Sciblogs

Written By: - Date published: 10:15 am, November 13th, 2009 - 4 comments
Categories: blogroll, science - Tags:

sciblogs

Welcome to a new NZ blog, Sciblogs. From the About:

Sciblogs brings together the best science bloggers in the country on one website, creating a hub for scientific analysis and discussion and facilitating reader interaction.

The website is for scientists who want to reach out to a general audience to explain their science and how it relates to society. Some Sciblog contributors spend most of their time in the lab or buried in research. Others are authors or entrepreneurs. All of them know what they are talking about and have an interest in engaging in discussion on the big science-related issues facing society.

What a great initiative! All the best, and I for one will watch with interest. But while we’re on the subject – why don’t we see more experts, scientists and academics contributing to public debate? This was discussed on Kiwipolitico a while back. Some examples can be found (with respect to science we have standout individuals like Professor Paul Callaghan, and initiatives like the University of Otago’s Science Communication Centre). But in general there’s a real need for more informed contributions to public debate and for making academic writing accessible to a wider audience. So why don’t we see more of it?

(And just in passing re interesting blogs – spare a thought for the world’s only? analogue blogger!)

4 comments on “Sciblogs ”

  1. MollyByGolly 1

    Make blogging a PBRF output and you’ll see a deluge of academics joining in. Shame most of them can’t write …

  2. Chris 2

    Watch the wingnuts troll the sciblog…

    captcha: tomorrows !

  3. Draco T Bastard 3

    This should be good. There’s definitely a need for the science to be presented directly to the public from the scientists rather than through the reporters. It should save a lot of misconceptions.

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