We’re excitedly counting down to this year’s SpotOn London conference (formerly Science Online London), which is taking place on Sunday 11th and Monday 12th November at the Wellcome Collection Conference Centre.

The theme of this year’s event will be “Connections” and, on the conference’s fifth anniversary, we’ll be celebrating the friendships and collaborations we’ve made so far, as well as looking forward to what we can all achieve together in the future.

This year,  there are a few changes to the set up of SpotOn London, including structuring the activities around three topic strands:

i) science communication and outreach

ii) online tools and digital publishing

iii) science policy Continue reading →

Thanks to everyone who’s submitted session suggestions on the Science Online London wiki – we’re busy making progress with putting together this year’s programme, details of which will be announced very soon.

But first, we’d like to give you details of how to attend this year’s conference.

What is Science Online London?

If you’ve not attended before, Science Online London (SoLo) is an annual opportunity to meet other people interested in how science is carried out and communicated online. This year we’re being hosted at the Wellcome Collection Conference centre where we’re looking forward to two days of discussions, learning new skills and networking. Whether you’re a technologist, librarian, science communicator, or academic researcher, we aim to have something of interest for you.

For more information on the topics discussed at last year’s conference, check out our collection of video archives, Storify storyboards and blog posts written by attendees. You can also catch up with the related SoNYC monthly discussions that we’ve been co-organising in NYC. Continue reading →

Save the date! Science Online London 2012

Mark your calendars – this year’s Science Online London conference will be taking place on Sunday 11th and Monday 12th November and we’d love for you to join us! Now celebrating its fifth year, Science Online London is an annual two-day conference hosted by nature.com for anyone interested in how science is communicated and carried out online.

This year, we’re delighted to be hosted by the Wellcome Trust and the event will take place at the Wellcome Collection Conference Centre on Euston Road. Equipped with “unbreakable Wi-Fi”, we will be live-tweeting and live-streaming the event – check out last year’s archives for Storifys and videos of the sessions and join in the online conversations on the #solo12 hashtag.

What can I expect?

This year, we will structure Science Online London around three discussion strands: i) science communication and outreach ii) online tools and digital publishing and iii) science policy. We’ll keep a mixture of keynotes, panel debates, breakout sessions, workshop and fringe events, but you’ll have more opportunity to follow sessions that are specifically aligned to one of the three main topic areas. Science Online London is intended to be a dynamic, lively forum to bring together science communicators, technologists, and those interested in science policy so we hope you’ll add your voice to the conversations.

How do I get involved?

Science Online London is all about bringing together great people with interesting ideas and we’d love to have your input into the programme. If you’d like to suggest a session, please email us at scienceonline@nature.com or post your ideas on the wiki. You don’t need to have fully-formed ideas, so don’t worry if you’re not sure about who else to present with – we can work together to create new collaborations and friendships. We’re also looking for help to organise the fringe events so if you’d like to contribute to a fifth birthday party on the Saturday evening, let us know.

If your organisation would like to sponsor Science Online London, we have several different options this year, from attending as an exhibitor, to hosting refreshments, to sponsoring a specific track. Do get in touch for more information.

How do I sign up?

Tickets aren’t yet on sale, but you can find out here or via our Twitter account as soon as they are. Alternatively, email us at scienceonline@nature.com to be added to our mailing list for further updates.

For the very first time, this year Science Online London hosted a selection of lively workshops that formed the schedule for the second day of the conference.

Four simultaneous workshops, each divided into 90 minute sessions were available. Attendees could select two of these workshops, one in the morning and one in the afternoon. The afternoon workshops were more advanced and attendees had the option to choose a different workshop, or to dive deeper into the same session in the afternoon. Each workshop used information relevant to SMA research.

You can find out more about the workshops here and take a look at our Storify below which archives the tweets from each of the sessions.

You can also find links to blog posts and other related coverage in the storyboard. Do let us know if we have left anything out. Don’t forget to check out the Science Online Wiki that links out to all related Science Online blogging coverage.

The second day of Science Online London got off to an excellent start with a keynote from neuroscientist MaryAnn Martone. MaryAnn also set the tone for the workshops, explaining the current limitations and need for better use of tools and information in the context of SMA, a rare disease that afflicts infants.

Below is a Storify archiving the tweets from her talk, you can also find links to blog posts and other related coverage in the storyboard. Do let us know if we have left anything out.

Don’t forget to check out the Science Online Wiki that links out to all related Science Online blogging coverage.

Below is a Storify archiving the tweets from the first panel on Day 2 of Science Online London. The topic of discussion was Dealing with data. The panel’s aim was to look at how data is transforming and affecting scientific research and communication, from data visualisation in the media, to data-intensive science in various fields. The panel consisted of leading scientists, media organisations such as The Guardian and experts in infrastructure, and their take on working with data in the digital age.

You can also find links to blog posts and other related coverage in the storyboard. Do let us know if we have left anything out

Don’t forget to check out the Science Online Wiki that links out to all related Science Online blogging coverage.