Using Blogs to Enrich Your Scientific Career

On Monday, February 13, 2012, I will once again have the pleasure of visiting the University of California-Davis graduate student seminar, “Translating Research Beyond Academia: Communication Strategies”. Here are my notes for the session.

Updated 2/13/2012.

Why Communicate Science?

1. Because it’s fun.
2. Because it’s fun when your parents actually understand what the heck you do/want to do for a living.
3. My take: Publishing your findings is one thing, but it’s just as important to clearly and effectively convey the significance of your research to your dean, a reporter, a senator or a stranger at a party. Simply put, the more people who know the implications of your research, the more opportunities may come for collaboration, funding, influencing public policy and improving societal awareness of science. (http://younglandis.wordpress.com/2010/10/15/communicating-science-through-context)

Why Learn How to Use Blogs

Communicate your research to the public

• Foster interest in your research
• Become a source for information
• Defend your science (http://www.npr.org/2011/08/23/139852035/shrimp-on-a-treadmill-the-politics-of-silly-studies)
• Required Reading: http://io9.com/5873948/you-are-bitching-about-the-wrong-things-when-you-read-an-article-about-science

Interact with others in your academic field

• Find students/advisors
• Engage in critique/punditry (http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/loom/2011/12/02/happy-birthday-arseniclife/; http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/badastronomy/2012/01/23/independent-researchers-find-no-evidence-for-arsenic-life-in-mono-lake/)
• Get help in your research? (http://smithsonianscience.org/2011/03/facebook-friends-help-scientists-quickly-identify-nearly-500-fish-specimens-collected-in-guyana/)

Organize and showcase your research

• Online notebook
• Field blogging (http://seaplexscience.com/; http://www.werc.usgs.gov/ProjectOutreachNews.aspx?projectID=221)
• Interactive thesis (http://landis2009commutesheds.wordpress.com/)

Fundraise for your research

• Like this: http://rockethub.com/projects/3810-turtles-in-the-deep

Venture into Science Communications

• Brand yourself (http://www.kirstensanford.com/)
• Hang out with your friends (http://deepseanews.com/)
• Work for that magazine you’ve always dreamed of (http://blogs.nature.com/; http://news.sciencemag.org/; http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/; http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/)
• Become a professional journalist (http://www.aaas.org/programs/education/MassMedia/; http://scicom.ucsc.edu/; http://journalism.nyu.edu/graduate/courses-of-study/science-health-and-environmental-reporting)
• Write about your passion; (http://www.persquaremile.com/; http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/tetrapod-zoology/)

THE Conference About Science Blogging

• http://scienceonline2012.com/

Blogging Tools

• WordPress (Example: http://boundaryvision.com/; http://cdfgnews.wordpress.com/)
• Blogger/Blogspot (Example: http://phylogenomics.blogspot.com/)
• Tumblr (Example: http://peppersprayingcop.tumblr.com/)
• Posterous
• Facebook

Other Tools

• Pintrest (Example: http://pinterest.com/washingtonpost/; http://www.pbs.org/mediashift/2012/02/pinterest-why-what-its-not-says-so-much044.html)
• Cowbird
• YouTube
• Twitter

Random Fun
AAAS “Dance Your PhD” Contest 2011 Winner

Microstructure-Property relationships in Ti2448 components produced by Selective Laser Melting: A Love Story from Joel Miller on Vimeo.

Zheng Lab “Bad Project”