Why do you blog?
Anna Kushnir
Saturday, 23 February 2008 17:49 UTC
What are the underpinnings of our blogging community? Why do we take the time to sit and write about science in a public forum? What are the rewards?
Why do you blog?
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I’ll start.
I find that the laboratory can sometimes be an isolating environment, as can graduate school. I write about my experiences and my views to reverse some of that isolation. People’s comments let me know that I am not the only one feeling the way I do (or alternatively, that I really am weird). That, and science can be great fun to talk about (if not actually do).
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A most thought evoking question Anna,
I hope your post will attract a variety of different responses.
I can’t offer much since I’m so new (5 months) to blogging. (I be like a light side salad)
I personally blog because:-
1) I enjoy it
2) I am able to enjoy freedom of speech
3) One is able to widely share ideas/thoughts/concepts
4) From personal experience, attempting to get ‘messages’ across through mainstream media is a hit/miss “game”
5) Blogging is a great medium to release information/data in many formats
6) The blogosphere is cool and is a great place for online discussion/debate/conjecture/fun—
Who’s gonna dish out the main course??
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I think blogging is a great opportunity to communicate. Had I wanted to say something to a potential public 20 years back, I should have gone out and hunt for someone to do it for me, say, on a newspaper, or on the radio.
Thanks to the participative media revolution, today, I can communicate for free, from my desk, anytime I want, which virtually becomes anytime I have got something new that is worth writing.
Freedom of communication, to me, is the key power behind a blog. -
Science Blogging is my best chance to influence the way we do and communicate science.
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I blog because I’m just too self-opinionated, and this way I get my opinions out without seeing everybody edging away from me.
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I blog from an unquenchable and yet pathetic desire to solicit the approval of complete strangers. I write for the same reason. Playing live music has similar motivations, I guess. Others might say I do these things because I am an exhibitionist, but that’s for them to decide.
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i think by blogging,we share are ideas with others.in that way we are also in contact with others.
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Mostly I’m with Henry – an unsquashable urge to have other people interested in my words – but the good thing as someone who works from home, so only has a dog for company during the day, to feel that the blogging is part of a community. That’s bloggers for you – we just want to be loved…
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I was asked this question last year, and I answered it on my NPG blog, Nautilus. Here is an excerpt:
Earlier this year, I was asked by a scientist blogger, Attila Csordas, “what is your science blogging style?”. Here is my answer, which was posted at Partial Immortalization during November:
“My professional blogs (Nautilus, Peer to Peer and From the Blogosphere) are addressed to a particular group of people: scientists who read, review and publish, or would like to publish, in our journals. Therefore, the style I try to achieve is helpful, informative and stimulating, yet not didactic or dull. I aim to highlight the benefits of publishing at Nature Publishing Group and provide assistance to those wishing to do so, in a way that is not too directly promotional, but which is constructive to authors and interesting to them and other readers, as well as encouraging their feedback. Therefore I write about news concerning journal policies and format, as well as announcements of new journals, projects, conferences and online tools of interest to authors and reviewers. I also highlight when journal content is free for some reason, because this means that the authors of those articles are achieving greater “reach” for their articles (as well as making it possible for more people to read them, by my announcement). I also highlight news from the wider world of science communication, for example about quality indicators (citations tools and impact factors, for example), ethics, peer-review and so on, in the hope of stimulating community discussion of these issues, as this can help us decide on our journals’ evolution. Finally, I blog to provide an approachable forum for potential authors to ask questions about our publication policies, and to have them answered quickly in a way that can also benefit others, as they can see the responses.”I also have a personal blog which has nothing to do with science. Like Henry and Brian, I love being part of a small community of people who have common interests and think a bit like me (very few of us about). And if you are as time-strapped as me and don’t have a “real” social life because of work, family commitments and commute, blogging is a perfect way to spend a focused slot of time interacting with people or being a bit creative (writing), at the hour and duration you want. It makes a nice change from being at the beck and call of work colleagues, authors ;-), family etc. Am I sounding like a control freak here? Well, maybe, but it is nice to have that lovely little island of my blog sitting there for whenever I have the odd half hour to take it out for a “walk in the internet”.
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I started blogging about three years ago on londonist.com purely because I had a great passion for something (history and culture of London) and needed some kind of outlet. I would never have guessed the doors it opened for me, including getting a job at Nature (I have a long background in science publishing, but having the blogging experience certainly helped).
The rewards have been immense. Writing on this site, I’ve met such an interesting bunch of folk and learnt a hell of a lot more about how science works than when I was a journal editor.
The non-science blog also led to a book, TV appearances and other opportunities I could have scarcely dreamt of when I started. And I know many other people whose careers have taken new and unexpected directions because they took the effort to blog a few times a week.
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