Here is the first, rough draft of the schedule. It is still very much in flux – contact Bora (coturnix AT gmail DOT com) to discuss possible changes, suggestions, to volunteer to lead a session, etc.:
- To suggest sessions, discusss the Program, etc. go here
- To suggest demos for show-and-tell track, go here
Thursday, January 15th
Locals and any visitors already in town are invited to join us for the Early Bird Dinner.
Friday, January 16th
Science lab and museum tours
We’ll arrange for groups of 5-10 conference attendees to visit local science labs to get an introduction to the research and resources at that particular lab. Choose one; sign up here.
- Biomanufacturing Research Institute and Technology Enterprise (BRITE) at North Carolina Central University (NCCU) – This new, 52,000 sq ft research facility was established by the state’s GoldenLEAF Foundation and dedicated in 2008 to further encourage economic development and provide incumbent worker retraining for North Carolina’s for 450 biotechnology companies and other research organizations. Offering B.S. and M.S. programs in Pharmaceutical Sciences, students at NCCU BRITE learn from professors who have worked previously in the biotechnology and pharmaceutical industries and now maintain NIH-funded research programs. Situated on one of the most historic HBCU campuses in the South, the programs are also committed to increasing the representation of minorities in the biomedical sciences. Bloggers and other attendees will have the opportunity to interact with scientists in the high-throughput drug screening facility and learn about the technical obstacles in transitioning biologic pharmaceuticals to less-expensive generic versions. The tour will be led by David J Kroll, NCCU Chair of Pharmaceutical Sciences and contributor to the blog, Science-Based Medicine.
Food and agriculture tours
We’ll arrange for a group of 15 to visit some of the Triangle’s hottest food and agricultural science places. Consider this a hybrid of science blogging and food blogging.
- Sample lab – Sample description
Women in Science & Engineering networking dinner
Registration; Introduction; Duke WiSE Mixer with food and cocktails; Friday Fermentable, The Big Speech (speaker TBA)!
More about the Friday events here.
Saturday, January 17th
We will have four tracks:
- science blogging
- science communication and education
- doing and publishing science
- show-and-tell quick sessions.
Each track will have sessions targeting different audiences (e.g., beginner bloggers, experienced bloggers, scientists, students, teachers, etc.).
| 8am-9 | Registration, brief introduction |
| 9:00-10:05 | A. Open Access publishing: present and future — moderated by Bill Hooker and Bjoern Brembs: The world of scientific publishing is undergoing rapid change. Where is it now? Where is it going? What will happen to Impact Factors? Will there still be journals 20 years from now? How will a scientific paper look like? Who will be the ‘peers’ in peer review? Go here to discuss. |
| B. How to become a (paid) science journalist: advice for bloggers — moderated by Rebecca Skloot and Tom Levenson: Bloggers are bloggers because they like to write. But writing a blog is not the same as writing for a newspaper or magazine (or radio or TV). Most science bloggers have a background in science, not journalism. So, how does one become a science journalist? We’ll ask some journalists for advice. Go here to discuss. |
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| C. Science Fiction on Science Blogs? — moderated by Stephanie Zvan and Peggy Kolm: Science fiction has inspired curiosity and enthusiasm in generations of children. How can science bloggers draw on SF’s power to entertain and educate? What science can we find in fiction beyond the old multi-page calculations of rocket trajectories? What does the practice of science look like in SF? In the past, scientists like Asimov and Clarke were the ones writing SF. Who’s producing the good stuff these days, and what makes a good bad example? Many modern SF writers blog too. What opportunities exist for cross-promotion and educating the writers? And which bloggers are already doing it all right? Go here to discuss. |
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| D. Science blogging without the blog? — moderated by Matt Ford and Jonathan Gitlin: How to run a blog for your science organization. Or write blog-like pieces in a different platform. This would be about the possibilities involved in blog-like writing for commercial ventures – what do you give up compared to a blog, what do you gain? Go here to discuss. |
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| 10:15 – 11:20 | A. Not just text – image, sound and video in peer-reviewed literature — moderated by Moshe Pritsker and Apryl Bailey: Moving publishing from paper to the Web will change the format of the scientific paper. Things that are impossible to do in print are easy online. What are some of the first strides and what is the future of multimedia as an integral part of a scientific report? Go here to discuss. |
