Nascent

As announced at the London Science Blogging Conference on August 30th 2008, we hereby challenge all scientists to get a senior scientist blogging. The ultimate aim is to help scientific blogging gain more momentum and credibility - and also to have some fun. Points will be awarded for:

* The seniority and reputation of the blogger (both in absolute terms and in comparison to the person who convinced them to blog)
* Their previous lack of experience with blogging and other new-fangled online habits
* The quality and quantity of the posts, their relevance to science, and any demonstrable positive impact they might have already had
* Other criteria that will no doubt occur to us later

Please submit nominations (including self-nominations) by email to 't dot hannay at nature dot com' by January 5th 2009 using the subject line 'I got a senior scientist to blog'. All formal judging will take place shortly after this date, but we encourage early nominations so that we can sign up for the RSS feeds. Please include:

* Your name and affiliation
* The name and affiliation of the blogger
* A link to the blog
* Any interesting anecdotes, or reasons why you think it deserves to win

The winning blog will earn the chance to be included in The Open Laboratory: The Best Science Writing on Blogs 2008. The blogger and instigator will also each earn expenses-paid trips to Science Foo Camp 2009, to be held in July or August (exact date still to be confirmed) at the Googleplex in Mountain View, CA.

The decision of the judges (that's us) will be announced in January 2009, will be final, and will probably be somewhat arbitrary.

Good luck!

Peter Murray-Rust
Cameron Neylon
Richard P Grant
Timo Hannay