Nature Network | O'Really?

July 26, 2010

Please Sir, I want some more Science!

Filed under: communication,publishing — Duncan Hull @ 5:27 pm
Tags: Aleks Krotoski, British Library, Evan Harris, London, Martin Fenner, Matthew Cockerill, Mendeley, Nature Network, Peter Murray-Rust, Sid Rodrigues, solo10, soloconf, Victor Henning

Science Online London (#solo10 September 3-4, 2010) is an annual gathering of people interested in the use of web technologies for scientific collaboration and communication. The organisers at Mendeley, Nature Network and The British Library continue to do a great job of hosting this important gathering, now in its third year:

I’ve been the last two years (2008 and 2009), and it has been worth attending because of the mix speakers, delegates and topics covered. This year includes talks from:

Matthew Cockerill publisher and blogger at BioMed Central
Peter Murray-Rust Chemist and blogger at the University of Cambridge
Aleks Krotoski Guardian/BBC journalist, blogger and academic
Evan Harris politician, Doctor, former MP for Oxford and blogger

See the impressive full programme here. Reading through the speaker list I wondered, where are all the scientists at science online this year? At the time of writing this, 12 of the 13 speakers are politicians, publishers or journalists with scientist Peter Murray-Rust the odd man out. I’ve nothing against politicians, publishers or journalists but it would be great to have a more balanced event this year. The UK is full of high-profile scientists with blogs who would probably jump at the opportunity to speak at this event. So:

Dear readers of this blog: this gathering is fun, sign up now for the last few tickets
Dear organisers: Please sir, I want some more Science!
Dear scientists: if you are the kind of PowerPoint jockey who does a killer keynote, please contact the organisers.

Or as the skeptical Sid Rodrigues said “this looks like fun, needs more nerds though“…

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June 2, 2009

Blogging For Profit: Costs and Benefits

Filed under: conferences,funding — Duncan Hull @ 7:40 am
Tags: AdSense, blogger, London, Mendeley, Nature Network, Nature Publishing Group, openwetware, sciblog, soloconf, soloconf_09, wordpress

The organisers of the Science Online London 2009 conference are asking people to propose their own session ideas (see some examples here), so here is proposal:

Title: Blogging For Profit: Costs and Benefits

What are the costs and benefits of blogging and how can you make sure the latter justifies the former?

This (proposed) session will look at two kinds of profit, and the costs associated with each.

Research profit (in science and academia), building digital reputations on the Web. Can blogging help your next grant proposal for research funding and if so, how? How can blogging be used to increase the visibility and impact of published research via the likes of ResearchBlogging.org, blogs.nature.com and other aggregators?

Financial profit (in business), making blogging pay the bills. What business models (and infrastructure) exist to support blogging? Including, but not limited to: Nature Network, ScienceBlogs, Google AdSense, “20% time“, “free” tools (WordPress, Blogger, OpenWetWare etc). Going solo vs. joining a club – which business models and tools are right for you?

This could be followed by a general discussion on these benefits. When do they justify their costs (and risks) and make for profitable blogging?

If this is a successful proposal, I’ll need some help. Any offers? If you are interested in joining in the fun, details are at scienceonlinelondon.org

[CC-licensed Business Graph picture by nDevilTV]

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September 4, 2008

Famous for fifteen people

Filed under: web of science — Duncan Hull @ 2:47 pm
Tags: Andrew Walkingshaw, Andy Warhol, axiope, badscience, barcamb, Ben Goldacre, BrainDuck, Brian Cox, cameron neylon, Clan Duncan, connotea, Coracle, DIUS, Egon Willighagen, Euan Adie, Gia Millinovich, Jean-Claude Bradley, London, Marilyn Monroe, Mekentosj, MOMA, momus, myexperiment, Nature Network, New York, nobel, NTK, penis, people, Peter Murray-Rust, sciblog, scifoo, soloconf, soloconf_09, Timo Hannay, Zoe Corbyn

The artist Andy Warhol once said:

“In the future everybody will be world famous for fifteen minutes”.

This well worn saying has been quoted and misquoted in hundreds of different ways in the forty years since Warhol first coined it [1].

Bad Scientist Ben Goldacre, in his keynote speech* at Science Blogging (sciblog) 2008, highlighted one of these deliberate misquotes, which he attributed to NTK.net (Need To Know: Britain’s most sarcastic high-tech weekly newsletter). It goes a little something like this:

“On the internet everybody can be world famous for fifteen people“.

This wonderful expression captures the nature and scale of science blogging on the internet today in a nutshell. Personally, I think it also sums up much of the spirit of the Science Blogging 2008 conference as well. In total, around eight groups of fifteen people, attended the conference. It was physically impossible to talk to all of them in one day, especially since I had to slink off early at 7pm, but I did manage to meet the following people: (more…)

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