your daily history of science
DESCRIPTION
This is my talk, "Your Daily History of Science: Blogging a Discipline," given as part of the education session focusing on the internet for the History of Science Society annual meeting in Phoenix, AZ, November 19-22, 2009.TRANSCRIPT
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Your Daily History of Science:Blogging a Discipline
Michael D. BartonNovember 20, 2009History of Science Society, Phoenix, AZ
Teaching [or Being Taught] the History of Science Using the Web, Committee on Education
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Note
• assuming a level of familiarity with the blogosphere
• blog = web log• blogs can belong to a collective, such
as Science Blogs or Cliopatria (history)
• one can talk of a science blog “community”
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“Why Blog the History of Science?”
• Benjamin Cohen (The World’s Fair), “Why Blog the History of Science?” Newsletter of the History of Science Society October 2008.
• Cohen discusses his motivations for blogging academic topics “beyond the campus confines,”
- axis• refers to his blog as both personal writing and
pedagogical
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Blogger Responses to “Why Blog the History of
Science?”• Ether Wave Propaganda (Will Thomas): a “laboratory of
scholarship, an experiment to create a sustainable alternative scholarly culture to the one with which we are familiar”
• what can blogs do better than seminar / colloquium / conference / journal:
- articulation and speculation - recovery
• “blogging, for me, is not a means of communicating scholarship to a wider audience, or of extending the habits of existing scholarship into new domains. It is certainly not a ‘diary.’ It is an opportunity to bring in traditions from outside scholarship to see what can be done”
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Blogger Responses to “Why Blog the History of
Science?”• Time to Eat the Dogs (Michael Robinson): “When
I mention to colleagues that ‘I blog,’ I am met with patient smiles, as if I said ‘I cross dress’”
• offers that blogging has a personal dimension beyond public and professional communication:
- The Blog as Writers’ Workshop- A Blog of One’s Own- The Great Coiling
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Blogger Responses to “Why Blog the History of
Science?”• History of Economics Playground (Loïc
Charles): - freer exchanges- stocked vs. ephemeral- a “way to speculate about one’s own research and one’s perspective on the discipline”
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Other reasons why?
• corrective to textbook cardboard • additional context and in some cases
corrections• true value of history of science
blogging?
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http://www.smbc-comics.com/
Expletive deleted
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The Dispersal of Darwin version 1.0
April 2007 to January 2009, just under 50,000 views
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The Dispersal of Darwin version 2.0
January 2009 to present, approaching 60,000 views
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What do I blog?• Content relating to Darwin, evolution, and other history
of science:- new books, journal articles, magazine articles- online resources- news of lectures, conferences, CFP- audio/video: Radio programs, podcasts, videos on YouTube, new documentaries- my own reviews of books and documentaries- Darwin/evolution merchandise/memorabilia- photography and artwork (a lot in this Darwin year), generally through the photo website Flickr- my own experiences/travel: 2 conference trips this year, research trip to London- essentially anything I come across that I think is valuable, interesting
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Why do I blog?
• to find content for my own interests• to build a reference page for myself• to share that content with others• to network with people having similar
interests• to offer a response to threats to science
education• provides daily access (if desired) to the
topic• because it is fun!
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Variety of HoS Blogs
~40-50 blogs focus either specifically
on the history of science, or at least contain a good amount of
HoS content, including one blog carnival, The Giant’s
Shoulders
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Informal Survey
• sent survey to 32 bloggers using an online survey service
• survey included 10 questions about:- motivations for blogging- audience- education/career path-enhancing
experiences• received 21 responses
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Quick Summary
• HoS blogging is done by a mixture of historians and scientists, from the students at all levels to postdocs through professors, as well as an archivist, curator, booksellers, and freelance science writers
• most of these blogs seem to have begun as exercises in personal research or to share content with others, while most fit into a category of self-interest/hobby and less in the pedagogical category
• most seen as open to all, their audience being historians of science, students, other professionals, and the public alike, with a similar mixture generally active in engaging with the blogs through commenting
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Question #9
• What does blogging offer that cannot be expressed in other forms of writing?
– rapid development of ideas: 5– writing exercise: 8– ability to write less formally: 4– publishing in a non-university domain: 3– easy/quick public access and storage: 8– close relationship with readers: 2– immediate feedback: 7
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Question #10
• Do you have any unique experiences related to your education/career path that resulted from writing your blog?
– publications: 8– book reviews: 1– conf. panel/talk invitation: 4– grant panel invitation: 1– radio/television appearances: 1– networking: 11– faculty award: 1– event opportunities: 1– job searching: 2– changing research plans: 1– negative results: 1– none: 7
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About that negative result…
• one blogger in the survey shared that their blogging efforts, and other digital scholarship have had a negative impact on their path. The concern is with producing print vs. digital publications, and what a professor finds as valuable to their own
career compared to that of their department
• bloggers have had largely positive or neutral reactions, but not all
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What about me?
• history of science graduate student (MA)
• my blog is specifically history of science• why did I start my blog?• pedagogical (student POV)• intended audience• comments• what does it do for me?
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What about me?
• Ways my blogging has positively affected my path:
- networking- a forum for sharing my one publication in Yellowstone Science- opportunity for book/documentary reviews - radio appearance on BBC’s “Pods & Blogs”- conference opportunities- invitations to events- meet-ups when I travel (continuation of networking)- for study, I occasionally:
- supplement school reading with blog material- inform fellow students in my department (and
elsewhere) about blog material related to their research
- utilize blogs for finding out more about a topic
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Conclusion
• a definite HoS blogging community has developed in the last few years, part of but different from science blogging community (corrective)
• variety of reasons for blogging about the HoS
• more inclusive endeavor• variety of advantages to, and
opportunities resulting from, blogging, with respect to one’s educational and career goals
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And on to the blogosphere…
• I will post on my blog about this talk, and invite the conversation to continue…
• I will provide:- a more detailed summary of the answers in my survey- more information I gathered about history of science blogging
http://thedispersalofdarwin.wordpress.com
/