Ha! The power of Friendfeed. Enro put up a link to some slides about a network analysis of science blogging. We all piled on to say (a) this is really cool, and (b) where’s the blog post?
It’s here
A couple of things stand out
- it looms like there’s only weak structure. i.e. we’re not all inbred and only talking to a couple of friends
- what clustering there is is subject-specific. i.e. biologists tend to link to and comment on other biologists.
- the one non-subject specific clustering was of women bloggers. Hopefully someone can tell me whether this is explicit discussions of the problems of being a woman in science, or if hte community is forming itself in a more subtle way.
Anyway, go and have a look and see what you think. After all, you’re probably in there somewhere.
As one of those women scientists, I’d say it is a little of both. Initially, it’s nice to look at “women in science” blogs to validate one’s own experience in the “I’ve been through exactly that!” vein. After a while of making generally supportive, if short (as Christina mentions) comments, you get a casual recognition going. This describes well how I got to “know” Asa originally. One also does follow up on blogrolls, especially on first discovering a blog one likes, which is how I ended up reading FSP, Katie, Dr. Shellie and Bitch, Ph.D (although my reading has become more sporadic over time).
Thank you for asking! 🙂
I’m glad I did – it’s given me a lot to think about!
or if the community is forming itself in a more subtle way
Bob, do you think you’ll actually find out what we’re planning?..
Oh, now at least I know that you are planning something.
Heather> Yes, it was a great help when I discovered the “other female scientists” [that means you first], who may or may not be older in the game of science, and could share questions and thoughts. (also, I think it was with a little help of a friend Dr Grant who referred a lost swede…)
I think the study is excellent! It’s interesting that it is showing a certain type of “community”. I think that in these times of networking that doens’t have to be geographically there – the idea of a internet-based smaller community is a great one. Sure, it is not the same as sharing a coffee once a month but as far as I see some of these “hubs” of blogs, many of the ‘key women/bloggers’ have met eachother- or are planning to meet….
A bit like many bloggers meet in North Carolina now – although this would be more personal?!
The other thing is that I find interesting is that there are a bunch of women scientist bloggers that are anonoymous (or at least psuedonymous) but that this fact doesn’t make the commenters any less interested or cry foul. I like that a lot.
but key point for me, it’s nice to know that I am not alone when certain ancient attitudes rear their heads (if one can say things like that?). And to get suggestions on how to tackle things, both real as in “applying for grants” and thoughts “in your head”, are helpful and fun!