Big Blog Theory finalists and the winner is…

Bec Crew, author of the entertaining animal behavioural science blog Save Your Breath for Running Ponies, won the National Science Week 2010 Big Blog Theory competition. I’m pleased to note that all four judges of the blogs, including myself, are ASC members. We examined 31 Australian based science blog entries to select the ten finalists. Look at http://thebigblogtheory.com.au/ to see how the public voting went. A separate group of judges assessed the microblogging category, won by Corri Baker, chemistry PhD candidate and lecturer at the University of South Australia.

Even with well defined judging criteria it was no easy task to assess the blogs but worthwhile to get a snap shot of the excellent local science communication efforts on the web. I’d like to acknowledge Laura Miles, our Scope editor, for her contributions to the judging criteria.

Here are the finalists and the links to their blogs:

Running Ponies http://runningponies.com/ (winner – Bec Crew)

Mr Science Show http://www.mrscienceshow.com

A Schooner of Science http://www.aschoonerofscience.com/

Brave New Climate http://bravenewclimate.com/

Homologous Legs http://naontiotami.com/

Pod Black Cat http://www.podblack.com

Conservation Bytes http://conservationbytes.com/

All in the Mind http://blogs.abc.net.au/allinthemind

Environment Blog http://www.abc.net.au/environment/blogs/

The Skeptics Book http://www.skepticsbook.com

The microblogging finalists were:

@cbsquared_ (winner – Corrie Baker)

@brainsmatter

@lesliecannold

@allinthemind

@biochemnews

Bec Crew will officially start her National Science Week tour Friday 13 August at the launch event at the Royal Botanic Gardens. During her blogging tour she will cover events in Sydney, Melbourne and the Northern Territory. Corri Baker will tweet about events in Perth from 15-17 August.

Jesse Shore
President and Big Blog Theory judge

Science blogging – tips and tricks from some Adelaide science bloggers

Tonight (Monday 18 Jan) we’re hosting an ASC event at the Science Exchange, Adelaide on science blogging (http://ascscienceblogging.eventbrite.com/).

I asked some of our guest bloggers for some tips and tricks of the trade, and I’d like to make it available to all the ASC members. Big thanks to Sarah (http://www.aschoonerofscience.com/) for putting this together…..

Blog it
If tonight has given you an inkling to try out this blogging business yourself, here’s some tips from our panellists to get you started….

How to set up a free blog
You can do it with blogger.com or wordpress.com. They are very easy to use, and you can set your account up in minutes. You’ll get your own website address such as you.blogspot.com or you.wordpress.com. If you go with WordPress, you can switch to a custom address later if you like (at a cost.)

Adelaide-based science blogs
A Schooner of Science http://aschoonerofscience.com
Astroblog http://astroblogger.blogspot.com/
Brave New Climate http://bravenewclimate.com/
Bridge8 http://bridge8.wordpress.com/
Conservation Bytes http://conservationbytes.com/
Disease of the week http://diseaseoftheweek.wordpress.com/

Suggested reading
The who’s who of science blogging
Carl Zimmer at The Loom http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/loom/
Ed Yong at Not Exactly Rocket Science http://scienceblogs.com/notrocketscience/
Ben Goldacre at Bad Science http://badscience.net
Neurotopia http://scienceblogs.com/neurotopia/

Other great writers
Deep Sea News (biology) http://deepseanews.com/
ERV (biochemistry) http://scienceblogs.com/erv/
Lab Rat (bacteria) http://madlabrat.blogspot.com/
Science Geek Girl (Sci Comm) http://blog.sciencegeekgirl.com
Carbon-Based Curiosities (Chem) http://coronene.com/blog
Not So Humble Pie (Science Cookies) http://notsohumblepie.blogspot.com
PZ Myers’ Pharyngula (Dev Biol) http://scienceblogs.com/pharyngula/
BadAstronomy (Astronomy Scepticism) http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/badastronomy
Respectful Insolence (Medicine) http://scienceblogs.com/insolence/
Australia’s Deltoid is a good complement to Barry Brooks blog http://scienceblogs.com/deltoid/

