Wednesday, May 16, 2007

Blogging Scientists...

Earlier today the paper fairy left the most recent Cell on my desk, open to the page "Scientists Enter the Blogosphere." Actually it was left on my chair, as my desk is currently a mess of papers (it's called writing a review), and I might not have seen it otherwise. There are a few people in my lab (including my boss) to whom I have casually mentioned my blog, but I'm pretty unsure if they have ever looked for it on the web. So it made me feel pretty good that my boss remembered I am a blogger.
Some fast facts from the article: Of 50 million blogs that exist, 4% of them deal with technology issues on a regular basis (20,000 of them are labeled as "science" blogs, although the term science is used loosely), 8% of internet users in the US write a blog, and only about 1000 of the science blogs out there are actually considered "authoritative."
I've been reading one of the featured blogs, In the Pipeline, for quite some time, and was thrilled when I was recently added to his blogroll. Some of the other blogs mentioned in the article that I found particularly interesting: Aetiology, The Daily Transcript, Sandwalk, and Useful Chemistry.
On a slightly related note, this recent post by Excimer (and all of the commenters there, especially Chembark) really got me thinking--Do blogs already serve as an unofficial review/comment system for scientific articles?

5 comments:

Ψ*Ψ said...

I'd say they might. The question is whether the authors actually read what people think of their work.

Anonymous said...

You could always give the author a head's up that you mentioned their latest research.

Jean-Claude Bradley said...

Who decides what is official or unofficial?

utenzi said...

Derek, over at In the Pipeline is one of the best science bloggers I read. Like you, I look forward to reading his posts every day.

I don't think blogs are a good vehicle for unofficial review, Amanda. There's just not enough accountability.

Anonymous said...

Here are a few peopleD3 Items in our research laboratory (which include my supervisor) to be able to to whom I have gently described my personal blog site, but I am just pretty uncertain whether they have actually searched for the idea on-line. Thus it forced me to beRS Gold experience excellent that the boss remembered I'm a blog writer.