesday 9 May will see the Four Stone Hearth blog carnival appear in all its archaeo/anthro glory at Anthropology 2.0. If you have read or blogged anything good on those themes lately, then make sure to submit it to Marc Hebert ASAP. (Yes, you can submit stuff you've found on other people's blogs.)
clock | May 5, 2007I know it's almost halfway between the first and second Science Blogging Conference, but reviews of the first one are still coming out. Check out the latest one, written by Eva Amsen and published by 'Hypothesis' yesterday.
clock | May 5, 2007Writing actual science posts takes a lot of time, research, thinking and energy. I assembled a large pile of papers I want to comment on and I actually started writing posts about a couple of them already, but Real Life interferes...and it is so much easier and quicker to post a short opinion-post or a linkfest.
Also, my mind has lately been mostly focused on Science Blogging, more Science Blogging, Open Science, Open Notebook Science, organizing the next Science Blogging Conference, Framing Science, Teaching Science and similar stuff I've been reading about a lot lately due to the…
clock | May 4, 2007Which of these new terms you particularly like or dislike? Do the Lulu.com survey:
"BLOG", "BLOOK", "BLEADER" AND "BLAUTHOR"
- WHICH IS THE UGLIEST, OR COOLEST, BLOGGING TERM OF THEM ALL?
WIN A FREE ISBN OR PRIZE-WINNING BOOK BY TELLING US WHAT YOU THINK!
This year marks the tenth anniversary of the invention of the word "blog", the fifth of the word "blook" (books based on blogs or websites), and the second of the Lulu Blooker Prize-the first literary prize for blooks. To mark this historic occasion, we're asking what YOU think of all the wonderful-or gruesome?-new words spawned…
clock | May 4, 2007Weekend is coming so you'll have some time (at least at night) which can be spent in much less useful activities than reading these three articles:
12 Important U.S. Laws Every Blogger Needs to Know
A Blogger's Disclaimer
The Definitive Guide to Semantic Web Markup for Blogs
clock | May 4, 2007Yes, the Scienceblogs.com is invading the Facebook! You are free to join the ScienceBlogs Fan Club, the Order of the Science Scouts of Exemplary Repute and Above Average Physique and /or The Skeptics' Guide to the Universe. See ya there.... Next step: MySpace!
clock | May 4, 2007Making the second Science Blogging Conference even bigger and better, we are happy to announce that the January 19th, 2008 meeting will be hosted by Sigma Xi (publishers of American Scientist) in their gorgeous new building in the Research Triangle Park. Their conference facilities can house more people (225 as opposed to 170 we had last time) and provide more space for shmoozing between and after the sessions.
For those who arrive early, there will be Friday afternoon events, sessions and meals on or close to the UNC campus. We have tentatively secured two excellent session leaders so…
clock | May 4, 2007Arunn and Selva are wondering why more Indian scientists don't write blogs, while Danica wonders the same about Serbian scientists. I guess every nation will have its own idiosyncratic ways of getting there, but it is also important to note that in the USA where most of the popular science blogs are located and where there are LOTS of scientists, only a tiny percentage writes blogs or considers doing so in the future. Canadians, Western Europeans and Australians are already catching up in proportion to their own scientific populations. The rest of the world will probably catch up in a few…
clock | May 3, 2007There is a new (nice and long) article by Laura Bonetta about science blogging in today's issue of the journal Cell.
Bloggers on A Blog Around The Clock, Pharyngula, Aetiology, Framing Science, The Daily Transcript, Sandwalk, In the Pipeline, Nobel Intent, Useful Chemistry, De Rerum Natura and Panda's Thumb are mentioned and/or interviewed. A couple of carnivals, e.g., Tangled Bank, Mendel's Garden and Gene Genie are also mentioned.
For those who have no access to The Cell, I am assuming that each one of us will egotistically quote the part about oneself (like we did last month with The…
clock | May 2, 2007As the 2007 Science Blogging Conference was such a great success, we are already in full swing in organizing the 2008 conference and hoping to make it even bigger and better than the first one.
Our beta-version wiki is up - check out the homepage and the first, rough outlines of the program (feel free to edit the page and add your idea at the bottom or in the comments). At this point we are trying to get more sponsors so if you and your organization/company/magazine is interested, let us know soon.
Check out our blog for updates.
Last time, almost in time for the conference, we edited and…
clock | May 2, 2007Survivor Testimonies Engage Students in Holocaust History:
Through a program funded by the Claims Conference, a group of 8th graders in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania who had never before learned of the Holocaust found themselves deeply affected by these first-person narratives during a month-long educational unit on the Shoah.
Victoria Monacelli, a teacher of reading and language arts at the Warren G. Harding Middle School, incorporates technology into her curriculum in order to engage students. As part of her literacy program, her students produce a monthly "podcast," a recorded oral…
retrospectacle | May 1, 2007I'm taking a few days off blogging, just to depressurize and take a few steps back. The last week has been pretty crazy and exhausting, so, a bit of time off is just what the doctor ordered.
retrospectacle | April 30, 2007Several people have emailed to let me know that some commenting is going on at the Volokh Conspiracy over what qualifies as "fair use." Its cool that some experts in law might chime in. Check it out.