How to set up a science blog

Science blogs let you share your passion and expertise with the widest possible audience. Damian Carrington shows it's easy to get started.

The World Wide Web has changed the world by providing the cheapest information sharing network ever seen. And the development of blogging software, now powerful and free to use, allows anyone to share their thoughts instantly with anyone else in the world with an Internet connection.

That personal link is at the heart of blogging. The very word blog comes from web log, in other words a diary. Just as diaries can have many forms, so can blogs, but they tend to differ from conventional media in their focus.

Arianna Huffington, founder of the highly successful blog network Huffington Post, uses a medical analogy. She describes the mainstream media as suffering from attention deficit hyperactivity disorder — always looking for the next new thing and leaving yesterday's stories unfinished. Bloggers, in contrast, are more like obsessive-compulsives — persistently and doggedly pursuing single topics.
What to blog on — and how?

You might be a scientist who wants to blog about your own science or issues facing scientists. You might be a science journalist wanting to report on science in a way that is different to the more conventional publications that you write for. Or you may be a wannabe political commentator, monitoring science policy and its potential impacts. All of these could come under the umbrella of science blogging, which follows many of the same rules as other types of blogs.

First, choose a subject that you are both passionate and knowledgeable about. Keep it focused. Choose too broad a topic — physics, say — and you will find it very hard to add something unique and interesting to the web that will attract readers. The risk of picking too narrow a topic is far lower — there may be few people in your organisation who care deeply about moths, for example, but there are likely to be many more around the world.

What you choose to blog about — and how — will also depend on your intended audience, be they scientists in that field, scientists from other disciplines or the general public.

One of the very best, and most successful, science blogs is called Pharyngula, written by biologist P. Z. Myers, who works at the University of Minnesota. He describes it as "evolution, development, and random biological ejaculations from a godless liberal", and it has been a powerful pro-science voice in the creationism debate in the United States.

The blog is one of many excellent blogs on ScienceBlogs. The site's founder, Adam Bly, aims to make science as central to culture as politics or the arts, and ScienceBlogs shows how the engaging and conversational style of blogs can help make that happen.

So how personal should a blog get? Here's a rule of thumb — if you start writing about your pet dog, you have probably crossed a line. But anything short of that is not only fine, it's essential. Your personality is what will make your blog stand out from others, and will bring you that all important connection with your readers.

This can be uncomfortable for academics and professional journalists, who spend their careers sheltered by the use of the third person (I remember struggling to begin sentences with "I" when I started blogging). But persevere, you will quickly adapt and find it liberating. If you don't, then what you are writing isn't a blog, it's an article.
How often?

How regularly should you blog? The short answer is every day. Readers want to feel the blog is alive, and frequent posts show this. A minimum is twice a week. Any less and you'll need to be a very influential person to get away with it.

One way of getting around having to post frequently yourself is to set up a group blog. But this can be difficult, unless the group shares a clear sense of purpose and similar attitudes. One successful example of this approach is Effect Measure, run by a group of public health professionals.

If the prospect of posting daily seems off-putting, remember that each post does not have to be a thousand words of carefully argued and finely crafted prose. Quite the reverse in fact — think of it as having a conversation with your readers.

Short observations on news events that use your expertise, for example to point out misconceptions, are great. Posts that link to new or interesting information elsewhere on the web are also very valuable.

You are using your special knowledge to filter the vast amount of content on the web for others. By aggregating material, you are editing the web for your readers. And remember, the links don't just need to be to articles. Video, pictures and graphics can be even more interesting. If I was blogging about penguins, I'd definitely be linking to this video. And taking your own photographs or video is even better — they are simple to add to blogs.
Technical aspects

I won't try to give a step-by-step account of how to blog here — there are plenty online. But if you can use a word processor and web browser, you already have 90 per cent of the skills you need. The other ten per cent are very simple, for example using basic HTML, or the buttons in your blog software, to make key phrases bold or to add web links.

