Science Online New York (SoNYC) encourages audience participation in the discussion of how science is carried out and communicated online. To tie in with June’s event which will discuss how scientists can reach out of the ivory tower, we’re hosting a series of guest posts on Soapbox Science. We will hear from a range of contributors: scientists, writers, enthusiasts, communicators, events organizers, policy makers and teachers, each sharing details about how they reach out to engage with the public.
Miriam is a Ph.D. student at Scripps Institution of Oceanography, where she studies the ecological impacts of plastic trash in the North Pacific Subtropical Gyre. She blogs at Deep Sea News and tweets at @MiriamGoldste.
Every so often, my colleagues drift into my office, wondering about this whole online science thing. For you, gentle Nature blog readers, I’ve distilled my standard spiel into a handy (somewhat tongue-in-cheek) flowchart. This is by no means the One True Way, and I welcome comments and feedback. 
For those wanting further information, I’ve provided links to more resources below. This is very far from exhaustive, and I encourage you to suggest additional helpful links in the comments.
- Because Your Grandpa’s On Facebook: Online Outreach for Scientists – slides from my presentation at the 2010 Western Society of Naturalists meeting
- It’s Time To e-Volve: Taking Responsibility for Science Communication in a Digital Age by Christie Wilcox
- Why Scientists Should Blog: Lisa M. Dellwo
- Why should scientists use Twitter? M.J. Vinas
- What is Twitter and why scientists need to use it: Craig McClain
- Don’t completely write off Pinterest: Susanna Speier
- Is blogging mere self-promotion? Scicurious
You can follow the online conversation on Twitter with the #reachingoutsci hashtag and you can also read the other posts in the series here.
The one thing I’d change is the description of blogging as “life-sucking yet strangely satisfying.” Blogging has done the exact opposite of suck life from me. I’d call it “time sucking but life affirming.”
I recently started a biochemistry and biophysics blog along the lines of the creation branch of your tree. I limit my posts to one per week so it isn’t too “time sucking” and I really enjoy writing it. Thus far I mostly write about the protein I work on and the mechanism of voltage-gating in cation channels. I intend to expand the discussion as time goes on.
I hope in the future more scientist get into reading and writing blogs. I like to think that my colleagues would enjoy reading my blog if they knew about it.
I would certainly love to hear what other science bloggers think about it. Please check it out and let me know what you think: lettsscience.com