The Reluctant Geek
The Class Page of the Science Communication Seminar
Fall 2007
Meets: Thursdays, 2-3 pm in 3rd floor PharmBio Fishbowl
Who's Involved: Dr. Margaret Rubega , Dr. Kent Holsinger, Amy Weiss, Em Komiskey, Suegene Noh, Jessica Budke, Steven Hovorka
Why Are We Doing This?
To communicate with each other about electronic science communication; to get into the habit of posting frequently; because Margaret says we have to.
Why Do We Have To Practice Science Communication?
"The capacity of human beings to bore one another seems to be vastly greater than that of any other animals. Some of their most esteemed inventions have no other apparent purpose, for example, the dinner party of more than two, the epic poem, and the science of metaphysics." -- H.L. Mencken.
Thank heavens he cited metaphysics and not evolution or ecology.
"One could not be a successful scientist without realizing that, in contrast to the popular conception supported by newspapers and mothers of scientists, a goodly number of scientists are not only narrow-minded and dull, but also just stupid." -- James D. Watson
I guess we better work on communicating that we are open-minded, exciting, and intelligent.
Anybody Got a Blogging Idea?
- 21 Sept 2007 (KH) -- Since everyone's here because they're interested in science communication, I thought I should point out that Nature Reviews Genetics has an article that is well worth reading: How geneticists can help reporters to get their story right. You'll find a short summary on my blog.
- 20 Sept 2007 (Amy) -- I sort of like the concept of blogging about science (escpecially biology) in popular culture references (movies, songs, TV, products for sale), which I could then lend some scientific expertise and comments to (sort of like we've started to do below). I already have an entry in mind about a Friend's episode I just saw where Ross tries to convince Phoebe that evolution is fact. I'm also thinking a Friday science youtube video of the week (like this spectacular 70s video about protein synthesis). Oh, and I'd have to link to Giant Microbes which were stocking stuffers for all my friends and family 2 years ago. And of course, songs about science. Hmm, ok, I should start taking notes, I really think that would be fun. I think I might make this a joint blog with me and my boyfriend, as he's always sending me links about awesome science things. Any ideas for clever names? My working title thus far is Cells in Culture.
- 20 Sept 2007 (MR) --MossBlog is moments away! We've just met and brainstormed about ways to make MossBlog a daily-postin', reader-pleasin' online sensation! Blogs about the cuteness of kittens will have nuthin' on Jessica's MossBlog. Look out Blogosphere. Also, we were thrilled to find a reference to ourselves (well, to "Ed" Komiskey) on Invasive Species Weblog's Twitter. Right there while we were in class, talking about how to get noticed online!
- 18 Sept 2007 - (JB) One of my goals from taking this seminar is to start up a MossBlog. I am not sure how much I want to talk about my research in particular. I am more interested in blogging about cool mosses that I see out and about on a weekly basis and interesting moss biology topics.
~I think that's a great idea for a blog Jessica - especially if you post pictures. (amy)
~ (JB) I definitely want pictures to be a major component. I just bought a digital camera with a really good macro lens function, so hopefully I can get some crisp close up shots.
- The recent (imminent?) demise of The Weekly World News foiled my secret plan for a blog that consisted entirely of explanations for why stories therein were completely impossible on the basis of what we know about anatomy.
It is my observation that the most successful blogs seem to range very widely in a very flat universe --- they are tightly themed, but the blogger looks at the subject from many angles. So we should be striving for blog themes that will appeal to a well-defined audience.
MiniBlog on the Blogosphere and Internet
- 21 September 2007 (MR) There are global warming blogs out there; most notable is RealClimate. You could refer your friends to that one Steven. Or you could certainly start one more attractive to the average college student; less dignified, more what-are-the-climate-implications-of-getting-my-wings-delivered? In other news, check out The Scientist on favorite life-science blogs.Provided (indirectly) by Kent.
- 21 September 2007 (Amy) -- Sounds like a blog idea right there Steven. Not sure how many global warming blogs exist out in the blogosphere, but I could see you writing a blog on current issues in science aimed at the average college student. Maybe a greenhouse gas of the week. Definitely lots of multimedia things to keep them interested.
- 20 September 2007 (Steven) -- I've been wondering what people know about current issues in science, and did a quick and dirty survey among my friends to find out. I asked them about global warming, specifically to name a greenhouse gas. I got answers ranging from carbon dioxide, to CFCs and nitrogen. A few didn't know any. From their answers, it seems most don't know much about global warming at all. What everyone could tell me was global warming is bad and will heat up the world. These are people in college, people who are aware of the world around them and make an effort to stay updated with the current news. It's weird to think information I thought was common knowledge really isn't. All of them get most in not all of their information from the internet.
- 20 September 2007 (Amy) -- I assume some of you have heard about this story, that the women on The View were discussing evolution, and Whoopi asks the new co-host if she thinks the world is flat or round - she did not know! There's a clip here to watch. The end of the clip is the funniest part, if her son ever asks her if the earth is round or flat, her response would be "baby, we got to go to the library". Its so hilarious in a sad way, I don't think of people being so ignorant about science.
- 19 September 2007 (Amy) -- Okay, mentioning Sitemeter made me think to look at mine. I had never clicked the individual hit details before, but geez, I had no idea they tracked that much information. For example, I had a blog entry where I mentioned digging up tons of Jerusalem artichokes out of my garden. Some one found my blog by searching "jerusalem artichokes" on gooodsearch.com. I also know that this person lives in Deming, NM (they also give me lat, long coordinates), uses Windows XP and Internet Explorer 7.0, and has a monitor with a resolution of 1024x786. I wonder now what people think when I stumble across their blogs via random web searches.
