Monolingualism in Research - probably you haven’t thought of it much (i hadn’t given it much thought either..)
Little has been done to assess the impact of monolingualism in science, let alone deal with it, but a session at the AAAS meeting in February at least laid out the issues. The participants in that panel have been kind enough to supply me with their slides, which can be accessed at www.the-scientist.com/languagebarrier.
May be its time you see what the fuss is all about.
Photo: Georgina
Here is a wonderful post that i came across which deals with applying the delicious social bookmarking system for Research.
The mission of the Euroscience Open Forum (ESOF) is to provide both the European and the international science communities with an open platform for debate and communication. It presents and profiles Europe’s leading research trends in the sciences, humanities and social sciences. It is an opportunity to discuss and influence the future of research and innovation in Europe.
- Discover new trends and directions in research, business, science policy and funding
- Network with leaders of the international science community
- Communicate your research and ideas to an international audience
- Participate in the debate, discussion and excitement of European science and technology
- Meet and talk to scientific journalists from Europe and around the world
- Develop your career, your future projects and your contacts
ESOF2008 provides a wide range of sessions and participatory activities for:
- Scientists and researchers
- Young researchers and graduate students
- Policy makers and public and science managers
- Business people, entrepreneurs and innovators
- Non-profit-organisation managers, social entrepreneurs and innovators
- Politicians at all levels of government
- Journalists
- Science communicators and press officers
- Science and humanities educators
- Students
- The general public
ESOF would be the event you would want to attend if you’re interested in how science could shape the future, rather how you help the future with your research. I am planning to visit ESOF this year, would be a Welcome difference from the all science conferences. For once let us discuss how the research community impacts practical life.
Its no question that Web 2.0 is taking the internet to new frontiers never dreamed before.The Social networking phenomenon i.e. ‘Wisdom of crowds’ is definitely making its presence felt on the academic population.It all started with Social bookmarking for academics,which moved on to digg like research news portals and now ladies and gentlemen its Youtube time 
Oh! no wait if the name YouTube strikes synonmously with ‘productivity sucker’ - then this ain’t that!
How about exchanging screencasts (videos) of your research methods and ideas to like minded audience? better yet, how about performing experiments and have them recorded and published with video and audio!! Or would you prefer to give a first person view of your research publication - that is interacting with your academic audience. Well all of the above are reality.
What is Scivee all about? ofcourse you can read it here, but somehow i believe of the three Web 2.0 services Scivee holds greater prospects in terms of early acceptance and popularity.
(p.s. sorry about the picture 
)
The next service is JoVE ( Journal of Visualized Experiments)
For the first time, JoVE allows you to publish your experiments in all its dimensions, overcoming the inherent limitations of traditional print journals, thus adding a whole new quality to the communication of your experimental work and research results.
A very interesting idea, but i am not sure how useful/popular this would become! Would be interested in watching this medium.
You know that i’m a fan of Lifehack (not to be confused with Lifehacker). Those guys are the best at what they do! So the 70 best of Lifehack 2007 is definitely worth a read.
PLOS Biology has come out with a very interesting and informative Editorial on Open Access. I must confess that my knowledge of Open Access was just what the words suggest - free access to research publications. But after going through this editorial i have learnt what true Open Access is all about, and definitely its not just about free access to the research publications. An indispensable read.
but then unlike rushing through a paperback novel reading an academic paper isn’t a simple process.
The Scientist Magazine is now taking nominations for the best Lab web pages. They have also put up a list of staff nominations or selections which are really some of the best designed as well as presented webpages. Gone are the days when Research groups had webpages which could compete with budding school kid designer wannabes. If you need to attract attention and interest (not to forget young talented grad students) to your research then the Internet is one of the strongest avenues available - But if you’re gonna end up with a webpage designed in the most antiquated way then you lose a considerable audience and their interest in your work.
Most students lookup Lab or research group websites to not see if it would suit their research aptitude but also the atmosphere that prevails in the research group (yes, putting up photos from your group’s barbecue party definitely helps!).Also when you apply to a new position inevitable your employer would look up your group’s page, eventhough you provide an exhaustive Curriculum Vitae.
Yet another important part of the audience in the school kids who is looking to perform more in his class assignment and is directed to your group page by google - Oh..if you’re not on google, you don’t exist (so watch what you put in as the meta tags) . Now this is the curious kid who eyeball’s your sight for interesting yet easy to understand information. If you have a lengthy description of your research interest with dense graphs sprinkled here and there, Sorry! that’s not going to attract anybody let alone the school kid.
You can visit the nominations page to not only to recommend your favorite group pages but also see how people present information in the most interesting and appealing manner.
