Ideas and Suggestions

We want to build a site that’s useful to the community of science communicators - what would you like to see here? Are there topics you’d like covered? Questions you’d like to ask? Questions you’d like to answer? Any and all ideas and suggestions are welcome, the more specific the better (e.g. if you have a burning question, feel free to suggest ideas on who might be able to answer it).

Our initial plan is for Science of Blogging to include posts which discuss the benefits (and the pitfalls) of engaging in social media, “how-to” posts with tips on how to use social media to communicate science more effectively, and interviews or guest posts where science communicators can share their experience and insight. We will also be starting a Science of Blogging Podcast where we can discuss these issues in a more dynamic way, and are interested in exploring other types of media as well (video, slideshows, animations, etc). Let us know the types of information that would be most useful to you now, and what would have been useful for you when you first started to consider using social media as a tool for science communication.

Travis & Peter

  • #1 written by Adrian J. Ebsary
    about 5 years ago
    Reply Quote

    Libel! I’d love a how-to guide on how to avoid infringing on libel laws in both Canada and the US. When I first got into blogging, this was the scariest thing for me - what might I inadvertently say about recent science that must be incorrect… and how much it could hurt me legally. I think this is what scares many young science communicators looking to launch their internet careers.

    • #2 written by Travis
      about 5 years ago
      Reply Quote

      Excellent idea, Adrian. We have reviewed a ton of weight loss products on Obesity Panacea, and fear of libel issues has always been a big concern. A related but somewhat different topic is the issue of being seen as saying something that might critique a cherished dogma in whatever field you are in, or a paper by an established researcher, which I think are also real issues for grad students and young researchers. Thanks for getting things started, and please continue to chime in!

  • #3 written by DrugMonkey
    about 5 years ago
    Reply Quote

    One of the mission critical assignments is to figure out how to show real-world impact of blogging. Traffic numbers are insufficient to convince a traditional audience. How to make the determination of impact easier, consistent and valid?

  • #4 written by Travis
    about 5 years ago
    Reply Quote

    Are you thinking along the lines of some sort of metric that *will* convey the impact of blogs? Or simply data showing that it works? We’ve discussed ideas with a few knowledge translation researchers on ways that we could start to get at the impact of blogging through qualitative questionnaires (e.g. asking key target groups like policy makers, researchers, patients, physicians, etc if they use social media, why/why not, the info they look for, etc). It certainly seems like something that would be quite feasible, especially if we focused on one scientific domain at first.

    The other thing we’ve discussed is trying to find a way to determine whether papers that get discussed online somehow get cited more. This would be a bit trickier, but so long as citations are what determine a researchers’ job security, a study which shows that blog posts do/do not increase citation rates would certainly help convince the fence sitters.

  • #5 written by Andrew Wilson
    about 5 years ago
    Reply Quote

    Regarding impact, I’d like to see discussions of specific ways people have used their social networking/blogging in impact statements on grants, etc. Here in the UK ‘impact’ is becoming increasingly heavily weighted but less and less well defined, but communication of results with a broader audience is certainly up there.

    We have been using our blog mostly as a place for us to just write, try things out, etc, but now we’re looking for ideas and ways to boost traffic, etc. We’re flying blind and making things up, which is never good :)

    • #6 written by Travis
      about 5 years ago
      Reply Quote

      I always wonder about how much a blog can help with grant applications. Here in Canada Knowledge Translation seems to be a real buzzword, and I imagine that a large reach online certainly couldn’t hurt. But whether or not it can truly help, I’m not sure - I am still in grad school, and have yet to include the blog specifically in any grant I have been involved with.

      Has anyone else included their blog in a grant application, especially as a part of the impact/knowledge translation section?

      As for trying to boost traffic, you might want to consider joining Researchblogging.org. I have a post up on this topic on the main page at the moment - we have found it to be a tremendously useful way to grow our readership with Obesity Panacea.

