Did you know that each week I interview a science blogger and spotlight their work as the Blog of the Week in The Observer, a newspaper in Charlotte, N.C.? It’s true!
I’ve been writing this column since February, and we’ve done one person/one blog per week ever since. It’s great fun. I used to call people and talk with them on the phone, but even though I warned folks that the column was space-limited to about 400 to 450 words, their answers would drag on, which led to a lot of time spent editing. And then some people were invariably heartbroken that every word of our whole 30 minute talk wasn’t in the 400 word column. Which made me feel badly, because I usually really enjoy talking with everyone and hope they are happy with the outcome. So I switched gears and started doing the interviews over email. It makes people think more seriously about their answers when I tell them that we usually have space for two or three sentences per answer!
What follows here is the first-ever archive of all the columns to date. They are archived in The Observer’s online Sci-Tech index, but the blog pieces are mixed in with the feature and center piece articles so I thought it would be good to aggregate them independently. At first, we were trying to find local people. Then when local people ran thin, I started looking farther afield. We now feature science bloggers that are new and emerging or that are old hands and pros, and by the end of next week I think we’ll have had people from the U.S, the U.K., Canada and the Netherlands. The print edition has a nice large photo that goes with the column, which truly puts a face to the work of the blogger. The dates are month/year of publication. Enjoy perusing!
02/10: Dr. Craig McClain of Deep Sea News:
He finds ocean science has deep following.
02/10: Dr. Misha Angrist of Genome Boy:
Genomics gets personal for Duke professor
03/10: Bill Hilton Jr. of Hilton Pond:
An intimate peep at a place in the Piedmont.
03/10: James Hrynyshyn of Island of Doubt (now Class M):
He challenges “pseudo-skeptics.”
03/10: Jovana Grbic of ScriptPhD.com:
Intersection of science and entertainment.
03/10: Sarah Green of Habitat Blog:
You can invite wildlife into your backyard.
03/10: Bill Chameides of Green Grok:
Carrying the message about sustainability.
04/10: Sci Curious of Neurotopia (now Neurotic Physiology):
A brainy look at the weird and wonderful.
04/10: Jennifer Ouellette of Cocktail Party Physics:
Playing around where physics meets culture.
04/10: Christie Wilcox of Observations of a Nerd:
Easy to read bits of biology.
04/10: Brian Switek of Laelaps:
Rethinking our evolution via fossil record.
05/10: Andy Deans of N.C. Insect Museum:
Weird bugs, common bugs.
05/10: Robert Kosara of Eager Eyes:
How to turn numbers into a visual treat.
05/10: Vanessa Woods of Bonobo Handshake:
This little ape could teach us lessons in peace.
05/10: David Kroll of Terra Sigillata:
Turning nature into an ally to fight cancer.
06/10: Bora Zivkovic of A Blog Around the Clock:
Finding rhythms of time – with some fun too.
06/10: Ed Yong of Not Exactly Rocket Science:
A prize-winning take on science.
06/10: Kristopher Hite of Tom Paine’s Ghost:
A quiet place for freethinkers.
07/10: Dan Vorhaus of Genomics Law Report:
Genes, the law, and learning about yourself.
07/10: Blair Bolles of Babels Dawn:
Why humans speak, it’s a matter of trust.
07/10: Greg Gbur of Skulls in the Stars:
A fun mix of science, physics, and fiction.
07/10: Brian Romans of Clastic Detritus:
Geologist looks at the sea floor, Earth’s surface.
08/10: John Dupuis of Confessions of a Science Librarian:
Find the future at a 21st-century science library.
08/10: Cathy Davidson of Cat in the Stack:
Networking in a wold with no boundaries.
08/10: Hannah Waters of Culturing Science:
A place to learn about ecology, evolution.
08/10: Danielle Lee of Urban Science Adventures:
City dwellers can see science all around town.
09/10: Anne Jefferson of Highly Allochthonous:
UNCC prof is moved by earth sciences.
09/10: Krstal D’Costa of Urban Ethnogapher:
How we relate to the real world in our digital age.
09/10: Bruce Kirchoff of Save the Earth:
Biologist looks at consumerism and our world.
09/10: Casey Rawson of the Morehead Planetarium:
Will the world end in 2012? Oh, probably not.
09/10: John Bruno of Climate Shifts:
Marine ecology in a warming planet.
10/10: Kevin Zelnio of Deep Sea News:
Spineless critters and more in the world’s oceans.
10/10: Jason Goldman of The Thoughtful Animal:
He looks into the minds of animals, kids.
10/10: David Shiffman of Southern Fried Science:
He’s all grown up and he still likes sharks.
Hi there,
Can I invite you to submit this for Scientia Pro Publica (the science blogging carnival, ed. 43 Oct 25) as I for one find it really interesting, and it’s a great survey of science bloggers.
The details are here:
http://traversingtherazor.wordpress.com/2010/10/14/scientia-pro-publica-coming-to-traversing-the-razor-oct-25/
Cheers,
Mike
Done, thanks for the invite.
[...] Eight months of science blogger interviews and Wild Muse’s Greatest Hits [...]
[...] months of science blogger interviews by @tdelene. http://sciencetrio.wordpress.com/2010/10/17/eight-months-of-science-blogger-interviews/ (via @BoraZ ) [...]
[...] number of years now, and there are now ‘seasoned science bloggers’. DeLene at Wild Muse has compiled a number of interviews she’s done. Its a great insight into the mind of a science blogger. I encourage anyone who reads blogs but [...]
You know, sometimes I think that if I read at more than a third grade level, I would understand the things that are right in front of me. It was all covered in Phil’s Introduction, the Blog of the Week. In all honesty, I was just thrilled to see the “Charlotte Observer” mentioned on Bad Astronomy.
I grew up just down the road in Kannapolis.
Anyway, great blog, and great work. Keep it up.
[...] I did with the column itself, I’m going to follow in the footsteps of my talented colleague DeLene Beeland in rounding up the entire 365 days worth of conversations. Some of these bloggers have moved on to [...]