Sunday Times features N Network in 100 best blogs
Maxine Clarke
Sunday, 22 February 2009 13:58 UTC
Led by Bryan Appleyard, The Sunday Times has today and last week run an article about what they regard as “100 best blogs”.
A guide to the 100 best blogs – part I
A guide to the 100 best blogs – part II
Blogs about science are in part II, and this is how Nature Network blogs (unfortunately with the wrong URL, but I’ve asked The Sunday Times to correct it) are described:
A collection of blogs on the science journal Nature’s site. The writing can be prone to that whimsy and jollity to which scientists often resort when trying to be “accessible”. But, otherwise, a fantastically informative site. Where else could you read Cloud Computing: A New Standard Platform?
Let The Sunday Times, or us, know what you think. (Richard posted first today on Nature Network about this article, so far as I can see.)
Nature Networkers might be most interested in the cover to the print supplement of part 1, which prominently features the platform – you can see posts by Caryn and Barry if you blow up the image (which is from Cameron Neylon’s Flickr stream).
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Replies
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From what I’ve read, Bryan Appleyard doesn’t much like science and scientists, does he? Wonder if that accounts for the seeming sarcasm: ’… whimsy and jollity to which scientists often resort when trying to be “accessible”.’ The inverted commas implying that we’re not, really. God forbid that we might actually have a sense of humour, without having to affect one.
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I don’t know whether or not that is true, Lee, but just to note that he was not sole author of these articles – apparently a lot of journalists were involved.
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I have a feeling whoever wrote that snippet has only paid a cursory visit to Nature Network and assumed it’s all about scientists trying to be accessible to the general public. As we all know, the main thrust of NN is scientist to scientist communication, so that whimsy and jollity stems more from the in-jokery and everyday bonhomie that you’d get from any community, rather than an attempt at accessibility. Still, great that we got a mention.
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I agree Matt. Plus, I have never been in the newspaper… so I am still flying high off that!
Thanks for the link Maxine!
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Unfortunately Bryan Appleyard has just written a not very complimentary blog post (on his own blog) about Nature Network:
“Scientists are so unreliable. I put Nature Network in The Sunday Times list of 100 Best Blogs on the basis of some very good, lucid material I’d come across. Unfortunately, since then I seem to have been reading nothing but lumpen humour and fey, self-involved whimsy. Contrary to rumour, I’m all for science, I really am, but I may have to cut his particular feed.”
He also has a go at Ben Goldacre.
(Thanks to Dave Lull for sending me the link to Bryan’s blog by email, but I subscribe to it by RSS so would have come across it an hour or so later. It all depends on whtether I check my personal email or my RSS reader first when I get home at night and have finished making the tea, etc. Hope that isn’t too whimsical a sentiment.)
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Oh dear. We’ll have to send a unicycling girrafe round to see him, then.
Sorry, I meant to write a serious, in-depth analysis of his post but I wouldn’t want to spoil the NN tone.
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I don’t know, Bob; maybe retort is warranted.
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Hee, hee, Lee.
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