supercharge your science
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What is a blog, and why as a scientist should I bother? The question should be, how can I survive without it.TRANSCRIPT
Supercharge Your ScienceBlogito Ergo
SumCorey J. A. Bradshaw1,2
1THE ENVIRONMENT INSTITUTE, University of Adelaide, Australia2South Australian Research & Development Institute
“…there is only one thing worse than being talked about, and that is not being talked about.”
Oscar WildeThe Picture of Dorian Gray (1891)
1. Why should I blog?
2. How long does it take?
3. What should I blog about?
4. Who will read my blog?
5. Advice & tips for science bloggers
6. What not to do7. Other social
media?
What’s a blog?Blog (web log): type of website or part of website usually maintained by an individual with regular entries of commentary, descriptions of events, or other material such as graphics or video.
Entries commonly displayed in reverse-chronological order. Most blogs are interactive, allowing visitors to leave comments and even message each other.
This interactivity that distinguishes them from other static websites.
Wikipedia
Why blog?
vengeance for bad journalism
• too often misquoted, misrepresented & just plain misunderstood, so can go on offensive
• not as much need for middle man ‘reporter’ (cf. ‘journalist’)
Why blog?
reach larger audience
• few people (and mostly specialists) read your hard work (peer-reviewed articles)
• hit much more varied audience
• ‘moral’ obligation with public funding
• more people = more citations
• measureable impact
Why blog?
collaboration• develop reputation
among peers (grants!), policy people
• higher likelihood of identifying colleagues of like mind
• NGO/industry partners
Why blog?
self-promotion• most institutional web
options limited; dry, boring, incomplete, difficult to update
• CV, publications, background, media
• partial basis for promotion/awards
Why blog?
self-promotion• most institutional web
options limited; dry, boring, incomplete, difficult to update
• CV, publications, background, media
• partial basis for promotion/awards
Why blog?
independence• shed institutional
shackles (within reason)• rants1 recommended• can express personal
opinion more freely
1evidence-based
Why blog?
hones thinking• forces keeping up to
date• develops writing skills
(simplicity desperately needed)
• subject material basis for new ideas/papers
Why blog?
invitations
• gets you invited to (and financed to attend) special events
How much time?
• personal choice
• 2-4 hours/week if 1-2 posts/week
• blog outside normal office hours?
• keep to 1 theme
What about?• passionate about topic
• controversial
• 1000s blogs; few professionalfew by scientists themselves
• unsupported rants = badevidence-based diatribes = good
Who reads?• internet-literate
professionals (non-scientists)
• high school; undergraduate; postgraduate
• journalists
• policy makers
• not too many established scientists (changing?)
Advice & tips - format• 800 – 1500 words• keep it current/relevant• frequent• good (clever/funny)
headline• tell a story• critique• good image(s) essential
(open licence)• link love
Advice & tips - topics
• “peer-review of peer-reviewed papers”
• Nature News & Views• Faculty of 1000• Front Ecol Environ
Dispatches• Editor’s Choice (many
journals)• review your own
papers!
• “peer-review of peer-reviewed papers”
• Nature News & Views• Faculty of 1000• Front Ecol Environ
Dispatches• Editor’s Choice (many
journals)• review your own
papers!
Advice & tips - style
Advice & tips - style• mix up format (not
always the same style or content type)
• video good, but use sparingly
• webinars (mostly personal)
• be a scientist, but more like a journalist& member of human race
• create categories/lists of content
Advice & tips• mix up format (not
always the same style or content type)
• video good, but use sparingly
• webinars (mostly personal)
• be a scientist, but more like a journalist& member of human race
• create categories/lists of content
Advice & tips – getting traffic• RSS (really simple
syndication)• e-mail subscriptions• key words (tags)• promote at speaking
engagements• link to professional
website & vice versa• ‘All roads lead to Rome’–
social media links back to blog
• make it easy to ‘like’, ‘tweet’, ‘stumble’, ‘digg’…
Do not…• … post mundane,
parochial subjects• … just regurgitate –
original ideas/thoughts• … post long-winded,
unsupported rants• … insult• … base on emotions• … use too much
rhetoric• … use motherhood
statements (i.e., quantify)
Social media• Twitter, Facebook, Flickr,
Youtube, LinkedIn, Friendfeed, bookmarking, blog rankings, blog search engines…
• All roads lead to Rome• grabs attention of
different mobs• don’t mix business with
pleasure• widgets• Audioboo, Slideshare…
Social media• Twitter, Facebook, Flickr,
Youtube, LinkedIn, Friendfeed, bookmarking, blog rankings, blog search engines…
• All roads lead to Rome• grabs attention of
different mobs• don’t mix business with
pleasure• widgets• Audioboo, Slideshare…
Blog hosts• Wordpress.com;
Wordpress.org• Blogspot• Typepad• Blogger• Edublogs• Yahoo 360• Livejournal• custom
www.adelaide.edu.au/directory/corey.bradshaw
ConservationBytes.com
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Bill LauranceMike SeyfangUniversity of AdelaideJames Cook Universitymy students & postdocs