| B. Science online – middle/high school perspective (or: “how the Facebook generation does it”?) — moderated by Stacey Baker and her students: How does middle/high school science education differ from that in college? There are also institutional problems: a) Most US pub. school networks firewall out major sources of info, such as all of scienceblogs.com, all of blogspot.com, all of youtube, etc. A teacher who finds something on a blog can’t use it directly in classroom. b) Conceptually linked posts and comment threads, ads, external links, etc. are often inappropriate for PS K-12 settings (which is perhaps why ‘a’ is true). c) yet, some bloggers want to have some of their work used in this setting. Are the younger kids different from college students in their use of online tools? Many school are experimenting with new technologies but do not have a clear idea how to do it – did they ask the kids themselves for advice? If not, we’ll ask the kids in this session. Go here to discuss. |
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| C. Transitions – changing your online persona as your real life changes — moderated by ScienceWoman and Propterdoc: As you move from high school to college, then to grad school and postdoc, and finally get a job in academia or elsewhere, you leave your name (and thoughts and pictures) all over the Web. When you are blogging as a student or postdoc, your style and choice of topics probably reflects your position in the Academia. How do you change your blog once you get hired (without alienating your regular readers) so it works for you in your new position? How do you manage your online persona so what is out there on the Web about you reflects what you do at the moment and not the ‘shady’ past? Go here to discuss. |
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| D.Community intelligence applied to gene annotation — moderated by Andrew Su and John Hogenesch: Despite identification of the ~25,000 genes which comprise the “parts list” of the human genome, researchers continue to largely study previously-studied genes, leaving half of the genes in the human genome virtually unannotated. Moreover, there is growing recognition that under-resourced curators at official annotation centers will be overwhelmed with the pace of scientific discovery. This session will explore the application of community intelligence principles (“crowdsourcing”) to the goal of genome-wide gene annotation. As a starting point for the discussion, we will overview several recent efforts in this area, including the Gene Wiki, WikiProteins, WikiPathways, and WikiGenes. We will also overview BioGPS, an extensible and customizable gene portal that allows the entire scientific community to collaboratively build a gene annotation portal. Issues to be discussed include data reliability, credit and incentives, and community-building. Go here to discuss. |
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| 11:30am – 12:35pm | A.Semantic web in science: how to build it, how to use it — moderated by John Wilbanks: Connections, connections, connections (as Miss Frizzle would say). What is new and what else needs to be done to make data “talk” to each other? What will it all mean? Go here to discuss. |
| B. Teaching College Science: Blogs and Beyond — moderated by Andrea Novicki and Brian Switek: What are the strategies, methods and pitfalls of using the online technologies in science education in college? The importance of Open Access to primary research. The willingness of students to post on blogs. Text-messaging as communication. The problem of the “creepy treehouse”. Go here to discuss. |
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| C. Gender in science — online and offline — moderated by Suzanne Franks, Abel and Alice Pawley: How to get and make allies? What allies can and should be doing? How the Web provides new methods and means for action and effecting positive change. Go here to discuss. |
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| D. Rhetoric of science: print vs. web — moderated by Christian Casper and Neil Caudle: There is no doubt that online communication environment is changing the way we use language. LOL. Scientific papers are an example of some of the most unreadable literature in existence, yet now that it is all online, will this change? Is the public access to papers going to induce scientists to keep lay audience in mind, as well as their scientific peers, when writing their manuscripts? Should readers’ comment and notes on papers be more formal than the comments on blogs? Why? Go here to discuss. |
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| 12:40 – 2 | Lunch |
| 2 – 3:05 | A. Web and the History of Science – moderated by GG, Brian Switek, Scicurious and John McKay: Why is History of Science important for scientists? How to blog about it. How does Open Access and the Web in general (Google Books in particular, for example) help/hinder the work of professional historians of science? Go here to discuss. |