There is a wide variety of blog software available, all with guides on how to use them. You can choose what suits your level of technical knowledge. The simplest host the blog for you, with the most popular being Blogger, Wordpress and Typepad.

The downside with these blog sites is that you have less control over the URL. If you want to host your own blog, check out Movable Type, for example.

The Guardian's blogging guru, Kevin Anderson, recommends guides to the pros and cons of different options available on these sites: Problogger, readwriteweb and pcworld.com.

Limited bandwidth and Internet access in some areas of the developing world may limit all forms of blogging.

Jonathan Gosier, a software developer living in Kampala, Uganda, describes blogging from a developing country as "a lesson in patience, endurance and ingenuity". On his blog on Apprifca he recommends ten applications that can ease the challenges of dealing with power cuts, unstable Internet connections and potential data loss.
Getting a readership

Once you have your blog up and running, you'll need to get people coming to visit. This can be hard at the start, but be patient. There are a number of things you can do, and the key is linking.

First, you need to include lots of links in all that you post. This helps with 'search engine optimisation', that is, it helps search engines understand the sorts of site your blog is like, and this means people searching for your topic will be more likely to find your blog.

Even more important is encouraging links from other sites to your blog. You can do this by leaving comments on other sites you like, which include links back to relevant posts on your blog. Note the word relevant — if your links are not relevant, they will annoy people, which is not a way to become popular.

You can also list the other blogs you like — this is called a blogroll. It's worth asking those bloggers if they would like to link to you — they will if they like your blog. Lastly, it's worth sending details of your blog to Technorati, which acts as a search engine specifically for blogs.

If you intend to blog about peer-reviewed research articles, you could register with Research Blogging, a website which highlights the posts of its registered users when they write about new journal papers.
Generating discussion

There's another important difference between blogging and conventional journalism and science communication. Writers of conventional media must not leave questions hanging — their stories need a beginning, middle and end. But blogging, being a conversation, means you can ask questions, as my food writer colleague Jay Rayner did recently on the topic of genetically modified foods.

A truly great science blog, also connected to the Guardian, is Bad Science, written by the medical doctor Ben Goldacre. His conversations with his readers often generate ideas for future posts.

Discussions with your readers is an essential hallmark of a good blog. A blog without discussion is like a radio talk show without callers — a lecture in fact. The simplest way to create a discussion is by asking for one — "what do you think of what I have written?" When someone does comment, make sure you reply to them on the blog. After all, you wouldn't ignore someone who spoke to you in person.

Not all comments will be interesting or constructive, and moderating the comments on your blog is a difficult balance. If you are oversensitive in deleting comments, readers will soon learn that you are not really interested in having a debate. On the other hand, if you let anything go, you will soon find your blog infested with trolls — people who post irrelevant and provocative comments to disrupt discussions — and this could bore or intimidate interesting people, driving them away.

Many trolls will back down if you reply personally to them. Their aggression fades when they realise there is a real person behind the screen. But I don't want to exaggerate this issue — getting any comments at all is harder than dealing with bad ones. And remember, the blog is your space. You are free to eject people you object to, just as in your own home.

To finish, I have just one more question: what do you think I've missed out?

Damian Carrington is the environment web editor at the United Kingdom's Guardian newspaper former editor of NewScientist.com and science reporter at BBC News Online.

通过提供迄今最廉价的信息共享网络，万维网已经改变了世界。而且博客（网志）软件的发展——如今它们功能强大且免费使用——能让任何人与世界上接入互联网的其他人即时分享他们的思想。

这种个人的联系是撰写博客（网志）的核心。博客（网志）（blog）这个词来源于web log（网络日志），也就是日记的意思。正如日记可以有许多种形式，博客（网志）也是如此，但是它们倾向于和传统媒体的侧重点不同。

非常成功的博客（网志）网络Huffington Post的创始人Arianna Huffington用了一个医学类比。她把主流媒体描述成患有注意缺陷多动障碍——总是寻找下一个新的事情，而不管昨天未完结的故事。相比之下，博客（网志）作者更像是患有强迫症——不断顽强地追踪着同一个题材。

