Just reading today’s edition of Wired UK before I go in the office, and there’s a great article in it about Slogging, Science Lab Blogging. I’m surprised there’s been no talk on here about it.
Apparently, Slogging (looks like the website has fallen over as it is too popular at the moment!) is really popular in Norway, where it was developed.
It allows scientists to post short “slogs” (256 characters long – apparently as they realised that no scientific term could reasonably be expected to fit in Twitter’s 140 character limit) either manually using a computer or a glove-enabled iPhone by typing or voice, or automatically by connecting lab equipment to the Slogging network.
Finally, and most excitingly, you can use specially-developed intelligent fabric that you wear under your labcoat which automatically logs your thoughts and fears as your experiment progresses.
Olaf Pirol, the developer, was inspired by the Twitter baby monitor and thought that that would be ideal for scientists “too busy to write in their labbooks”. He persuaded the Norwegian Academy of Science and Technology to mandate all their funded scientists to take up the technology, and now he’s looking for it to spread worldwide.
It looks like it could hit Britain soon – I asked Paul Drayson, the science minister via Twitter if he thought this was a good idea, and he just replied saying, “Yeah! Let’s get all Brit scientists slogging morning, noon, and night! V Inspiring! k thx bai”
What do you think? Are you slogging away in the lab today?
Ha ha! Combined with Jenny’s idea this is a surefire winner, any day of the year.
The Guardian would definitely approve as they are now going to be the first Twitter-only newspaper
The Guardian? Nah – it likes the sound of its own voice far too much.
Slogging? Sounds like a new type of sports underwear.
LOL @ grauniard
Funnily enough, I wrote this thinking that I would be OK as Wired’s first (again?) UK issue wasn’t due to launch til today – then I got to the railway station and saw it on sale. And I opened it to an article on life-tracking. Truth stranger than fiction, and all that…