Comments on: Puny Banner and tip jar

By: Coturnix

Coturnix — Mon, 14 Mar 2011 02:40:38 +0000

Another way to bring exposure to good pieces is to nominate them for Open Laboratory. Even pieces that do not get included in the book at the end of the year will still enjoy getting a weekly Monday morning link from me….

By: Taylor Burns

Taylor Burns — Sat, 12 Mar 2011 18:20:43 +0000

Good point about polljacking. Pharyngula could probably win any science writing competition (over and over again) if it was open to the public. Maybe after this thing gets going readers will suggest different ways in which it could evolve to be more participatory. And then after a few months the implicit criteria would be clearer, so better suggestions could be made.

Looking forward to the monthly post. I’d pay just for the list itself!

By: Ed Yong

Ed Yong — Sat, 12 Mar 2011 16:11:18 +0000

@Taylor – The selection criteria are fairly loose but they’re basically articles that caught my eye. So look at the list above. Delene’s story is a wonderful piece of reporting that I haven’t heard about before – it clearly took a lot of work to do. Likewise, Greg’s post is masterful – in an entirely meritocratic universe, that would be a feature in a mainstream magazine and he would have earned upwards of a grand for it. Kate’s post was illuminating – it taught me something I didn’t know and that I felt it was important know – likewise for Maryn’s. Carl’s post is on a topic that I love and that I was glad to see covered, and well. All the others fit into one or more of these categories.

A readers’ choice might work but these things can be polljacked easily. If there’s going to be a button on the sidebar, I only really want to do this for posts that I would personally vouch for. Ideally, I’d love to see something like this expand so that there are plenty of ways for readers to support good writing if my specific choices aren’t their cup of tea. I hope that what I’ve done is merely an interim towards something more widespread and sophisticated.

@Dick – if it’s just me doing it, I doubt it. But I’d hope that these sort of charitable micropayments spread. If anything, by doing this, the thing that I really want to champion is the idea that good writing is worth paying for.

By: Dick van der Wateren

Dick van der Wateren — Sat, 12 Mar 2011 16:02:54 +0000

Great initiative. I am curious to know whether this will help some of the best science writers to make a decent living from their blogging. I am totally amazed by the number of excellent science blogs by people who seem to do this next to their regular jobs, without any payment that I know of. Wonder how they manage to do it.
So, yes, Ed. Keep om the good work.

By: Taylor Burns

Taylor Burns — Sat, 12 Mar 2011 15:31:19 +0000

Great idea – just curious to know more about the selection criteria. Is it simply based on articles that have caught your eye in casual browsing?

Perhaps you could incorporate ‘reader’s choice’? This may motivate more readers to give and participate – if they feel they are active in the process of choosing great science writing, instead of just providing funds for others to decide on their behalf.

Excellent initiative, regardless.