写什么博客（网志）——以及如何写？

你可能是一位科学家，想用博客（网志）记录你自己的科学或者科学家面临的问题。你可能是一位科学记者，想用一种不同于你所服务的更传统的出版物的方式报道科学。或者你可能想成为一位政治评论家，监视科学政策及其可能的影响。所有这些都可能归于科学博客（网志）写作之下，它们同样也遵循许多其他类型的博客（网志）的规则。

首先，选择一个你既热衷又了解的主题。把重点放在这个主题上。如果选择太宽泛的主体——例如物理学——你就会发现你很难把一些独特而有趣的东西放在网上从而吸引读者。选择主题过窄的风险则低得多——例如，在你的组织里可能没有多少人关心蛾类，但是在全世界范围内却可能很多。

你选择用博客（网志）记录的东西——以及如何记录——还将取决于你预期的受众，不论他们是该领域的科学家、来自其他学科的科学家还是公众。

一个极好而且极其成功的科学博客（网志）名为Pharyngula，它是由明尼苏达大学的生物学家P. Z. Myers撰写的。他把该博客（网志）描述成“一个无神的自由主义者的进化、发育和随机的生物学随笔”，而且它成为了美国神创论辩论中的一个强有力的支持科学的声音。

这个博客（网志）是ScienceBlogs网站上的许多优秀的博客（网志）之一。该网站的创始人Adam Bly的目标是让科学成为政治或艺术等文化的关键部分，而ScienceBlogs展现了博客（网志）的迷人的和对话式的风格如何让这个目标成功。

那么，一个博客（网志）应该多么个性化？这里有个经验法则——如果你开始写你的宠物狗，你可能已经过界了。但是只要没有那种东西就行，这是最基本的。你的个性能让你的博客（网志）胜过其他博客（网志），而且还将给你带来和读者之间极为重要的联系。

这可能让学者和职业记者感到不舒服，他们的职业生涯是在第三人称的保护下度过的（我还记得当我开始写博客（网志）的时候，我很费力地用“我”开头）。但是坚持下去，你将迅速适应过来并感到它令人解放。如果你不能这样做，那么你写的不是博客（网志），而是一片论文。

隔多长时间写一篇？

你应该间隔多长时间写一篇博客（网志）？简短的答案是每天都写。读者希望感受到你的博客是鲜活的，而频繁张贴文章能展现出这一点。最少一周写两次。如果比这再少，你需要是一个具有很大影响力的人物才能成功。

避免亲自频繁张贴文章的一个方法是建立一个群博客（网志）。但是这可能很困难，除非这个群的人们都有同一个清晰的目的和类似的态度。这种方法的一个成功的范例是Effect Measure，这是由一群公共卫生专业人士维护的博客（网志）。

如果每天张贴文章的前景令人感到不快，那么记住每个帖子不需要是长达千言的语言缜密和精心编排的散文。事实上恰恰相反——把它当成与你的读者进行一场对话。

利用你的专业技能对新闻事件发表短评，例如指出错误的概念，这是很好的。含有指向网上其他地方的新闻或有趣信息的链接的帖子也很有价值。

你在用你的专业知识为其他人过滤网上的海量信息。通过把材料聚合起来，你在为你的读者编辑万维网。记住，链接指向的不必一定是文章。视频、照片和图画可能更吸引人。如果我正在写关于企鹅的博客（网志），我一定会链接到这个视频。如果你有自己的照片或视频就更好了——把它们放到博客（网志）上是很简单的。

技术问题

在这里我不会试图给出一个如何写博客（网志）的详细步骤——网上有很多说明。但是如果你能使用一个字处理程序或网页浏览器，你就已经拥有了你所需的技能的90%。其余的10%很简单，例如使用基本的HTML语法，或者使用你的博客（网志）软件里的按钮从而让关键词变成粗体或者加入链接。