| B. Science blogging networks – what works, what does not? – moderated by Cameron Neylon and Deepak Singh, with assistance from Anna Kushnir and Erin Johnson: Several science blogging networks exist or are in the process of getting started. The best known are Scienceblogs.com, Nature Network, Discovery Network blogs and Scientificblogging.com. What are they doing right, what are they doing wrong? What are the pros and cons of being a part of such a network. What constitutes ‘success’? Go here to discuss. |
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| C. Race in science – online and offline — moderated by Danielle Lee and Samia Ansari: The issues of gender and race are related and have overlaps, yet there are differences as well that need to be explored. If there is no profile picture, most readers will automatically assume that the author is white. What can be done to promote minorities blogging? How can blogs by minorities be used to attract kids into science careers? How to get and make allies? What allies can and should be doing? How the Web provides new methods and means for action and effecting positive change. Go here to discuss. |
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| D. Alternative careers: how to become a journal editor – moderated by Henry Gee (senior editor at Nature) and Peter Binfield (managing editor of PLoS ONE): The leaky pipeline is a problem: many more people earn PhDs in science than there are tenure-track faculty positions. Alternative careers include government or corporate research, teaching, writing/journalism, etc. One attractive job for a young scientist is that of an editor of a scientific journal. But how do you become one? We’ll ask some editors for useful tips. Go here to discuss. |
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| 3:15 – 4:20pm | A.Open Notebook Science – how to do it right (if you should do it at all) — moderated by Jean-Claude Bradley and Cameron Neylon: Some scientists are now putting their entire, detailed lab notebooks online and updating them in real time. How is this done? Why is this done? What are the pros and cons? Is this something you should consider doing? Go here to discuss. |
| B. Blog carnivals: why you should participate — moderated by Mike Bergin: What is a blog carnival? A hub, an aggregator, or a magazine? How does it work? Is there any kind of “peer-review” involved? Why should you participate? What do you need to know if you want to start a new carnival? Go here to discuss. |
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| C.Art and science — online and offline — moderated by Jessica Palmer and Glendon Mellow: Art is not just illustration. And it is not the opposite of science (“Two Cultures”). How can the two work together and help each other? Go here to discuss. |
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| D. Anonymity, Pseudonymity – building reputation online — moderated by PalMD and Abel : There are good reasons for people in science and medicine, and especially women, to remain pseudonymous online. How does one build a reputation online, does one have additional ethical responsibilities, how does the process differ from the formal process of the academic world, and how the two worlds interact? Go here to discuss. |
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| 4:30 – 5:35pm | A.Open Access in the networked world: experience of developing and transition countries — moderated by Danica Radovanovic and Vedran Vucic: What is innovative and what is challenging regarding the usage of OA e-resources, social Web 2.0 software and media? Does science blogging in Europe (in developed and countries in transition) exist? And what are the forms? Main discussion is through interaction and different practices of participants, to find solution for burning issue: how to overcome the problem of net/notworking in scientific and edu.(online)community? Go here to discuss. |
| B. Social networking for scientists – moderated by Cameron Neylon and Deepak Singh: It seems that everyone is developing ‘facebooks’ for scientists these days. But they are not catching on. Why? What will make one of them a success one day? Go here to discuss. |
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| C. Online science for the kids (and parents) — moderated by Janet Stemwedel: Even little kids are online these days. They are curious about the world. What kind of scientific information is there on the Web that is suitable for the littlest ones? How does one find the good stuff? What works and what doesn’t for that age group? What can one do to add quality science material for kids and parents? How to write blog posts with little kids in mind? Go here to discuss. |
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| D. You are a science blogger but you want to publish a pop-sci book? – moderated by Tom Levenson and Dave Munger: A number of bloggers have signed book deals recently. But how does one get such a deal? How should one adjust one’s blogging in order to become attractive to agents? Who to contact? How to write a proposal? How to write the book? And once it’s published, how to promote it online? We’ll ask some writers who are also bloggers, and some bloggers who snagged book deals, to share the secrets of getting a book published. Share your experiences as well. Go here to discuss. |
