{"id":196,"date":"2008-09-12T09:00:00","date_gmt":"2008-09-12T09:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/occamstypewriter.org\/rpg\/2008\/09\/12\/on_science_blogging_2008_part_2\/"},"modified":"2008-09-12T09:00:00","modified_gmt":"2008-09-12T09:00:00","slug":"on_science_blogging_2008_part_2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/occamstypewriter.org\/rpg\/2008\/09\/12\/on_science_blogging_2008_part_2\/","title":{"rendered":"On Science Blogging 2008\u2014Part 2"},"content":{"rendered":"

This is the second of three posts detailing my experience of the Science Blogging Conference<\/a> held at the Royal Institution<\/a>, London, on 30th August. The first part is “here”:http:\/\/network.nature.com\/blogs\/user\/rpg\/2008\/09\/11\/on-science-blogging-2008\u2014part-1.
\n——————————<\/p>\n

Parallel Sessions<\/h3>\n

\nThe first three parallel sessions dealt with ‘microblogging’ and aggregation tools, advice on how to set up and improve a blog<\/a>, and creativity. <\/p>\n

\nMicroblogging<\/a> tools (Twitter, FriendFeed<\/a>) were used by delegates to discuss all sessions of the conference as they happened, and to include interested parties not physically present.<\/p>\n

\nScience is not usually considered a creative<\/a> activity, but one role of creativity is to challenge assumptions, a necessary part of hypothesis formulation and testing. If blogging challenges assumptions and exposes one to different viewpoints then it becomes a valuable tool in unlocking scientific<\/a> creativity<\/a>. Writing about on-going research not only documents the scientific process for posterity but can actually enable a scientist to view their own problems from a different point of view. In an environment where creativity is encouraged ideas can be aired and tested with potential benefits for the scientific endeavour. Polaroid photography<\/a> was used to illustrate how ‘stupid questions’ can lead to innovation.<\/p>\n

\nI won a book for insulting Henry<\/a>, but gave it to him because my suitcase was already too heavy.<\/p>\n

\nThe second set of parallel sessions included a talk on the virtual world ‘Second Life’ and the exhibitions and events hosted by Nature<\/a>. <\/p>\n

\nAnother session<\/a> looked at the use of blogging as a teaching tool, although only one of the panellists (a graduate student<\/a>) discussed blogs in the context of a university. The benefits of blogging were summarized as solidifying knowledge through explanation, becoming a member of the scientific community and developing communication skills. On the other hand, forced participation in mediated online communities was something that students did not appreciate.<\/p>\n

\nOne<\/a> of the three described how the Central Medical Library<\/a> in M\u00fcnster is using a blog to communicate with its customers, and the third<\/a> talked<\/a> about an online journal club set up to study examples of ‘good’ writing in scientific papers. <\/p>\n

\nPerhaps the most telling moment was when a journalist from Times Higher Education<\/em> asked how popular teaching blogs already are, only to be told that Admin and Faculty in general do not even know what a blog is. That blogging, and especially science blogging, is not mainstream even among scientists was a recurring theme throughout the conference. Furthermore, most students appear not to be interested unless they receive class credit, and there was very little discussion of how blogs might be used to teach students.<\/p>\n

\nThe third and most popular session<\/a> discussed the use of blogs as a means of communicating primary data among scientists. Issues covered included the concept of the ‘minimal publishable unit’, being scooped, the permanence (or otherwise) of blogs, ring-fencing research ideas for oneself and electronic lab notebooks. The relevance of this to blogging is that not only do some group leaders oblige their scientists to keep blogs<\/a> about their research, but others<\/a> make all primary data<\/a> available as it is generated. More on this from Cameron, Jean-Claude, etc<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\nA unique feature of the conference took place in the afternoon. ‘Unconference sessions’, proposed by delegates, were voted for on the day and the top three run in parallel. The discussions that took place were Why do we blog<\/a>?, Bored of blogging<\/a> and Tracking conversations through the blogosphere<\/a>. The first two covered personal reflections on why people blog and how they maintain motivation. The third concentrated on the ‘Semantic Web’, and the difficulties of keeping abreast of what has been said on particular topics in many different places all over the world.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This is the second of three posts detailing my experience of the Science Blogging Conference held at the Royal Institution, London, on 30th August. The first part is “here”:http:\/\/network.nature.com\/blogs\/user\/rpg\/2008\/09\/11\/on-science-blogging-2008\u2014part-1. —————————— Parallel Sessions The first three parallel sessions dealt with ‘microblogging’ … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-196","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/occamstypewriter.org\/rpg\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/196","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/occamstypewriter.org\/rpg\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/occamstypewriter.org\/rpg\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occamstypewriter.org\/rpg\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occamstypewriter.org\/rpg\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=196"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/occamstypewriter.org\/rpg\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/196\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/occamstypewriter.org\/rpg\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=196"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occamstypewriter.org\/rpg\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=196"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occamstypewriter.org\/rpg\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=196"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}