The ScienceOnline 2010 blog, with lots of good science blogging tips will help with lots of issues on Science Blogging. http://scienceblogs.com/scienceonline/

How to attract readers
• Comment on other blogs (and put your website in your profile.)
• Add blogs to your blogroll and ask to be added on theirs.
• Put your blog on lists such as blogcatalog.com, delicious.com and stumbleupon.com.
• Start a Twitter account and set it to automatically tweet your blog posts (install the Tweetable plugin on WordPress.)
• Post links to your Facebook, MySpace, Bebo and LinkedIn, if you have them.
• Write catchy titles, use eye-catching pictures and write in small paragraphs. Internet users have a VERY short attention span – grab their attention quickly.
• Increase your Google hits by writing longer titles, and using tags and categories. Google does not search your whole post for key words, just those three places and any images.
• Label images correctly so they appear in a Google Images search – this will boost your hit rate, and improve your rating in Google searches.
• Use Google Analytics for blogger or the WordPress stats to check where you’re readers are coming from. Learn what works and what doesn’t.
• Use surveys, polls, quizzes and video to get people involved.
• Install widgets to send your posts automatically to aggregator sites.
• Lastly, don’t be overzealous! People will find your blog eventually and you will build up a solid readership over time. Excessively marketing your blog at every opportunity will often do more harm than good.

Managing comments
• Install a spam filter such as Akismet on WordPress, or enable word verification on Blogger.
• Check comments regularly and delete any spam.
• Respond to people who write negative comments, but don’t be rude.
• Don’t delete comments just because you don’t like them, it makes you seem untrustworthy.
• Reply to comments that ask questions, be helpful whenever you can.
• Blogger also has a “require confirmation on posts over two weeks old” feature, which catches a lot of spam. WordPress has a “hold comments for moderation” feature which also works well.

More Questions?

E-mail Captain Skellett at aschoonerofscience@hotmail.com

A reminder of science blogging event in Adelaide

A quick reminder…….

ASC-SA Event Monday 18 January, The Science Exchange (www.tinyurl.com/scienceexchange)

Science Blogging – who and why?

“Freedom of the press is guaranteed only to those who own one.” A. J. Liebling of the New Yorker. In the age of blogging, anyone can make themselves heard. Science blogs can communicate science in a way that few other media can. You can read about the latest research that you may not have access to without a journal subscription, or hear the daily gripes and grumbles of lab life, or follow detailed analysis of policy development or breaking news stories. The best part is blogging is open to anyone to give it a try and join the discussion. At this event we’ll hear from several Adelaide-based science bloggers about why they do what they do, and where blogging fits in the spectrum of science communication.

Cost:

free ASC or RiAus members

$5 students

$10 non-members.

Book now online at http://ascscienceblogging.eventbrite.com/ and cash payment can be made on the evening at reception.

Lisa Bailey Ph: (08) 7120 8605 | mobile: 0427 490088| Fax: (08) 8221 6563 | lbailey@riaus.org.au | www.riaus.org.au

_______________________________________________ ASC-list mailing list list@asc.asn.au http://www.asc.asn.au/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=97&Itemid=115

ASC SA event/Jan 18

“Freedom of the press is guaranteed only to those who own one.” /A. J. Liebling of the New Yorker./

In the age of blogging, anyone can make themselves heard. Science blogs can communicate science in a way that few other media can. You can read about the latest research that you may not have access to without a journal subscription, or hear the daily gripes and grumbles of lab life, or follow detailed analysis of policy development or breaking news stories. The best part is blogging is open to anyone to give it a try and join the discussion. At this event we’ll hear from several Adelaide-based science bloggers about why they do what they do, and where blogging fits in the spectrum of science communication.

*Cost:*

free ASC or RiAus members

$5 students

$10 non-members.

Book now online at http://ascscienceblogging.eventbrite.com/

and cash payment can be made on the evening at reception.