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January 11, 2006

Wikis and Blogs by Scientists - a new way to communicate science.

A recent news item in Nature, Science in the web age: Joint efforts comments on two new ways scientists can communicate collaboratively about their science with other scientists, as well as with the public at large. This is via blogs and wikis, both of which allow user participation in the discussion. Up to this point, most scientists have not widely embraced these new technologies, but this news article gives examples of several efforts in this area:

1. the wiki, OpenNetWare, an effort to share biological engineering protocols
   
2. "A senior US epidemiologist who blogs once or twice a day under the pseudonym 'Revere' on his public-health blog Effect Measure, has attracted a diverse readership. "About 1,500 people visit each day," he says. "If someone told me that I could show up at a lecture hall every day and deliver a short opinion, and that 1,500 people would show up to hear me, I'd be pretty satisfied — 1,500 is twice the subscription of many speciality journals."
   
3. If you want to dip your feet in the waters, and are a computational biologist, you might want to sign on to blog at Nodalpoint.org, a blog for bioinformatics
   
4. Blog.Bioethics.Net, a companion blog to the American Journal of Bioethics
   
5. Cancer Dynamics, "Musings from the coalface in a research lab modelling cancer as a complex system"
   

UIUC has a subscription to BioMedCentral's Faculty of 1000 database, which is a way to tap into the articles that senior biologists have identified as "key". But what about learning / contributing to the blogosphere, where everybody has an opinion?

Read the full Nature article at: http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v438/n7068/full/438548a.html

Posted by Katie Newman at January 11, 2006 4:13 PM