Just one of the lessons from last night’s Blogging Science event at the Apple Store. I emptied my pockets this morning to find a small paper trail of the things.
But anyway…
Around 100 people turned out to our latest science+web2.0 evening. The third in the series, jointly organised by Nature Network London and the Royal Institution, was chaired by Bobby Johnson, tech correspondent for the Guardian. I failed to take any notes, so you’ll have to rely on my memory.
Ed Yong kicked off by describing his experiences writing Not Exactly Rocket Science. Two or three times a week, Ed takes a primary biological science paper and summarises it in clear language that anyone can understand. He’s clearly made a success of things
Jenny Rohn then picked up the baton. As most readers will know, Jenny blogs on Nature Network about her experiences moving back to the lab after a four year spell in science publishing. Jenny advocated the more personal touch in science blogging. Share your own experiences with your readers, she said, rather than regurgitating science facts and figures.
Finally, the mighty Ben Goldacre took to the stage with a charismatic romp through Bad Science, his blog about, well, bad science. Among a barrage of quip and anecdote, Ben provided many practical hints on running a successful blog, such as using Del.icio.us to microblog into your margin, and the dangers of running your own server space rather than going with a company like WordPress.
A lengthy panel discussion followed. Here are the questions and responses I can recall.
How do you find the time? All agreed that if you have a passion for the subject, you just find the time. Jenny revealed that some of her posts sneakily borrow from emails she’s already written. Ben spends his time thinking about the stuff he writes anyway, so blogging it is a natural extension. Insomnia helps too, observed Ed.
Do you make any money from blogging? Jenny: No. Where’s Matt Brown? Ed: ScienceBlogs give me enough to buy a CD every month or two. Ben: I’m rubbish with money. I made a little from Google Ads, but broke their terms and conditions for a laugh and lost the money.
Are there any science blogs for children, and should there be? The panel weren’t aware of any, but agreed that a well-written post should be intelligible to any enquiring mind. Ed recounted a time when a class of school kids decided to vomit all over his comments section with their ‘appalling grammar’, using the space to debate which of their number was the most ‘lame‘.
And so to the pub – the oak-panelled Red Lion on Kingly Street. At least 20 members of the audience came along to discuss the subject further, including established bloggers and a few who were considering it. I also had the privilege of meeting a couple of guys from ScienceBlogs: Mo from Neurophilosophy and Nick from The Scientific Activist.
And thus I acquired a fist-full of Moo cards.