  • #7 written by Guillermo
    about 5 years ago
    Reply Quote

    Hi.
    That was my concern long ago. Here in Mexico the wrong concepts are repeated over and over, even by MDs that dont actualize anymore. They keep “informed” reading the material provided by the pharmaceutical companies. I just started 2 blogs, even when I am a 2nd year PhD student (Pharmacology), and my research project is now high gear. I just reviewed the visitor statistics of both blogs and I was suprised to count 500+ hits from at least 10 countries… Information in Spanish is badly needed and I was inspired by you guys, Sharma, Marion Nestle and some exercise physiologist outhere. Also I am running an pilot patient group, teaching rural diabetic or overweight patients about healthy diet. Our people is easy prey of food companies… But, the blogging is the way, no matter academic evaluation organisms dont count at all. Thank you Very Much for show us the way.

    • #8 written by Travis
      about 5 years ago
      Reply Quote

      Congrats, Guillermo! It sounds like your reasons for blogging are almost identical to our own! Are you finding it difficult to post while you are busy with your own research?

    • #9 written by Maestra Delia
      about 3 years ago
      Reply Quote

      I teach science in Mexico and have a somewhat similar concern-a lot of students keep “informed” on scientific issues by watching “news” on TV! At least that’s what the diagnostic quizzes that make them solve a the beginning of each semester show. That’s one reason I keep blogging as much as I can-to give my students fresh information and fresh approaches to our subjects. It is not a lot, since I am just an individual with limited resources, but I do my little part. Thanks for your efforts and leadership.

  • #10 written by Ken Papp
    about 5 years ago
    Reply Quote

    Travis and Peter,
    I would love to contribute guest posts to the blog. As a former volcanologist and now the Curator of the Alaska Geologic Materials Center, I would love to discuss State-level resistance to blogging and social networks, the strong reluctance towards State employees who wish to use the former methods as a vehicle for effectively distributing information, and the classic slow adoption of innovative, online tools and services. Despite these setbacks, I have started doing exactly what I’ve been encouraged not to do.

    • #11 written by Travis
      about 5 years ago
      Reply Quote

      Great to hear from you, Ken. I’ve sent you an email to set the ball rolling.

      To anyone else who is interested in proposing a guest post, feel free to leave a comment below or to email us at obesitypananacea (at) gmail (dot) com. We’re still working on getting ourselves fancy SoB emails :)

      Travis

  • #12 written by Adrian J. Ebsary
    about 5 years ago
    Reply Quote

    Something I’ve wondered about is how important it is to develop a particular theme, or character to your blog. While many bloggers take on specific spheres of science that often reflect their areas of study, others will frequently add personal blog posts or scatter their interests around several disciplines. How important is branding your blog?

  • #13 written by Name (required)
    about 5 years ago
    Reply Quote

    d

  • #14 written by Dott. Bitea V . Vasile
    about 4 years ago
    Reply Quote

    I desire to promote a NEW SCIENCE :

    http://www.drbitea.go.ro

    Best Regards,V V Bitea ,MD,scientist

    3.04.2011

  • #15 written by ryo
    about 4 years ago
    Reply Quote

    Hi guys,
    Sorry, I’ve been looking on your blogs for an email address and couldn’t for the life of me find one. I wanted to know about guest blogging, so please send me an email at your convenience, so that we can correspond.

  • #16 written by seabedhabitats
    about 4 years ago
    Reply Quote

    I think you should have a “subscribe by email” widget or box on the menu as not everyone uses RSS feeds.

  • #17 written by tom alex
    about 3 years ago
    Reply Quote

    I’d like to suggest a series of “Ideas Contests” on your new website.

    For instance, I personally would pay one hundred dollars for the best essay written on one of my ideas: Perfect randomness is impossible.

    I think that you could easily find sponsors for contests.
    Please e-mail me, Tom

  • #18 written by shreedhar
    about 2 years ago
    Reply Quote

    We use(fix) the turbains in a car or any vehicle wheels, when the car in motion electricity will be produce this electricity we take and return give this electricity the car now this car moving whit the help of electricity in this process not useful petrol and diesel… It is possible its my opinion

  • #19 written by water method
    about 1 year ago
    Reply Quote

    This is the right site for everyone who would like to find
    out about this topic. You understand so much its almost hard to argue
    with you (not that I actually would want to…HaHa). You certainly put a brand new spin on a subject that has been written about for years.
    Wonderful stuff, just excellent!

