I'm on three fantastic panels next weekend at ScienceOnline2011 alongside some of my favorite bloggers and authors! I'd like to address each topic initially at the "unconference" and later in more detail here on the blog. First, I'll introduce the key ideas below and invite readers to share any thoughts, questions, or points you'd like to see addressed as the discussion grows in comments (please specify which panel if you do). Chris is coming too and sessions will be webcast. I'll post the details about that when I have them. 1) Blog as a (book-)writing tool – Brian Switek, Sheril Kirshenbaum, Maryn McKenna and Seth Mnookin A popular science book: using the Web from the initial idea to pitching to writing to selling your book. Why not extend this idea also to magazine/newspaper articles and other media, as well? Make it about using blogs as a springboard for other forms of science writing and engagement rather than just books alone – blogs as labs to grow as a writer, etc. 2) Blogging on the Career Path: Opportunities emerging out of the blogosphere - Sheril Kirshenbaum, Janet D. Stemwedel, Greg Gbur and John Hawks Many academic scientists are on the tenure track -- a career path that poses both challenges and opportunities for blogging and other forms of science outreach.
How do you turn your online presence into opportunities for your research and publication record?
How do you convince your colleagues that your blog/website is worth the time and effort?
How do you quantify your online work for administrators?
3) Perils of blogging as a woman under a real name - Sheril Kirshenbaum, Anne Jefferson, Joanne Manaster, Maryn McKenna and Kathryn Clancy Being a woman scienceblogger has its own set of challenges, writing under your real name a few more. Readers may want you to be beautiful, to be their mommy, to be accessible to them in a way they don’t expect of other bloggers. They also may hold your decisions and lifestyle to a different standard. "There just aren't any good women science bloggers out there." "She was picked just because she was a woman." "I would cure cancer just to capture your heart." "You are a terrible mother if your baby is in daycare and you are in the lab." These statements exemplify the sorts of unwelcome comments that women science bloggers can face, and reflect broader issues of cultural and institutional sexism. How do we navigate those issues, and ensure our own safety, while covering the science that we love? How do we get our writing noticed when people claim we don’t exist? Panel members and attendees will tackle these issues and others as a way to move towards a solution in the issue of gender representation in science blogging.
