Education

Before, journalists used to blog in search of truth. Today more and more scientists and scholars are succumbing to the charms of blogging. While scientific and scholarly bloggers seek interdisciplinary dialogue, German and American publishers are tying young target groups to their magazines.

Two years ago Carsten Könneker sowed the seeds of a major German science blog. Könneker is editor-in-chief of Gehirn&Geist (i.e., Brain&Mind), a journal for psychology, neuroscience and philosophy from the publishers of Spektrum der Wissenschaft (i.e., Spectrum of Science). Since the editor-in-chief can’t write continually about his favorite subject, he set up a space under the roof of Brainlogs.de. As blogger, he now writes constantly about the fascinating relation between nature and the humanities. “I’m living out my passion.”

At the same, Könnecker encouraged a string of scientists and scholars to slip in under the roof of the new blog. Here psychologists, philosophers, historians, astronomers and physicians write reports about their everyday life as researchers and also excitedly discuss with each other their specialties. The publisher’s biggest magazines now have an interactive twin brother on the Web. Within a short space of time, the seedling has grown into a tree with many offshoots. This tree, with over 70 bloggers, is today called Scilogs – Diaries of Science”.

Science communication is becoming more important

Twenty years ago it would have been unthinkable to persuade researchers to publish without an apparatus of footnotes, says Könneker. They addressed their findings primarily to a few similarly qualified colleagues – to their peers. Today they still make every effort to enhance their reputations by extending the list of their publications in high-ranking scientific and scholarly journals. But things changed at the latest with the nationwide campaign in Germany “Science in Dialogue”, which had in roots in the Anglophone world. From then on, the idea was to make research visible for the broad public too.

Along with research and teaching, many scientists and scholars now see in science communication a new responsibility. “I think it’s legitimate to demand that researchers who are paid with public money should use part of their valuable time to giving something back to the public in the form of knowledge and information”, says Könneker. In the age of the Internet, no one any longer needs to start up the printing presses in order to publish.

Mixing and mingling

Some researchers are experimenting with new tools of communication. They impart their knowledge at children’s universities and in school labs. They talk about the state of their research with laymen in the market square on a Long Night of Science. Others shy away from such ventures. Sometimes even the press offices of their universities can hardly persuade them to cooperate in order to formulate their results in a generally comprehensible language for press releases.

“The blog is an outstanding tool of communication”, emphasizes Könnecker. Neither press office nor editorial staff interfere with the production of the diaries; contributions of the blogger go directly onto the Web, neither censored nor edited. “The researchers are themselves in charge of the procedure”, says Könnecker. Nowhere else can scientists and scholars express their thoughts so freely. But blogging is most suitable, he says, for people who like to take a prominent position – researchers who are not afraid to mix and mingle with the users and regularly to respond to the comments of blog readers. Otherwise, the blog soon dies.

Scienceblogs.de – offshoot from the U.S.A.

Scienceblogs.de is the German offshoot of the American media group Seed Media, which wants to promote global progress through science. The media group Burda is its German partner. With the blogs it wants to introduce Internet users in Germany between 20 and 40 years of age to science. And in fact, according to scienceblog editor-in-chief Marc Scheloske, the bloggers have attracted a highly educated and well-funded public to the website. Currently about 30 researchers and journalists blog there in areas such as science, medicine, environment, humanities, social sciences and culture.

Through an integrated Internet shop, Burda ties this public to books and magazines from its publishing house. The German blog portal has been in existence for only just under two years, and yet its authors have, according to Scheloske, already written approximately 6,500 articles.

About 400 scientists and scholars blog

Finally, to experience readers’ reactions directly is a powerful motive for scientists and scholars to blog. “They get visibility and a certain prominence”, says Scheloske. Some are even invited as experts to workshops and seminars. In Germany, estimates Scheloske, there are altogether about 400 blogging scientists and scholars.

“The layman gets a look at the scientific scene without having to descend into the swamps of specialist publications”, explains Helmut Wicht, Adjunct Professor for Anatomy at the University of Frankfurt am Main, writer and star blogger. “If things go well, he gets an idea of how researchers tick.” Marc Scheloske goes even one step further. “Blogging tears down walls between experts and lay people”, is his summary. “When researchers and laymen come together in dialogue, they democratize the forms of communication.”