Why Science Online Seattle?

by Jessica on June 13, 2012 in Science Online with No comments


I wrote this as an open letter to my colleagues not already involved in the science online community, but I hope it strikes a chord with everyone. 

It might sound cliché of me to say that the web revolutionized our world. It’s transformed the way we consume information, expanded communication, changed participation in commerce and politics, and even fueled massive social movements.

What might be less often pondered is the remarkable ways in which the web is changing science – the way it is communicated, taught and done.  Public web-portals supply data on unprecedented scales. Mass communication and scientific collaboration happens instantly through online networks. Researchers gather far-reaching financial support through crowdfunding, and employ small armies of research assistants as part of citizen science projects.

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Beyond a Trend: How Scientists Use Social Media

by Jessica on May 17, 2012 in Social Media with 1 Comment



Not long ago, I considered social media to be merely for keeping up with far-away friends or self-important over-sharing of life experiences. Chances are, you too felt this way at one point or another. Maybe you still do.

I’m challenging that pre-conceived notion in my fellow graduate students and scientists. Social media has revolutionized the way we consume media and the way we communicate; 1 in every 13 people on earth is on facebook. It’s easy to judge social media use based on our own anecdotal evidence, or see it as something that doesn’t apply to us as academics or scientists. Thinking this way means you overlook powerful opportunities.

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Even Dummies Can Make Websites

by Jessica on April 14, 2012 in Web Design with No comments

 

A professor in my department presented his website at a recent workshop and declared “I’m an example that even dummies can make websites.” It’s true. These days, it doesn’t take much technical knowledge to make your own set of pages on the web.

I started out like this. I graduated from college in 2008 with a degree in biology and a general dread of computers. I never thought it would be possible for me to make a website, much less something like this one. I resented the technical jargon in a manner similar to George Carlin:

“I’ve been uplinked and downloaded. I’ve been inputted and outsourced. I know the upside of downsizing; I know the downside of upgrading. I’m a high-tech lowlife. A cutting-edge, state-of-the-art, bicoastal mutlitasker, and I can give you a gigabyte in a nanosecond.”
(from his “Ode to the Modern Man,” 2004)

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