As SciBlog 08 winds down into a state of elegant inebriation repose (and a nice man called Dr R. O’H of Finland has loaned me a power adaptor for my Eeeeeeee), the time has come to assess where we are and where we’ll go next. What follows isn’t so much a blow-by-blow account, more of a way of life series of personal impressions, largely derived from the sound of immense herds of bison rolling across the plain my own voice.
Blogs are clearly different things to different people. Some use them as vehicles for passionate advocacy in the promotion of various causes, or, as Ben Goldacre showed in his plenary lecture, an effective way of marshalling scientific evidence to explode the hideously blasphemous claims of those snake-oil merchants whose use of celebrity endorsement so easily fools the mainstream media, No names, no lawsuits pack drill. Bloggers in this group are often in possession of more eldritch, relevant and preternaturally pertinent information than the juggernauts of the mainstream, but I was left asking questions of how such blogs really do make a difference. Do mainstream media really take notice of pressure-groups that might be perceived as ‘fringe’? The problem with the internet, they might say, is that from the outside, and without outside authentication, it’s very hard to divine truth from illusion. Given that the internet is populated by cranks charlatans creationists of all kinds (the people we at Nature refer to as ‘regular correspondents’), how is the uninformed outside to make any sensible distinction?
Such questions of authority and validation also concerned those who wondered whether blog posts might ever join the ranks of citable objects —along with proper journals and even some websites.There are now programs such as webcite that time-stamp and archive blog posts, and these might make a difference. But my concern here is that blog posts represent a fundamentally different class of literary endeavour. If I wanted to write something archival, I’d do it in print, or on a web page that did not invite comment. The whole idea of Web2.0, at least to me, is that it allows one to float a discussion point, even if half-baked, and allow it to be winnowed by the unique process of commentary that blogs offer.
On the other hand, proper scientific papers are also provisional, in a sense, for that is in the nature of scientific endeavour. And, one day, when journal articles are regularly followed by a cloud of online comments, the difference between blogs and reality scientific papers might be harder to judge with any clarity.
What of the future? Prediction, said Yogi Berra (or it might have been Woody Allen or Niels Bohr) is very difficult, especially about the future. Ten years ago, blogs didn’t exist, and we conducted all our flame wars scholarly intercourse through usenets. Ten years before that, the web didn’t exist. Who knows what another decade will bring? I predict that the discussions of the kind we’ve had today will seem bafflingly archaic, and our children will cluck indulgently and say things like
- Oh Dad, stop dribbling. And what’s that about blogs? Hah! You are soooo Web2.0! It’s really rather sweet. And why, if you wanted to forge a virtual community, did you need to have a meat-based conference in, of all things, first life? Oooh, look, you poor old dear, you’ve spilled your soup down your cardy. And you’ve peed yourself. Nurse!
And in other news, I hear from the Maison des Girrafes that Marmite the cat (aged 12) went to the vet to have some teeth out but came back with advanced renal failure. And Sid the snake has escaped again.,
And, oooh look, here’s GrrlScientist to say that Professor Steve Steve has gone missing. I think he’s fled the totalitarian yoke and will claim political asylum in the free, unpaid open skies of the Nature Network.
Among the thanks, a special one to Henry for not only being himself and coming up with gems of thoughts throughout the conference, but also for very gallantly accompanying me to the Tube from whence I managed to take a long series of vehicles to finally arrive in Toulouse a couple of hours ago.
There is a question-mark regarding whether a blogpost can constitute “prior art” in terms of whether or not you can apply for a patent (see this forum topic for example).
If this turns out to be true (i.e. there is an example of a legal case that hinges on this evidence) then I think that it is only fair that a blog entry should be considered as citable material. By considered I imply that it is looked at by the relevant Editor or Funding Body and it would be at their discretion.
My feeling though is that there are other outlets available, like Nature Precedings, which are more appropriate to do a quick communication with a little bit of data.
My amazing Gravity: The Eternal Countdown calender says that on this day:
Perhaps Prof Steve Steve has taken inspiration and is repeating history?
@ Heather: but also for very gallantly accompanying me to the Tube
Don’t mention it, Heather. The age of chivalry is still alive, and in any case I was hoping to hide behind you if we got mugged.
@ Bronwen — I think you’re right. Repositories specifically designed for pre-publication data would be preferable to blogs for this sort of thing.
@ Scott: my sources tell me that Professor Steve Steve’s attempts to break the evil tolatarian yoke have been thwarted and that he is currently being
torturedin a third country, possibly Norfolk.Perspicacious comment as ever, Henry. It was nice to bump into you yesterday but I only remembered on my way home that I had a present for you from my holiday in Sicily. It is a snap of the italian rendition of chthonic, one of your favorite words if I am not mistaken.
The sign points to the 5-6th Century BC Sanctuary of the Chthonic Divinities – a shrine devoted to Demeter and Persephone (according to my guidebook). Alas, we didn’t make it all the way there (too hot, too late, kids too tired) so I don’t have a picture of the thing itself but thought you would be more interested in the sign anyway!
5-6th Century BC Sanctuary of the Chthonic Divinities
Scott, I Love It. I can feel a Dan-Brown-esque thriller coming on. Demeter and Persephone, eh? Don’t be fooled. What they mean is Cthulhu and Nyarlathotep. They just want to lure unsuspecting Shuggoths into their Subterrene Lair to engage in their hideously blasphemous rites of blasphemous hideousness. But I notice that as evening shades of crepuscularity steal glutinously through the casement, the office is eldritchly — even preternaturally — silent. My blood drains from my face and my fevered brain is gripped by a crawling fear. I hear something — it cannot be
- squishing wetly up from the -postroombasement. A hideously blasphemously hideous stench of some noisomeeffluviaichor assails my nostrils. It is before me. It advances with preternaturally eldritch slownessness towards me. Its indescribably nameless jaws open to issue forth its terrible, irresistable command: “Hello, my name’s Richard P. Grant”.Did I say ‘Scott’? I meant ‘Stephen’. Of course I did. Sorry. Don’t blame it on the sunshine. Don’t blame it on the moonlight. Don’t blame it on the
science blogging conferencegood times. Blame it on thehangovermiddle-aged cognitive dysfunction.I will forgive you the name-slip since enjoyed your mini-thriller and, alas, can also feel middle-aged cognitive dysfunction creeping up on me…!
And, oooh look, here’s GrrlScientist to say that Professor Steve Steve has gone missing.
I think it’s pretty obvious which train he has taken…
New Care of Magical Creatures instructor….
Does that mean Hagrid has been downsized as part of a Research Assessment/ Health and Safety exercise?
Maybe. Personally I think he’d be better at Defence Against the Dark Arts, based on his c.v.
Professor Steve Steve is being brought into the faculty at Hogwarts to provide the perspective of evolutionary biology, as applied to management of Magical Creatures.
Hagrid will be promoted to Dean of Communications and Tea.