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| 6pm | Dinner at Sigma Xi, then drinks at Radisson |
Sunday, January 18
| 8:30am-9 | Bagels & coffee |
| 9-10:05am | A. Reputation, authority and incentives. Or: How to get rid of the Impact Factor — moderated by Peter Binfield and Bjoern Brembs: Everybody agrees that Impact Factor is a useless and unfair measure of scientific contribution of individuals. What can it be replaced with? How can the academic world be moved to abandon the IF and embrace alternate methods for evaluating research and researchers? Go here to discuss. |
| B. Blogging101 – how to get started – moderated by PalMD: You have heard about blogs, perhaps read some blogs, have spent a whole day yesterday hearing about how great blogs are, so now you have finally decided to try to write one yourself. Bring your laptop and we’ll help you, step-by-step, start your own Wordpress.com blog during this session. Go here to discuss. |
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| C. Nature blogging – moderated by Grrrlscientist and Kevin Zelnio: Take your camera outdoors and bring your local natural beauty and wildlife to the homes of your readers. Add information about it. Join the nature blogging community and participate in community activities no matter where on the planet you are. Go here to discuss. |
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| *D. Demos* | |
| 10:15 – 11:20 | A. Providing public health and medical information to all — moderated by Martin Fenner: Nowhere is Open Access as important as in the areas of medicine and public health. Health care professional and patients alike are not likely to have access to libraries of elite universities – they may work in hospitals, at small schools or in the field including in the developing world. What is being done and what more can be done to ensure that everyone everywhere has access to life-saving medical information. Go here to discuss. |
| B. Blogging102 – how to make your blog better – moderated by Roger Harris: You have been blogging for a while, but want to make it better – we’ll help you choose and install applications and widgets, help you make your blog look better, be more functional and, hopefully, more popular. Go here to discuss. |
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| C. Hey, You Can’t Say That! — moderated by Greg Laden, Rick MacPherson, Karen James, Craig McClain, Mark Powell and PZ Myers: It’s tempting to think that what we contribute in our blogs is written with impunity. But what happens when readers react so negatively to your words that it can leverage pressure on you from your boss, peers, colleagues, or administration? What responsibility, if any, do bloggers owe to their “day job” in avoiding controversy (and vice versa)? Is it enough to say in your profile that “this blog is my personal space and does not reflect the views of my employer”? Is capitulating to pressure a failure or just savvy blogging? What are the rules, if any, to self-censorship? Should an employer have a policy or set of guidelines regarding staff’s personal & professional blogging (and other public and semi-public activities like Facebook)? And when does pseudonymous blogging become a necessity? Bring your own perspectives and experiences to a discussion that explores the ups and downs of science bloggers who navigate the stormy waters between free expression and reader/employer backlash. Go here to discuss. |
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| D. Demos | |
| 11:30am – 12:35pm | A. How to search scientific literature – moderated by Christina Pikas and John Dupuis: There are so many nifty tricks and strategies for searching the literature that an average scientist is not aware of. So: Ask the experts – the science librarians! Go here to discuss. |
| B. How to paint your own blog images – a how-to session led by Jessica Palmer, Tatjana Jovanovic-Grove and Glendon Mellow: Take this workshop by a professional artist and get started on illustrating your blog with your own art. Go here to discuss. |
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| C. Blogging adventure: how to post from strange locations – a panel discussion with Karen James, Talia Page, Anne-Marie Hodge, Vanessa Woods, Meredith Barrett, John McKay, Kevin Zelnio, Rick McPhearson and Craig McClain: The stereotype is that bloggers write in their parents’ basements, wearing pajamas, covered with Cheetos dust. But some bloggers have done amazing feats of reporting from weird and far-away places. Do you intend to do something like that? What are the technological challenges – and solutions – and what are the pros and cons of blogging from the jungle, or Antarctica, from Mt.Everest, from a submarine, from a space-ship, from a research ship, from a sailboat, from a war zone, from a high-radiation zone, an ecological research station or a palaeontological dig? Share your experiences, ask questions, and collect tips for your next trip to a Crazy Place. Go here to discuss. |
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| D. Demos | |
| 12:40 – 2pm | Lunch and Goodbyes |
