|
|
By Anastasia on 18 March 2011
Not sure if Twitter is something you want to try? Not sure if it’s possible for 140 character messages to be useful?
There are some ways to use Twitter that are of particular use to scientists both in gathering information and in putting out information. Get the details in Twitter for Scientists at Sigma BioBlogs by Kristy Meyer. Be sure to check out the copious links including What is Twitter and Why Scientists Need To Use It.
Proof of concept: I found out about this post on scientific tweeting via Twitter!
By Anastasia on 13 March 2011
 1. Register for Maize Research
In the right-hand sidebar at MaizeResearch.org, scroll down to the Meta section. Clicking on Register will take you to a screen where you can create an account in one of two ways. You can login immediately using your account on one of many social networking sites (click the grey arrows to page through the options). Or, you can enter a username and password, fill in the Captcha code, and wait for an email that contains a password.
2. Edit your profile
If you aren’t already logged in, click on Log in in the Meta section in the right-hand sidebar at MaizeResearch.org.Then, click on Site Admin in the Meta section in the right-hand sidebar to get to the WordPress Dashboard (the Site Admin link will only appear when you are logged in). Click on the Users button in the left-hand sidebar in the Dashboard which will reveal a Your Profile button.
Fill in your Profile with as much or as little information as you like. Use the dropdown next to “Display name publicly as” to choose what name you wish to be displayed when you comment. Your real name will not be shared unless you choose for it to be your display name. Your email address will not be publicly available, and will never be sold or given away. The only time your email would be used is by Maize Research editors to ask rare questions or make constructive comments about your posts.
The bio that you write in your Profile will be displayed at the bottom of any posts that you write. On this profile page you can also add a photo that will be displayed if you post or comment. If you do not upload a photo, a randomly generated graphic will be displayed instead.
Continue reading…
By admin on 13 December 2010
By Alan Kotok via If Einstein Blogged.
 The RSS symbol. RSS stands for Really Simple Syndication. If you’re a reader or writer of blogs, then RSS is a technology you need to know. Anyone who reads blogs soon finds out there’s way too much material — even interesting material — on blogs for any one person to consume; the “drinking from a firehose” idea. As a result, RSS feeds are important for blog visitors to help manage that flow.
As a blogger, you need to prepare your content with RSS in mind. Not only are more blog visitors subscribing to RSS feeds, but RSS also provides bloggers with a valuable tool for getting your news, thoughts, and ideas in front of new audiences. To show why I’m a believer in RSS, some 20 percent of the visits to Science Business (my blog) in November came from RSS feeds.
By Anastasia on 29 November 2010
 Twitter official logo via Wikipedia. Twitter is a social networking website that, despite the 140 character limit, has proven to be a useful tool for science communication. It has the potential to be a source of factual information or complete rumor – but, because of the public nature of the conversations, other Twitter users can butt in and steer conversations back towards facts. It can also be a fast way to share links and get people reading your blog posts or press releases.
One of the most useful features of Twitter is the tag system. Tags, designated with the hash symbol, allow tweets to be grouped so they can be viewed together on a page. Tags are often used to group tweets about conferences, allowing organizers to disseminate information, attendees to share their responses, and people who couldn’t attend to get a glimpse of what’s happening in real time.
One example of a Twitter success is the AgChat Foundation, a group started by Michele Payn-Knoper of Cause Matters Corp. and a number of farmers and ranchers in order to foster communication between food producers and consumers. They have a weekly conversation about agriculture at 8pm Eastern with the tag #agchat. Twitter’s archives aren’t very good, though, so it’s important to keep a separate archive, as AgChat does, if you want to refer to conversations later.
Interested? Follow Maize Research at maizeres and check out these Twitter tutorials to help get you started.
Continue reading…
By Anastasia on 29 November 2010
 You may have noticed the Creative Commons symbol in the sidebar of Maize Research and on other sites. This logo and the accompanying link indicate that any posts found on this site may be used in whole or in part by anyone as long it isn’t for commercial purposes and as long as credit is given to the original author and as long as the derivative work is licensed under similar terms.
Creative Commons is a complement to the traditional Copyright system. It allows authors to provide permission for people to reuse works, including written word, audio, video, and images. The benefits of this system to science communicators are two-fold.
Continue reading…
|
|
Recent Comments