Scientists Enter the Blogosphere

Abstract

Blogs are one of the latest tools that scientists use to communicate their ideas to other scientists or to the general public. But who are the science bloggers and why do they blog?

Scientists’ Blogs: Glimpses Behind the Scenes

“…Batts et al estimated the total number of science blogs at "over 1,200", drawing on a study published a year earlier that in turn quoted science blogger Bora Zivkovic as estimating the number of science blogs at 1,000-1,200 (Bonetta 2007). A more recent estimate (Mooney and Kirshenbaum 2009) was "some 1,000", though this was qualified as "undoubtedly a very conservative figure".…”

“…Science blogging has been reported as a means by which scientists have found collaborators for the authoring of significant papers (Batts et al 2008) or have benefitted from "interesting perspectives" of site users' comments, even helping to generate "new research ideas" (Butler 2005). However, it is notable that examples given by commentators of significant impacts of blogging on the conduct of science tend to be repeated, suggesting there may not be very many such examples: The story of a PhD student in genetics, Reed Cartwright, who disagreed in his blog with a 2005 Nature paper and was then invited to be co-author of a paper for Plant Cell, has been told in The Scientist (Secko 2007), by Bonetta (2007) and by Batts et al (2008).…”

“…It has been claimed that the notably successful blog Pharyngula has become a "universal, interactive rallying point for understanding and discussing evolutionary development" (Batts et al 2008), making its originator, P. Z. Myers, a "rock star of scientist bloggers" (Bonetta 2007), also through his advocacy of science-based atheism.…”

(Micro)Blogging Science? Notes on Potentials and Constraints of New Forms of Scholarly Communication

“…For example, it is widely assumed that because they are public, science blogs should be used to present the results of scientific research to a wider audience. Often blogging is seen as a new component of science journalism which is consequently something not just done by scientists, but also by journalists, or by enthusiasts with knowledge in a given area of science (Bonetta 2007). Frequently when the term science blogging (or scholarly blogging) is used, it is only implicitly clear which kind of blogging is meant, the variety that complements scholarly communication in journal articles and scholarly monographs, or the one that complements science journalism.…”

Science Blogging: Networks, Boundaries and Limitations

“…A number of prominent scientific journals have published articles on science blogging (e.g. Bonetta 2007, Schmidt 2008 and Nature has recently published an editorial about blogging (Nature 2009) as well as featuring a regular column 'from the blogosphere'. Usually written by a prominent science blogger these articles are for the most part written as a guide for scientists to the world of science blogging.…”