A Blog Around The Clock

Clock Quotes

Wed, 10 Feb 2010 03:47:50 -0500

No plan can prevent a stupid person from doing the wrong thing in the wrong place at the wrong time - but a good plan should keep a concentration from forming.

- Charles E. Wilson

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Cambodian Attitudes and Mental Health on the Eve of the Khmer Rouge Trials

Tue, 09 Feb 2010 19:28:09 -0500

At Pizza Lunch talks, we hear a lot about efforts to decipher the physical world. But what about psychological realms? How do you measure them, especially on a large scale among people scarred by trauma? At noon on Thursday, Feb. 18, come hear Dr. Jeffrey Sonis discuss "Cambodian Attitudes and Mental Health on the Eve of the Khmer Rouge Trials." The UNC-Chapel Hill physician and public health researcher is studying how Cambodians are responding to the genocide trials.
American Scientist Pizza Lunch is free and open to science journalists and science communicators of all stripes. Feel free to forward this message to anyone who might want to attend. RSVPs are required (for an accurate slice count) to cclabby@amsci.org

Directions to Sigma Xi:
http://www.sigmaxi.org/about/center/directions.shtml

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ScienceOnline2010 - interview with Maria Droujkova

Tue, 09 Feb 2010 10:10:10 -0500

Continuing with the tradition from last two years, I will occasionally post interviews with some of the participants of the ScienceOnline2010 conference that was held in the Research Triangle Park, NC back in January. You can check out previous years' interviews as well: 2008 and 2009.

Today, I asked Maria Droujkova to answer a few questions.

Welcome to A Blog Around The Clock. Would you, please, tell my readers a little bit more about yourself? Where are you coming from (both geographically and philosophically)? What is your (scientific) background?

At any given time, I typically work on multiple mathematics education projects, as a leader or as a consultant. Geographically, I have connections with North Carolina, where I've been living for a while, and also Dusseldorf, Germany, New Orleans, LA, Moscow, Russia and Crimea, Ukraine - places where I lived and worked before. Philosophically, "progressor" from an old Russian science fiction book series, someone who facilitates progress, is close to my self-image. I visualize social changes around mathematics, and then work on making them happen. The main current directions of changes are helping children make their own mathematics, Math 2.0, and community-centered learning.

Tell us a little more about your career trajectory so far: interesting projects past and present?

In the early 2000s, I started or led several large and central blog and forum parent and educator communities on early childhood education in runet (Russian internet). My main English site naturalmath.com started in 1996 with a few pages on multiplication, paradoxes and learner rights, and has been growing since then. I have been interested in game development since 2003, had a DoED grant to support some R&D for Natural Math and consulted for others. I am currently building a framework for math game development, including a taxonomy of math game mechanics and a game classification. Since mid-nineties I've been leading family Math Clubs of various types, with thousands of families involved over these years. I am leading six Clubs and unClasses right now, exploring grid and coordinate reasoning with 5-6yo, infinity with 7-9yo, and physics computer modeling, as well as Wonderland art math, with tweens and teens. In 2009, I started Math 2.0 Interest Group, with activities that include software development, conferences, weekly webinars, and asynchronous discussions. I defended a doctoral dissertation about metaphors in math in 2004, and continue to develop a metaphor-based theory of mathematical learning. I also have a MS in Applied Math, and even though I have not worked as a research mathematician since the nineties, having focused on education, I feel my understanding of relatively high-level mathematics is a particular strength.

What is taking up the most of your time and passion these days? What are your goals?

There are five parts to my Natural Math Theory of Change: Mathematical Authoring, Psychology of Mathematics Education, Humanistic Mathematics, Executable Mathematics, and Community Mathematics. All of these directions come up in every project I do. Here are some immediate goals:
- Publish "The book of the Club" for every Math Club session we have, inviting all members to actively co-author, of course.
- Start and finish two collaborative Online Family Studies this Spring: Early Algebra and Multiplicative Reasoning, publish these two book drafts once people in the studies react/contribute/develop them
- Organize Math Online 2011, a conference for the Math 2.0 Interest Group
- Restructure naturalmath.com (yet again)
- Present the math game design framework at a conference, and get a couple of articles about it in print
- Start Math Fairs, global, collaborative (non-competitive) series of math events for families and Math Clubs

What aspect of science communication and/or particular use of the Web in science interests you the most?