  • #20 written by Noah Weiss
    about 1 year ago
    Reply Quote

    Recently, I’ve been working on a project with a graphic designer named Cameron Drake to create x-ray gifs of certain bones in the body, and I thought you might be interested. Unlike the usual static x-rays, these are absolutely incredible to look at.
    You can see it on my blog: http://weissortho.com/content/x-ray-gifs/
    If you like, you can share it with your followers. I’m sure they would be interested in this too!

    Cheers,
    Noah

  • #21 written by Thomas
    about 1 year ago
    Reply Quote

    Scientific Idea:(Don’t be sucho criticers)
    Factorys make CO² why not pump that CO² to a half globe that makes it to O² Naturally :)
    Visit my blog Just opened: http://kingnxt.blogspot.fi/

  • #22 written by Dawn Cobalt
    about 1 year ago
    Reply Quote

    What if you had to come out smart the way you come out gay?

    In our short film “Out Smart,” a teenage boy faces his parents’ shock and outrage when he “comes out.” He’s not gay, though. He’s smart!

    It says something about the “stigma of smart” in our culture today, it’s funny, and —

    our fellow movie geeks (film and filmmaking)
    our fellow science lovers (science)
    our fellow voters on the side of, y’know, facts and education (politics)
    our fellow freethinkers (atheists)

    — might enjoy it, so here it is:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CP8Ki8DLPms

    We encourage you to embed “Out Smart” on your website and share it with friends and on social media.

    We made the film as a tool to talk about coming out. Nearly 50 chapters of PFLAG (Parents, Friends and Families of Lesbians and Gays) nationwide have screened “Out Smart,” from Little Rock, Arkansas, to Kauai, Hawaii, and Juneau, Alaska. It’s won 6 awards and 8 nominations and appeared in two dozen film festivals around the world.

    We appreciate your time in reading this email and considering “Out Smart.” If you’d like to find out more about our grassroots campaign, especially our shareable images with the funniest lines from the film, please visit us at OutSmartMovie.com. Thank you.

    Dawn Cobalt
    Director/Executive Producer
    FutureView Entertainment

    Andrew Bryan Smith
    Writer/Producer

  • #23 written by Shreya
    about 11 months ago
    Reply Quote

    Well written and fantastic ideas and suggestion available on this website. I will read it and going to upend on my blog http://www.aashiqui2songs.in/

    Thanks for such a great ideas and suggestion .

  • #24 written by Elle Taylor
    about 9 months ago
    Reply Quote

    I would love to share this website with my colleagues, but you’ve got quite the inappropriate header. Perhaps you were hacked? I would check it out and remedy the situation. This blog is perfect to share with my company, but I can’t with the vulgar title text.

  • #25 written by Nate
    about 8 months ago
    Reply Quote

    Another reader posted this before, but figured I’d chime in too- you definitely got hacked. Look at the title of your blog.

  • #26 written by Julie Newdoll
    about 8 months ago
    Reply Quote

    I have a deck of circular atomic bonding cards called Electronimoes. While you are discussing crowdfunding, I thought maybe I could get you to take a look at them. I think they can really change things! https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1640216129/electronimoes-circular-atomic-bonding-playing-card
    Thank you,
    Julie

  • #27 written by Fabricio Pamplona
    about 4 months ago
    Reply Quote

    Dear Editor,

    Attractive science illustrations can become popular and help improve scientist’s visibility in the scientific community and beyond.

    However, more than often, scientists lack the right resources to create the figures by themselves and rely on the unprofessional work of students. Isn’t it true?

    That’s why we just launched a platform that allows educators, scientists and health professionals to create stunning infographics to use in classes and presentations.

    The platform is called Mind the Graph (www.mindthegraph.com) and allows scientists and students to create professional-looking visual content, while keeping the “self-made” feeling.
    Furthermore, it follows the global tendency of using “graphical abstracts” to summarize scientific content.

    The prototype was tested by more than 1000 beta-users and we are now confident to launch it globally. It’s of great interest for people in Science and Academia.

    Would you connect us with your audience writing about it in your rafael ?

    Thanks in advance, and please do not hesitate to write me if you need additional information.

