You probably Yahoo or Google about chemistry, but do you blog too? Have you podcasted? Know what RSS does? Written it all off as something for those whippersnappers? Perhaps you’ll reconsider.
Kermit Murray, a professor in the chemistry department at Louisiana State University, defined the basics of blogging and other Web communication tools yesterday during a compact but informative talk in the Division of Analytical Chemistry. (And yes, this is a blog entry about blogs.)
Murray is a blogger himself. His topic? Mass spectrometry, including RSS feeds from other sites. Check him out at msblog.kermitmurray.com. In his talk, he also mentioned other science-oriented blogs, including specialized analytical topics such as nuclear magnetic resonance.
Then Murray posed a question: “Are journals threatened by blogs?” He said blogs and journal articles have similar elements, such as titles, names, and dates of posting. “I would argue that journals are peer-reviewed blogs, in a manner of thinking” and that journals could benefit from additional, associated blogs, Murray said. “It’s another path for information to travel,” he added.
And it’s a path that lots of people are traveling. The number of blogs on the Web doubles just about every five months, Murray said, citing statistics from Technorati. He acknowledges that not all blogs are worth visiting, but he advised the 20 or so attendees to pay attention to open-source knowledge. At least be aware of how it can enhance the chemistry community, he said. He closed with a quick primer on podcasts, RSS feeds, and Wiki entries.
Looking for examples of podcasts and RSS feeds? Click on the links above or visit the C&EN homepage. Of course our online team’s got those options covered!—Rachel Petkewich, filed at 8:55 AM EST
