by CKR
While the Washington Post and Ellen Goodman and the New York Times struggle with the idea of blogging (no newsprint and anyone can play, fancy that!), scientists are being urged to get into the fray.
Alison Ashlin and Richard J. Ladle, from the Oxford University Centre for the Environment, surveyed thirty blogs for accuracy on global extinction rates. Scientific consensus is between 74 and 150; most of the blogs surveyed fell in this range, but there were significant outliers at one a day and thousands a day.
We scientists are quiet folk, not usually given to the prerorations and accusations of the mass media, so Ashlin and Ladle quietly make some recommendations for environmental and other scientists.
Environmental scientists should actively engage in blogging to increase the presence of informed opinions in the blogosphere. Research supervisors should encourage students to blog while providing training in science communication and dissemination. Senior scientists should set up their own high-profile weblogs to help allay fears that blogging is somewhat disreputable…Environmental research groups and peer groups should create weblogs for the discussion of new ideas and the dissemination of research findings.
The article is in the Policy Forum of the 14 April Science. Unfortunately, it’s behind a subscription wall. I have a subscription to Science in hard copy and could probably access it, but some time ago I ran into a series of snafus in accessing the site and gave up. I think I have an e-mail somewhere with a new password or whatever in it, but I really, really don’t like to waste time messing with internet mazes.
So there are things here that both Science and Jim Brady might learn. Listening, anyone?