有很多种博客（网志）软件可供选用，它们都有使用指南。你可以选择和你的技术知识水平相符的软件。最简单的是网站为你提供博客（网志）平台，最流行的是Blogger、Wordpress和Typepad。

这种博客网站的缺点是你对网址的可控性较少。如果你想在自己的服务器上放置你的博客（网志），试一试Movable Type等软件。

《卫报》的博客（网志）高手Kevin Anderson建议阅读如下网站的关于各种不同选项的优缺点的指南：Problogger、readwriteweb 和 pcworld.com。

发展中国家的一些地区的带宽和互联网接入的限制可能限制了所有写博客（网志）的形式。

生活在乌干达坎帕拉的软件开发者Jonathan Gosier把在发展中国家写博客（网志）描述成“一个耐性、持久和独创性的一课”。他在Apprifca的博客（网志）上推荐了10个可以缓解停电、互联网接入不稳定和可能的数据丢失等挑战的10个应用程序。

争取读者

一旦你建立好了你的博客（网志）并开始运行，你就需要让人们来访问它。最开始这可能很困难，但是要耐心。你可以采取一些手段，关键是建立链接。

首先，你需要在你的帖子里包括许多链接。这有助于“搜索引擎优化”，也就是帮助搜索引擎理解你的博客（网志）是什么类型的网站，这就意味着检索你的主题的人们将更有可能找到你的博客（网志）。

更重要的是鼓励从其他网站链接到你的博客（网志）。你可以通过在你喜欢的其它网站上留言从而实现这一点，留言中包括了指向你的博客（网站）上的相关帖子的链接。要注意词语的相关性——如果你的链接不相关，它们会让人们感到恼火，这可不是变得流行的一个方式。

你还可以列出你喜欢的其它博客（网志）——这被称为blogroll。值得问问这些博客（网志）主人是否愿意给你做链接——如果他们喜欢你的博客（网志），那么他们就会这样做。最后，值得把你的博客（网志）的细节提供给Technorati网站，它的作用就像专门检索博客（网志）的搜索引擎。

如果你打算写关于同行评议的科研论文的博客（网志），你可以在Research Blogging上注册，这是一个在注册用户撰写关于新的期刊论文的帖子的时候会把他们的帖子加亮的一个网站。

引发讨论

写博客（网志）与传统的新闻和科学传播还有另一个重要的不同点。传统媒体的作者不能让问题悬而未决——他们的故事需要一个开头、发展和结尾。但是写博客（网志）是一场对话，这意味着你可以提问题，正如我的同事、食品作者Jay Rayner最近关于转基因食品主题做得那样。

和《卫报》有联系的一个真正优秀的科学博客（网志）是Bad Science,，它的作者是医学博士Ben Goldacre。他和读者之间的对话常常产生未来帖子的灵感。

和你的读者进行讨论是一个良好的博客（网志）的一个关键标志。没有讨论的博客（网志）就像没有电话参与者的电台谈话节目——那就是一场演讲。制造一场讨论的一个最简单方式就是问问别人——“你对我写的东西有何看法？”当有人评论的时候，确保你在博客（网志）上回复它们。毕竟，你不应该忽视和你亲自交谈的人。

并非所有的评论是有趣或者建设性的，管理你的博客（网志）上的评论是一个艰难的平衡。如果你在删除评论方面过于敏感，读者将会很快发现你并不真正对辩论感兴趣。另一方面，如果你放任所有的东西，你很快就会发现你的博客（网志）上充斥着捣乱的人——一些张贴无关评论或煽动性评论从而破坏讨论的人们——而这可能惹恼或者胁迫感兴趣的人们，把他们赶跑。

如果你亲自回复他们，许多网上捣乱者将会消失。当他们意识到在屏幕那边有一个真人的时候，他们的敌对行为就会消退。但是我不想夸大这个问题——获得评论比对付糟糕的评论更困难。记住，博客（网志）是你的空间。你有赶走你反对的人们的自由，正如在你自己的家里一样。

最后，我还有一个问题：你觉得我遗漏了什么？