If you want to see sitemeter details, you can click on Kent's sitemeter on his blog. Clicking on "by referrals" will show you how people are finding his blog via searches. Fascinating.
- 19 September 2007 (Amy) -- No, my Xanga blog isn't a secret, just a personal one with low readership (ok guys, don't go out and hunt for it, it's basically defunct, and I'm not posting secrets about you).
As for the sitemeter, unless they allow anyone to look at their stats (which is an option, but I think most people don't enable this) - then the data collected by the site meter can only be accessed by the blog or website "owner".
- 19 September 2007 (EK) -- I don't know anything about that, Amy, but I did try and find your blog through Google. No luck (but I did find the Xanga one); is it a secret? Also, I'm presenting a blog tomorrow. There is a logo for site meter, but I can't find the actual statistics for that site. Thoughts?
- 18 September 2007 (Amy) -- About blogs and Google searches...are all blogs on various hosting services able to be returned when someone google searches? When I had a blog on Xanga and a sitemeter, I think a got just a few hits from search engines (another great thing you can see with a site meter, the previous web address). Are some blog hosting services better at getting your blog returned toward the top of the page? If Google bases the order on greatest number of links, for blogs is this the number of links to all blogs on the same hosting site or just links to your personalized blog address (examplesite.blogger.com)? So in other words, does it matter which hosting site you pick if you want to come up towards the top of a web search??
- 18 September 2007 (EK) -- Yes, I actually knew that Volin was doing a seminar here. I teach on Thursdays at that time, but I'm hoping one of my fellow T.A.s will trade a section with me that week so I can go to his talk.
- 9/18/07 (MR) -- Cottleston Pie is a Biology Song!! I have just realized this morning that the great Song of Confusion from the Pooh Bear books is a ballad of biological investigation:
Cottleston Cottleston Cottleston Pie,
A fly can't bird, but a bird can fly.
Ask me a riddle and I reply
Cottleston Cottleston Cottleston Pie.
Cottleston Cottleston Cottleston Pie,
Why does a chicken? I don't know why.
Ask me a riddle and I reply
Cottleston Cottleston Cottleston Pie.
Cottleston Cottleston Cottleston Pie,
A fish can't whistle and neither can I.
Ask me a riddle and I reply
Cottleston Cottleston Cottleston Pie. (-- A. A. Milne)
- 9/17/07 (MR) -- That NRME Guy is already coming here Em, you will find if you look at the dept'l. seminar list, that Jon Volin is the Thurs afternoon EEB seminar speaker on Oct. 11. So be sure to sign up to meet with him on the 11th. I met him last week; I got the impression he is likely to charge things up in NRME quite a bit.
- 14 September 2007 (Amy) - Em, you said you uploaded it to EEBedia, so that's the first step. The next step is to copy and paste the page name of your file, then insert it onto EEBedia using the code...
You of course can add right, left, or none of that to change the position, and the px is just to change the size.
- 14 September 2007 (Em) -- Okay, seriously, how do you put a picture on a page? I uploaded a picture. It looks like it was here, but when I try and put it one my page, no dice. Boo.
- 14 September 2007 (Em) -- I learned today that the new head of NRME is a guy by the name of John C. Volin. Apparently, he joins us from Florida Atlantic University where he was the director of the Environmental Science Department. He studies plant physiology and invasive ecology. Even cooler, when I looked at his publication, I realized he has collaborated on a couple papers I have already read. I think I will have to speak with him.
- 13 Sept 2007 (Margaret) -- Well, I must spurn Amy's science song link as shamefully incomplete, as it lacks any reference to the Amphioxus song (or It's A Long Way to Amphioxus). Here's a link to a / performance of the song by folksinger Sam Hinton, and another to a page with a (purported) history of the song, and complete lyrics. You all ought to know that I regularly sing this song, with all the gusto of which I am capable, to my Biology of the Vertebrates classes. That they are always stunned goes without saying.
- 13 Sept 2007 (Amy) -- As mentioned in class, here's the link to the webpage full of science songs. I highly recommend "Eohippus" (I think the passing of all evolutionary time should just be sung as lalalalalalala) and for fans of They Might Be Giants, "Why Does The Sun Shine". And here's my EEBedia page, Songs about Plants, which is a listing of non-educational songs that mention plants.
Class Schedule
To upload a pdf use this form (username/password required)
NOTE: The LCD projector is reserved for our meeting time; but if you are presenting and need it,you are responsible for retrieving it and bringing it to class.
Date | Speaker | Topic | Check Before Class |
---|---|---|---|
Aug 28 | Organizational meeting | ||
Sept 6 | No Meeting | ||
Sept 13 | Margaret Rubega | Introduction to the basics of blogging as a form of science communication | :![]()
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Sept 20 | Em Komiskey | http://invasivespecies.blogspot.com | |
Sept. 27 | NO MEETING | ||
Oct 4 | Suegene Blog Review | ||
Oct 11 | Amy Blog Review | ||
Oct 18 | Steven's Blog Review | ||
Oct 25 | Jessica Budke | http://mattdowling.blogspot.com/ OR http://scienceblogs.com/mikethemadbiologist/ Indecisiveness on my part | |
Nov 1 | |||
Nov 8 | |||
Nov 15 | |||
Nov 22 | NO MEETING | THANKSGIVING | |
Nov 29 | |||
Dec 6 |