    Best regards,

    Fabricio Pamplona
    [email protected]
    Mind the Graph co-founder

  • #28 written by Shiella
    about 1 month ago
    Reply Quote

    Your article perftcely shows what I needed to know, thanks!

  • #29 written by Jimmy Kellman
    about 1 month ago
    Reply Quote

    I just want to know if this equation makes any sense. It is an equation that defines light.

    l (light) p (photon) a (acceleration)

    l=pa

    Because, if photons did not move, then there would be no visible light. Right?

  • #30 written by を盛大に、Swatchグループ（香港区）総裁Mr . Kevin RollenhagenやSwatch（香港やマカオ区）副総裁谢兰诗さん（がナンシーだ）特別招待した「シアターの女神家元」陈法拉（Fala）、「シアターの女
    about 3 weeks ago
    Reply Quote

    を盛大に、Swatchグループ（香港区）総裁Mr . Kevin RollenhagenやSwatch（香港やマカオ区）副総裁谢兰诗さん（がナンシーだ）特別招待した「シアターの女神家元」陈法拉（Fala）、「シアターの女神」楽瞳（Cilla）、「新晋の日本の歌姫」の松岡李それはどうも（Linah）や「Baby前スキャンダルジェームズParry彼氏」を演じ、工夫をこらした方式Swatch 2011の両の大きい旗艦腕時計シリーズを含む世界に翻訳され、New Gent Coloured及び新しいフルBlooded腕時計シリーズ、ゆっくり悦目に心がめまぐるしく。 http://www.wtobrand.com/sbom2.html

  • #31 written by あなたはもう一つのすばらしい新しいtxの腕時計を探している。これは、500系ワールドタイムモデルの一部ともう少し洗練されたスタイルに関しては、外向的なモデルより。また、この新し
    about 3 weeks ago
    Reply Quote

    あなたはもう一つのすばらしい新しいtxの腕時計を探している。これは、500系ワールドタイムモデルの一部ともう少し洗練されたスタイルに関しては、外向的なモデルより。また、この新しいモデルであるので、私は正確なモデル番号がありません。背景には、世界地図の青白に対しては本当に素晴らしく見えた新しいレトロな観察を得ます。私は、腕時計は、永久カレンダーと思っていると、表示の第2タイムゾーンの半球シーズン（冬または夏）とデート。腕時計の主要な焦点は、世界時の合併症である。あなたができる赤い「t」の手を見る周りにダイヤルすることができます基準都市を通してのタイムゾーンを選択します。これは、逆行性24時間ダイヤル10時近くに位置する時間が変化する。主な時間腕時計のダイヤルの上に表示されます。オリス偽物激安通販あなたはユニークなルックスと使う楽しみです本当に便利なワールドタイムの時計を持っていた。時計の結晶鉱物の結晶の上に実際に結合したサファイアである。少しより高価にするよりも、すべてのサファイアクリスタルがサファイア結晶の利益のほとんど。また、結晶の丸い端とケースから上がっている触発レトロです。この新しい500シリーズワールドタイムウォッチの最良の部分は、新しいブレスレットです。金属製のブレスレットが出てかなり醜い。このハンサムなそのスタイルはほぼジュビリーブレスレットをしている。私はこの多くの腕時計が好きだったと思います、それは良い売り手ですまた、良い贈り物を見てください。価格の可能性が500ドルのこの腕時計のためである。 http://www.bagkakaku.com/vuitton_wallet/wallet/145.html

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    about 3 weeks ago
    Reply Quote

    グッチ スーパーコピー非常に優美かつ独特で、ずっと優雅な姿で潮流の最高峰に立って、流行に引率して 豪華スーパーコピーブランドお楽しみください！弊社は個性あふれるブランドコピー、すばらしい デザインと高品質を兼ね備えるスーパーコピーバッグ、優雅の魅力があるのスーパーコピー財布など人気商品が続々入荷！ http://www.wtobrand.com/hec1.html

  • #33 written by umakant yadav
    about 1 week ago
    Reply Quote

    this will helps us a lot through social media we will or through blogging comment also we will share our ideas and suggestions on the site so that the people will find very easy to communicate