Thanks to the visibility that this blog was given by being listed on the mother Nature portal earlier in November, an Italian science communication agency called formicablu, based in Bologna, did take notice of Science in the Belpaese and asked to conduct a live radio interview to discuss the mission of the blog. Among otehr things, Formicablu runs a weekly program on a Bologna radio station which broadcasts also by streaming audio on the web. In fact, friends listened to the interview live from Belfast and New York City. The recording of the interview was posted here (a good command of Italian is a bonus).
Bologna is a very lively Academic city. The Academy for Scientific Research (the portal is currently in Italian) has just been established right there. Its first two missions are to foster teaching Maths in elementary schools and adjusting the research salaries in Italy.
Stay tuned.
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Science in the Bel Paese by Massimo Pinto
Italy has a serious scientific research excellence problem at home. Why there are so few foreign scientists in Italian Labs? Is the Italian academic job ladder closed to foreigners? Something new is happening, just may be, and I feel an urge to report it.
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Radio Days
- Date:
- Thursday, 06 Dec ember 2007 - 08:27 UTC
Last updated: Thursday, 06 Dec 2007 - 08:27 UTC
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Comments
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This sounds interesting; what did they think of the whole issue considering they’re based in Italy-do they agree with your concerns and evaluations of the current state of the Italian science?
Hi Mico,
yes, I sense that FormicaBlu agency and I think much alike. But their mission is science communication and helping new, dynamic realities, including both people and laboratories, emerge. I will need to keep an eye on their website regularly!
During their interview to me, they were highlighting the fact that, just like in peer-review of papers, NNetwork asks you to submit a sample blog entry first, for them to understand what your intentions are, before allowing you blogging rights. They (FormicaBlu) saw it as a key ticket to quality. I found this interesting, as I later read a comment by a NNetwork member on the NNetwork development forums, in which he was asking that this pre-screening feature was dropped. I think both sides have good points.
That’s good to hear:)
I think there’s usually someone reading the blogs anyway making sure there’s no offensive material etc. But the readers themselves should avoid the bad quality blogs so it’s sort of a self-enforcing quality measure, don’t you think?
Mico, here is a thought I matured on the matter: