Sorry for the few days of silence, but we’ve been busy updating Nature Network Boston, working out some of the bugs and making small improvements. We’ve got a long way to go, but hey, this is a start. Yesterday, we went live with a couple of new features, such as a basic message board for the groups. So far, if you’ve joined a group on NNB, you couldn’t really communicate with the other members of the group. Now you can.

We call the message board a ‘notice board’ and it allows the group admin (the creator of the group) to post messages. Members of the group can post comments/responses to them. For an example of one I just posted, click here

This is just a basic version of more elaborate discussion forums that we are now developing. In these forums, anyone in the group will be able to post messages and start conversations.

We’re also working on a jobs section where you’ll be able to find local jobs in science and even post job listings.

Things were a bit quiet on NNB over the summer, but as we’re gearing up over the next few months to roll out new features, we’re now starting to reach out to Boston scientists, to try and spread the word about NNB and convince people to give us a try.

One thing we’re planning is a pub night sometime next month where we’ll invite young scientists from all over Boston to relax and chat over a drink or two about NNB and whatever else. So stay tuned.

In the meantime, I’ve created a new group called NNB Events, which is open to anyone to join. If you’re interested in hearing about the pub night and other events we’re planning for Boston scientists, just join the group by going to the group page and clicking on “Join”.