tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29235839.post1354647613348321289..comments2024-02-05T05:15:04.759-08:00Comments on Wandering Scientist: Some Thoughts on the #Scimom ExperimentCloudhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09317847285050447789noreply@blogger.comBlogger13125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29235839.post-6571250441729972802011-09-27T05:43:29.554-07:002011-09-27T05:43:29.554-07:00Some Thoughts on the #Scimom Experiment <-- ...Some Thoughts on the #Scimom Experiment <-- that's what i was looking for<br /><a href="http://www.mastersdissertations.com/literature_review.html" rel="nofollow">Dissertation Literature Review</a>Literature Review Writinghttp://www.mastersdissertations.com/literature_review.htmlnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29235839.post-48728394896176417532011-05-12T07:22:54.414-07:002011-05-12T07:22:54.414-07:00Ah, yes, forgot about Isis. We have been on the b...Ah, yes, forgot about Isis. We have been on the brunt end of that as well. Must have blocked it off in my mind. <br /><br />I take you seriously! But, then, I'm a social scientist, and what do we know? Well, besides proper use of statistics...Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29235839.post-31443988216854227142011-05-12T07:10:23.641-07:002011-05-12T07:10:23.641-07:00Thanks for all the comments, everyone!
I wrote a ...Thanks for all the comments, everyone!<br /><br />I wrote a long and no doubt brilliant comment reply last night, but then Blogger had gone into read-only mode when I tried to post it. So this will be shorter and less brilliant.<br /><br />@nicoleandmaggie- to see the difference between the commenting styles, find a post in which Dr. Isis disagrees with some of the comments and then go over to Mom-101's blog and find a post about blog commercialization. She handles disagreement in a very different, less "you're wrong, I'm right- why can't you get with the program?" sort of way. Neither way is wrong or right- they're just different.<br /><br />@Lab Mom, I agree that sometimes the areas of overlapping interest aren't big. But there are a lot of posts on academic science blogs that aren't relevant to me- I don't apply for grants or have grad student- and I still read some. The majority is interesting, so I just skip the posts I'm not interested in. I do the same with mom blogs, but I also don't tend to read the ones that aren't thought provoking. I only follow about 10-15 mom blogs. I think a scientist interested in engaging in the mom blog community could find one of the better written, more interesting mom blogs, follow that, join the conversation there, and ignore most other blogs.<br /><br />I am also mostly a mom blogger, I suppose. I can't write about my work, even under the cover of a pseudonym, because I've signed non-disclosure agreements. I know that a lot of the science bloggers (maybe even most) don't take me seriously. I'm not sure if that is because I am not blogging about science or because I am not an academic, and there is still a strong "industrial science isn't real science" bias in a lot of fields.<br /><br />At one point, I thought about not using my blog identity when I post on science blogs. I'm glad I didn't split my identity, though- I've gotten some really nice emails and comments from younger women scientists who are glad to have found my blog.Cloudhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09317847285050447789noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29235839.post-9789958513900326382011-05-12T06:59:48.750-07:002011-05-12T06:59:48.750-07:00"I think the science community owes it to the..."I think the science community owes it to the children of the world to swallow our pride and try a little harder to reach the decision makers- who, as David rightly points out, are more often than not the mothers. I'm pretty sure that calling them stupid for having any doubts about vaccinating their children won't do us any good."<br /><br />You've hit the nail on the head.<br /><br />@LabMom is also right: Parenting blogs can be boring as all hell, and too full of fluff (like my own fluffy-ass mom blog.)<br /><br />Some science blogs can be... well, too dorky; too esoteric and out of touch with the emotional aspects of how real people of average intelligence actually make life decisions. <br /><br />Science bloggers who want to reach vaccine rejectors first need to understand what really makes them tick:<br /><br />http://autism-news-beat.com/archives/49<br /><br />@nicoleandmaggie & @zed - Agree with the praise for "Diaper Free Before 3," (it worked for us, too) and am looking forward to N&M's future post on it.hushhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05532820460835325762noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29235839.post-29002242442765631292011-05-12T06:11:46.782-07:002011-05-12T06:11:46.782-07:00Yes, I loved the lit review in diaper free before ...Yes, I loved the lit review in diaper free before three! I couldn't believe how fascinated I was by that. I used her method and it worked just as she described, with twin boys.<br /><br />Anyway, back to the post, it's so true that being an 'insider' is more important than exactly how you craft the message. Just knocking on doors doesn't get you very far if you're not a neighbor they've interacted with before. I had some really frustrating conversations with strangers about climate change before I realized some people just don't care about the facts and certainly don't care what a scientist has to say.zednoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29235839.post-74689744542059729472011-05-12T04:40:35.765-07:002011-05-12T04:40:35.765-07:00Hey! Potty training is a very legitimate scientif...Hey! Potty training is a very legitimate scientific discussion. Especially since it is a great example of BAD science. Brazelton: paid by Pampers.<br /><br />Actual scientific research: older, exists, contradicts current trends.<br /><br />Diaper free before three, written by an MD who decided to actually do the research rather than follow standard doctor recommendations, has an excellent literature review on the subject. Even though we didn't use her method, it is a must-read for all sci-parents.<br /><br />(And yes, I have a post on this that hasn't been finished yet because I need to check a few sources.)Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29235839.post-56087690746566214282011-05-11T19:28:45.080-07:002011-05-11T19:28:45.080-07:00Okay Okay.. i am going to throw it out there, sinc...Okay Okay.. i am going to throw it out there, since I am a "mommy blogger" waay more than I am a "science blogger" these days.<br /><br />I think the big elephant in this discussion is that most (not all but most) mommy blogs have a LOT of fluff. LOTS.<br /><br />I know that I have a hard time wading thru my google reader (I follow at least 100+ purely 'mom' blogs) because of some of the inane (and truthfully uninteresting) posts. Lets be honest here.<br /><br />Frequently moms (specifically SAHMs) blog as an outlet. Often posts are just rambling streams of consciousness.<br /><br />Sure, there are posts that you discuss (Vaxxing, midwifery etc) that could be legitimately debated with the scientific community, but you will often find yourself wading thru "potty training", "what is for dinner tonite" and "boy I wish I could take a shower today" posts which tend to bring down the credibility of the blogger (maybe unfairly so.)<br /><br />I think it is a vast divide. I do agree that members of the scientific community who are parents, would be great liaisons between the two communities but as one myself (and Dr. O can also testify to this) it is a HARD HARD balancing act. You never know your scientific colleagues are going to respond to your parenting posts, and you know your mommy readers are wondering why the hell you are so into genetic studies of mice. It is a foreign language, especially when you sitting eyeball deep in dirty diapers and sleep deprived.<br /><br />I am not sure what the real answer is, but I agree that the #scimom project was a nice step in the right direction. Only time will tell how it all plays out.LabMomhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07726099241951657388noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29235839.post-2459433958587560542011-05-11T16:19:40.501-07:002011-05-11T16:19:40.501-07:00I'm a little sensitive after he left some not-...I'm a little sensitive after he left some not-completely-appropriate comments on my blog when I was considering leaving LabSpaces. He does have a soft side, but he can be brutal when he doesn't like something.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29235839.post-87092525913903294012011-05-11T14:39:01.139-07:002011-05-11T14:39:01.139-07:00CPP, really? He's such a teddy bear.
I wonde...CPP, really? He's such a teddy bear.<br /><br />I wonder what that says about my discipline.<br /><br />The folks who scare me are the disgruntled humanities professors. (The gruntled ones are awesome, but the disgruntled ones are scary!)Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29235839.post-14391196753465544552011-05-11T14:29:36.402-07:002011-05-11T14:29:36.402-07:00Well said. I've thought before that some of th...Well said. I've thought before that some of the science blogs might be a little intimidating for non-scientists. Hell, they were intimidating for me when I first started out blogging. (@N&M - CPP alone scared the sh*t out of me at first.) It's not that I think we're rude, we just say what we mean, sometimes rather unfiltered. And that can come across as rude to those uninitiated into scientific debate that we've become accustomed to.<br /><br />I've started frequenting a few mom blogs since the #scimom meme started. I'm sure it will take a while for the commenting and interactions to take root - it's taken over a year for my sciency interactions to at least, and I didn't have a baby back then. But I'm enjoying the meager interactions that have begun, and hope to see them grow. If for that reason alone, I think the #scimom meme was a success. It just will take time for the results to come to fruition.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29235839.post-28988131380996908212011-05-11T10:51:25.073-07:002011-05-11T10:51:25.073-07:00Reputation effects are definitely important in mom...Reputation effects are definitely important in mom-forums and mom-blogging communities. They're even important in other online communities. When I know someone is a crackpot in other areas I tend to dismiss whatever they say.<br /><br />I don't think I've ever been on a confrontational science blog. Maybe I don't get out of my sphere of influence enough.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29235839.post-50015921728229443542011-05-11T09:33:20.064-07:002011-05-11T09:33:20.064-07:00I think this is spot-on. I agree with your assess...I think this is spot-on. I agree with your assessment of the two communities (moms and scientists) and I think other online communities have still other cultural norms. <br /><br />To be truly influential I think you have to be the one who initiates contact. And this may seem weird but in many ways I think the scientific community is amazingly passive when it comes to communication. <br /><br /> This is a community of people who observe and take note and try not to interfere for fear it might corrupt the data. This is also a community that waits to respond to critics who have already framed a debate instead of starting the conversation on terms that make more sense. <br /><br />Scientists can develop talking points and do media training and try to come up with analogies and stories more understandable and engaging, but to me it means very little if you're not knocking on virtual doors, establishing that what you do isn't simply cool, it's also relevant to what everyone else is doing. <br /><br />Please pardon the religious analogy but I think to be truly successful here scientists need to be more than "ambassadors" - they need to be "missionaries." Missionaries don't wait for people to come to them - they literally show up at your doorstep telling you the truth as they see it. And the good ones learn a bit about the communities they enter and make their "truth" relevant to the community.Davidhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09682509785920799019noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29235839.post-49458226985087414792011-05-11T09:15:43.334-07:002011-05-11T09:15:43.334-07:00I agree with your comments and feel that #scimom w...I agree with your comments and feel that #scimom was a good start. I'm going to add some mom blogs to my blogroll..venture out a little...I like your idea that we shouldn't be complacent in our own areas--the challenge to look around outside is very good. Thanks for writing honestly!CMDoranhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16032151240110643419noreply@blogger.com