- Citizen science
- Math 2.0
- Apprenticeships for kids, opportunities for participation in real communities of practice
- Community building for social change

How does (if it does) blogging figure in your work? How about social networks, e.g., Twitter, FriendFeed and Facebook? Do you find all this online activity to be a net positive (or even a necessity) in what you do?

- Blogging is something I did a lot in early 2000s, but not as much anymore. I comment on a few blogs and I hosted a Carnival event last year, ironically, on a wiki.
- I mostly use Google Groups and wikis for my projects, because of the number of voices involved, and the network structure (definitely not "one to many").
- I am active in many Nings, wikis, Twitter hashtag networks, Facebook and LinkedIn communities.

To answer the last question, I think of myself as living online. So the "net positive" question is isomorphic to asking if my life has a meaning. I surely hope so!

What was the best aspect of ScienceOnline2010 for you? Any suggestions for next year? Is there anything that happened at this Conference - a session, something someone said or did or wrote - that will change the way you think about science communication, or something that you will take with you to your job, blog-reading and blog-writing?

I liked meeting people - that was the best for me. Also, the inspiration for Math Online 2011 was great. "Citizen science" is a phrase I have not even heard before, but it fits quite a few of my projects and those I find valuable, so I'd like to nominate it as one of the more significant content items.

As for suggestions, I would like to see several mindmaps, created by and for participants, and helping me to visualize the group as a whole. I envision them both as big pieces of paper on the wall (quaint, I know), and online entities we are all invited to edit. Here are some I want:

Interests - areas - fields - names
Online communities - areas - examples we love (and who is active in each)
Projects - area tags - leaders - active people - those who want to participate (this may be a table, rather than a concept map)

So, for example, I'd like to see what projects are active in citizen science, who the leaders are, and who at the conference is involved. Or, more generally, who is interested in a particular science area.

It was so nice to see you again and thank you for the interview.

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Today's carnivals

Tue, 09 Feb 2010 09:34:35 -0500

Berry-Go-Round #24 is up at The Phytophactor

Grand Rounds Vol. 6 No. 20 are up on Edwin Leap

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ScienceOnline2010 session videos - Privacy, ethics, and disasters: how being online as a doctor changes everything Part 2

Tue, 09 Feb 2010 08:56:20 -0500

Privacy, ethics, and disasters: how being online as a doctor changes everything
Saturday, January 16 at 10:15 - 11:20am

E. Privacy, ethics, and disasters: how being online as a doctor changes everything - Pal MD and Val Jones.

Description: We all know that there are potential pitfalls to having a prominent online presence, but for physicians, the implications affect more than just themselves. How should doctors and similar professionals manage their online life? What are the ethical and legal implications?

Some preliminary reading can be found here.

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New and Exciting in PLoS this week

Tue, 09 Feb 2010 08:34:47 -0500

As always, you should rate the articles, post notes and comments and send trackbacks when you blog about the papers. You can now also easily place articles on various social services (CiteULike, Mendeley, Connotea, Stumbleupon, Facebook and Digg) with just one click. Here are my own picks for the week - you go and look for your own favourites:

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Clock Quotes

Tue, 09 Feb 2010 03:46:54 -0500

A member of Parliament to Prime Minister Disraeli: "Sir, you will either die on the gallows or of some unspeakable disease."
"That depends, Sir", said Disraeli, "whether I embrace your policies or your mistress."

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ScienceOnline2010 - interview with Ken Liu

Mon, 08 Feb 2010 11:43:50 -0500

Today, I asked Ken Liu from Scivee.tv to answer a few questions.

KL: I am a serial entrepreneur who's been doing technology startups for the past 20 years in a variety of technologies, products and business models. My career has spanned the history of software, from shrink wrap software sold in retail stores (Computerland, remember them?) to open-source SaaS today. My business philosophy is akin to Darwinism--Innovate or Die, and quickly. Dreamt about becoming an astronomer or doctor as a teen, but ended up getting degrees in economics and international relations instead, But my love for science has remained to this day.

