There are four key components to publishing, and they’re all about to change. Ten years from now, publishing will be done in ways that we are only beginning to envisage. Politics and profit will of course compel these changes. But the specific innovations coming our way will be driven by a generation of tweeters, bloggers, status… Read More…
Publishing in the Adjacent Possible
December 1, 2011 By 2 Comments
The link below takes you to a video of my talk at the 6th Munin Conference, at which the theme was Enhancing Publications. In the talk, I explore Stuart Kauffman’s concept of the Adjacent Possible and imagine what it might mean in the context of thinking about the future of scientific publication. A very slightly… Read More…
Social media and blog traffic: 4 tips that work and 2 that don’t
November 22, 2011 By 12 Comments
Traffic to my blog has jumped recently. Twitter and Facebook are the trick. I’ve been blogging for just over 6 months. While I’m writing this entry, my blog will be visited for the 9,000th time. 2,000 of those visits came in October, and over 4,000 more have come in November. Most of my visitors have… Read More…
Four crucial steps for hosting a successful write-in
November 15, 2011 By 4 Comments
Keep writing. Every day. That’s what the experts say. Maybe you just have time to write a single paragraph. Can you summarize what you wrote yesterday? Can you write a few notes about the next section in your project? Find your strategy and stick with it. Don’t succumb to Writer’s Block — but if you… Read More…
How I use my blog and Twitter to get on op-ed pages
November 12, 2011 By 3 Comments
In my short life as a blogger, I’ve had success converting my blog posts into op-ed pieces. Publishing in traditional fora gives increased impact, which motivates me to blog more. It demonstrates that social media and blogging can lead to crossover into traditional media. I search on Twitter to identify relevant hashtags and to find… Read More…
Opacity in scientific publication: Do journals discriminate?
November 11, 2011 By 10 Comments
Watson & Crick’s 1953 article in Nature revealing the double-helix structure of DNA was not peer reviewed. Many scientists claim this paper presents the most important discovery of the 20th century. The peer review system is what gives science integrity. Yet this paper was published based on the evaluation of the editors that it was obviously true…. Read More…
Fix this blog!
November 11, 2011 By 5 Comments
What makes your blog successful? How can you get more readers and more comments? What leads someone to “subscribe” to your blog? How can you use your blog to feed your other activities ? I’ve been blogging for about 6 months, and these questions become more and more salient for me. I love generating the… Read More…
Breakthrough knowledge: Research, education and universities
November 5, 2011 By 3 Comments
Discovering something no one knew before is research. Discovering something that you didn’t know before, but someone else did, is education. I love the idea of universities. I spend my days with people who work to understand something better: the universe, the world, societies, brains, kids, change, books, and more. That’s research. What do we… Read More…
Negative results are important: Research Europe
July 21, 2011 By 5 Comments
“When you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth.” Sherlock Holmes in The Sign of the Four, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle Research fails. Almost always. Scientists discard hypotheses like so many untried drones, cast out to freeze before even getting a chance. This is the nature of research. It’s the… Read More…
Arsenic gives aspiration: Twitter and Open Access Publishing
June 1, 2011 By 1 Comment
Passionate researchers want to figure it out. We want to understand nature, to identify what is and why it is that way. We want to know. And when we know something, we want to tell others about it. But the way scientists communicate is outdated. The system is broken. And our attempts to fix it are… Read More…
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