Scientiae
As you all know I love Scientiae and I do my best to support it. November and December weren't so great for Scientiae although over at Loveletters , they did a lovely job with the limited entries that they had. The entries are great and you should go read them.
The bigger question that has been raised is what is the future of Scientiae. Paula from Loveletters posses these questions:
For November and December Cherish and I where your Hosts for the Scientiae Carnival. We were both not very good hosts having missed our due dates. But generally there were not many submissions. So I am thinking about whether this Carnival still is the right format. Founded by Alice Pawley who was last blogging with SciWo at Sciencewomen it helped connect women who blog on science in a way a simple blogroll could not. At first there were few of us and then more and more. It was a wonderful thing to watch even though the development seems to become less rapid. Reading and participating in Scientiae has given me the courage and audacity to ask for the science help I need and to tell my boss that I am done with my PhD work and am starting to write up my thesis. That is why I want this Carnival to continue, because there are other scientistas out there who want and need the kind of encouragement that the Carnival has offered me. Alice has stopped blogging for the moment but this Carnvial continues, if you would like to organize it, please get into contact with her.
So what should be the future of Scientiae? I don't know. I'm willing to host once a year and contribute but not to be in charge. What do you think?
Comments
I would really, really like to host September 2010 and emailed Alice about it in October. I would very much like to see Scientiae continue. I try to contribute but sometimes I just felt like I didn't have a good post for the theme. I would be happy to help recruit other bloggers to host for 2010.
Posted by: Karina | January 13, 2010 09:21 PM
I have mixed feelings about Scientiae, to be honest. In theory, I think it's a wonderful idea and should be continued. But in practice....well, more often than not I see the call for posts and think "meh". But I don't know if this "meh" feeling is something in the way Scientiae has evolved or if it's more a reflection of what's going on w/ me---I've stopped blogging under my pseudonym and started blogging under my real name, and am still trying to figure out what stories I want to tell in this new context. So far, since I made the transition, I just haven't been inspired to tell Scientiae-suitable stories, or at least I haven't thought of my stories as Scientiae-suitable (if that makes sense).
Posted by: Jane | January 13, 2010 10:31 PM
I really liked Scientiae at first because it helped me discover new blogs. But after a while I found that by the time the carnival went up, I had already read all the entries. One could also argue that one of the main original purposes - to help relatively rare women science bloggers find each other - has become much less relevant since there are now fairly many female STEM bloggers who have built a pretty good community. I also have to admit that, like Jane, many months I don't feel particularly inspired by the call.
All that said, though, I'd like to see it continue, and I'll be willing to host.
Posted by: ecogeofemme | January 15, 2010 10:01 PM
Being pretty much a n00b to the female STEM blogging community, I was just starting to appreciate Scientiae. I think it'd be sad for it to go. I volunteered to host, and promise to jump in more often now that I'm actually up and going.
Posted by: RocketScientista | January 18, 2010 11:46 PM