Tell us a little more about your career trajectory so far: interesting projects past and present?

KL: I was involved in a company during the dot com era in which the company was acquired in 3 years since it's founding, and practically all the other major players in the market were also acquired by much bigger companies (Cisco, Nortel etc.) within the next year. So an entire industry came and went within 4 years. I am now spearheading business development at Scivee.tv, which aims to become the video platform for publishers, societies, universities and other institutions in the STM market. Every media segment--even newspapers--has adopted video and other rich media aggressively except STM, which by and large is still a text world. I have to conclude that the STM market is the most reactionary in adopting new technology in the age of Web 2.0+. In journals, for example, you can argue that the text format hasn't changed since the days of Issac Newton, who would recognize an article of 2010 vintage published by the Royal Society. I find it baffling that science is all about making new discoveries, pushing ideas forward and expanding knowledge, at a breathtaking pace that occurs daily, yet the primary way to communicate those important findings and what scientists do is stuck in the 17th century. I am obviously exaggerating to make a point, but it's not far from the essential truth.

What is taking up the most of your time and passion these days? What are your goals?

KL: My mission and passion is to encourage adoption of video among the STM institutions. Currently, many say "oh, we put our videos on YouTube", and that's that. What SciVee is evangelising is it's got to be more than that. Video and other rich media must be a more integral component to the mission of the institution, and its communications strategy, to serve its various stakeholders--members, authors, funders, government agencies, readers, and ultimately, themselves. Throwing videos to the great YouTube etherworld is an unconnected and unimaginative act. The vision is that within 5 years (should have been by now, as in every other media market), video is an integral component of any journal or scientific institution's communication arsenal. Just look at any good content site, say the New York Times or the Wall Street Journal, and that's what I mean. We at Scivee are not reinventing anything new; we are just applying known Internet and video techniques to the text-centric STM world. I have no doubt that our vision will be fulfilled, it's just a matter of time.

What aspect of science communication and/or particular use of the Web in science interests you the most?

KL: Obviously it's now video. At SciVee, we have a unique product called SciveeCast. SciveeCast is a synchronized video abstract that enables a viewer to see the presenter discuss highlighted sections of a journal article, poster, coursework, slides in a full multimedia presentation.

PubCasts enliven and enhance science communications and promote discovery. It's also a more efficient way to absorb new research, especially in visual topics. A picture is worth a thousand words; a video is worth a thousand pictures. Finally, a new generation of scientists and readers expect and demand an interactive rich-media experience online. See sample: Bacterial Inclusion Bodies Contain Amyloid-Like Structure.

KL: Both a necessity and net positive, to the point of being overwhelming. There is no way anyone can absorb all of it.

When and how did you first discover science blogs? What are some of your favourites? Have you discovered any cool science blogs by the participants at the Conference?

KL: I have been reading blogs of various major publications such as Nature, Science, NY Times for several years.

What was the best aspect of ScienceOnline2010 for you? Any suggestions for next year? Is there anything that happened at this Conference - a session, something someone said or did or wrote - that will change the way you think about science communication, or something that you will take with you to your job, blog-reading and blog-writing?

KL: From my perspective, I thought it needed focusing and go deeper into certain topics to gain coherence and substance. The audience accordingly is also quite eclectic, from students to scientists to a few vendors like me, although the core seems to be bloggers, free Internet, open access advocates. I also thought the focus on Twitter as the cool thing to do is misplaced; I felt it tried to separate the cool "with-it" guys from the rest. I am a curmudgeon who still clings to the old fashioned idea that usefulness is more important than the fact that something can be done for its sake.

It was so nice to meet you and thank you for the interview. I hope to see you again next January.

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ScienceOnline2010 session videos - Privacy, ethics, and disasters: how being online as a doctor changes everything Part 1

Mon, 08 Feb 2010 08:54:50 -0500

Privacy, ethics, and disasters: how being online as a doctor changes everything
Saturday, January 16 at 10:15 - 11:20am

E. Privacy, ethics, and disasters: how being online as a doctor changes everything - Pal MD and Val Jones.

Description: We all know that there are potential pitfalls to having a prominent online presence, but for physicians, the implications affect more than just themselves. How should doctors and similar professionals manage their online life? What are the ethical and legal implications?

