We think it is important that as many academic researchers as possible benefit from what we do.
We think it is important that as many academic researchers as possible benefit from what we do. We put time and effort in spreading the knowledge and digital tools we develop — to digitally enhance research beyond the walls of the eScience Center.
We use different means to that end: spreading our knowledge and the digital tools we develop by organizing events, writing papers, giving presentations and trainings, publishing our software and methods on our eScience Technology Platform and so on.
Our blog is now the latest addition to that effort.
Why a blog?
I think blog posts have some unique qualities, that can play a significant role in our goal to spread knowledge and the re-use of digital tools.
I have to say thanks to Rolf Hut and Titus Brown, who both wrote inspiring blogs on the added value of blogs for scientific research:
*The top 10 reasons why blog posts are better than scientific papers
*by C. Titus Brown:http://ivory.idyll.org/blog/2017-top-ten-reasons-blog-posts.html*Why scientists should write blogs instead of articles
*By Rolf Hut: http://rolfhut.nl/2016/07/27/why-scientists-should-write-blogs-instead-of-articles/
I have boiled this and my own thoughts down to five reasons why I think blog posts support our goal of spreading knowledge and the re-use of digital tools.
Reason #1: Quick updates on new developments
If you ask me, this is the most important reason to write blogs: they are readable, to the point, and timely (you can instantly publish new ideas or progress).
Every Thursday we have lunch with the whole team and update each other in short (10 minute) talks on our work. That helps us to quickly grasp who is working on what with whom, and what the body of knowledge at the eScience Center is. It is also a quick way to get input from different experts and different perspectives.
I am convinced that blogs on our work contribute in a similar way to a better understanding with (future) research partners of what our fields of expertise are, and how we work — managing expectations. It shows you how you can re-use knowledge or digital tools that we develop in research projects: What do we know, how do we work, and why do we think that is the way to go.
Reason #2: Rich content
References to GitHub, videos, our eScience Technology Platform, data sets — you name it. It’s all possible in a blog post. If we introduce a new tool, it’s a great place to quickly share our enthusiasm, a download link to the software, a screencapture, and link to other relevant blogs or websites.
It would be difficult to enrich the above piece of text with a link to GitHub or a nice video, or maybe add some additional content after publication.
Reason #3: Adding additional information over time
Maybe we write a blog, and one week later make major progress, or gain a new insight. Unlike the presentation you gave last week, the paper you got published or the interview you gave, a blog makes it easier to add and share that new information, or link to additional sources or newer blogs over time.
Reason #4: Giving and receiving feedback
Adding information to information in the form of feedback is also an important benefit of blogs, so here comes reason #4. Blogs are not a goal in itself — we want to hear your comments, know whether you learned something, want to add or share something, whether you got inspired.
Our mission is to work together with researchers to develop the digital tools best suited to help them answer their research questions. In developing those digital tools it is essential to understand the struggles of researchers, to be able to look from the perspective of researchers. So let us know what you want to hear from us, whether you find our blogs useful.
Reason #5: Accessibility
A blog is easily accessible. First of all because it is free and open source. But also because it can easily be shared on social media or via email. Making it easy to find via Google as well. And a blog on a responsive website is easy to read on any device (unlike a PDF for example). Lastly, unlike symposia and presentations, which are one-time events, blogs stick around.
Starting a pilot
So there you go, five reasons we think writing blogs will digitally enhance research. The reasons convinced us to start a pilot to write blog posts on some of our work — to see whether a blog is an effective medium to reach out to you: scientific researchers, research software engineers, science policy advisors, and anyone else working at the interface of science and digital technology. (And if you already have any ideas on relevant topics you want us to write about and/or (increasing) the effectiveness of our blogs, please place comments below!)
The topics of the blog will vary, and we will try different formats to see what works both for you and for us. But if you feel you belong to one of the above groups, I believe you will benefit from at least some of our blog posts to come: We experience every day that digital technology can be a connecting element for different research disciplines. Just sign up for our newsletter to stay up to date.
Who will be writing these blogs?
Different people at the eScience Center will be writing blogs — we might update you on eScience tools we are developing, share our opinion on eScience matters from time to time, or our partner researcher might write guest posts about their scientific collaborations with us.