Some preliminary reading can be found here.

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New and Exciting in PLoS ONE

Mon, 08 Feb 2010 08:27:37 -0500

There are 16 new articles in PLoS ONE today. As always, you should rate the articles, post notes and comments and send trackbacks when you blog about the papers. You can now also easily place articles on various social services (CiteULike, Mendeley, Connotea, Stumbleupon, Facebook and Digg) with just one click. Here are my own picks for the week - you go and look for your own favourites:

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Clock Quotes

Mon, 08 Feb 2010 03:43:34 -0500

By the time we hit fifty, we have learned our hardest lessons. We have found out that only a few things are really important. We have learned to take life seriously, but never ourselves.

- Charles Dickens

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Journalism wrap-up from ScienceOnline2010

Sun, 07 Feb 2010 23:52:35 -0500

The complete list of blog/media coverage of ScienceOnline2010 is becoming huge (and also swiftly falling down and off the page), but I wanted to put up on top just a choice of blog posts that completely or partially cover the 'journalism and media track' of session at the meeting, as I found them very insightful. I know, there were many other topics at the meeting, and blog posts covering them, but I feel the discussion of science in the media and journalism was the leitmotif of this year's meeting and it brought about some of the liveliest sessions and most interesting posts (not just for participants, but for a much broader audience interested in science or science journalism or even journalism in general).

Prior to the meeting, I collected a lot of pertinent links in this introductory post, still worth, I think, bookmarking and checking out. A couple of other posts that appeared just before the conference are also included in the linkfest below, for completeness.

Just prior to the conference:

Who are the science journalists?
Rebooting science journalism -mixed-metaphor notes on the upcoming yakfest
And itsz gota b whizbang Pllllllls
8 Lessons Journalists Can Learn From Scientists
God, Satan and balance in science journalism

During and after the conference:

Science Online 2010: The emotion session
Searching for the money in science writing
Rebooting science journalisTS
#scio10 day two: In which the discussion turns to duck genitalia within the second session
An exercise in fact-checking
Science Online 2010: Rebooting Science Journalism in the Age of the Web
a bevy of bloggers (#scio10)
'Garbage Girl' talks Spot.us and media's future
A ScienceOnline 2010 session mash-up review: Fact checking and trust
Open Lab 2009
Highlights from ScienceOnline2010 - Rebooting Science Journalism
A New Voice at ScienceOnline 2010
What I learned from ScienceOnline2010
Publicity matters to scientists, too
Rebooting science journalism - thoughts from Timmer
Oransky: Medical study embargoes serve whom?
Hints on how (science) journalism may be working these days....
Reinventing how we communicate science
#scio10 aftermath: some thoughts on 'Rebooting Science Journalism in the Age of the Web'
#scio10 aftermath: some thoughts on 'Talking Trash: Online Outreach from the Great Pacific Garbage Patch'
The mojo of open journalism, plus that itchy beta thing
Rebooting science journalism - on blurring boundaries, money, audiences and duck sex
The Back-Channel of Science
The Dark Side of Science Journalism?
Making it real: People and Books and Web and Science at ScienceOnline2010

I have also put together a blogroll of everyone who attended the conference - if your blog is not on the list and should be (or vice-versa - it is here but you were not), please let me know.

And finally, I also lifted some quotes from various blog posts that say nice things about the conference ;-)

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Interview with Michael Specter at ScienceOnline2010 (video) Part 2

Sun, 07 Feb 2010 12:27:18 -0500

Sabine Vollmer interviews Keynote Speaker Michael Specter for Science In The Triangle Blog.

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Clock Quotes

Sun, 07 Feb 2010 04:00:01 -0500

The exchange between Churchill & Lady Astor:
She said, "If you were my husband, I'd give you poisoned tea."
He answered, "If you were my wife, I'd drink it."

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Interview with Michael Specter at ScienceOnline2010 (video) Part 1

Sat, 06 Feb 2010 12:26:36 -0500

Sabine Vollmer interviews Keynote Speaker Michael Specter for Science In The Triangle Blog.

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