Comments on: Scattered reflections about ScienceOnline 2012 (#scio12)

By: Brian Malow

Brian Malow — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 20:58:07 +0000

Jason and David: YES. Good points.

By: David Dobbs

David Dobbs — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 11:00:57 +0000

I think Jason has it right: The steady message, via the unconference idea, that it’s a relatively level playing field — or, as someone put it on Twitter, that it’s not experts and non-experts, but different people all bringing different experiences in areas we’re all interested in. It’s a steady insistence that it’s not a producer-consumer model, with the audience full of consumers, but rather a conversation.

The other key, it seems to me, is that it’s a fairly balanced mix of mainly-scientists and mainly-journalists/communicators, so it’s not a single peer group, as it were — not a single discipline. There’s always this chemistry of excitement, of mixing with another tribe. To me that’s an important part of what distinguishes ScienceOnline. And I think it helps create the sense of humility and egalitarianism: Prominence in one area doesn’t make anyone top dog at this conference, because even the most distinguished people in one area are among not just their own discipline’s peers but amid those of another discipline in which they have little expertise or distinction.

By: Jason G. Goldman

Jason G. Goldman — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 03:04:46 +0000

Brian: at least for other academic/scientific conferences, i think part of it is that scientists go to those conferences explicitly to tell other people things that they know and other people ostensibly don’t. By comparison, we all show up to #scio12 with more questions than answers. That sort of openness to opinions, viewpoints, and ideas, I’d guess, is highly correlated with the overall friendliness that exists at a conference like #scio12.

By: Brian Malow

Brian Malow — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 02:52:31 +0000

Ed, it really was. It was a great kickoff to the whole conference. And embracing you and your foreign contagions – for which I probably have no immunity – was a fitting prelude to eventually seeing Maryn McKenna.

In reference to what Aidel says above… the thing I’ve been trying to figure out is why is this different from (and so much better than) other conferences, which are also typically built around a single subject in which everyone is interested?

By: aimee w

aimee w — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 02:16:23 +0000

Man, what I would do to be able to get to this one day. Damn you, NZ, for being so far away!

Sounds like it was fantastic, and I’m certainly making sure all the science communication peeps with whom I work/who I know are aware of it.

By: aidel

aidel — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 02:12:57 +0000

I think it works because despite the differences that do exist among us — from the fundamental ideological ones to nit-picky matters of taste — there is a strong undercurrent of unconditional positive regard that does create the mood of being with your (chosen) family. It’s the people, the passion, and the common desire to experience the unique atmosphere of Science Online. (And the ENORMOUS amount of work that goes into making the conference what it is doesn’t hurt, either!)

By: Dirk Hanson

Dirk Hanson — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 01:39:13 +0000

Really, man, Patient Zero arrives. You weren’t even quarantined?

By: Ed Yong

Ed Yong — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 00:00:00 +0000

Aw, yeah, that was nice, wasn’t it? “I’ve come from foreign lands and I bring you physical contact and fresh contagion!”

By: Brian Malow

Brian Malow — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 03:42:35 +0000

Well-put, Ed! This was my second year and certainly won’t be my last (assuming I can be quick enough on the draw to make the cut!).

And one of my fondest memories will be how the conference officially started for me this year: with a warm hug from you – at the baggage claim area of the Raleigh-Durham airport, just minutes after landing. And – not at all unusual for this conference – you were someone whom I had only barely met last year and yet it felt like seeing an old friend.

I look forward to seeing you next year.

By: Emily Anthes

Emily Anthes — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 06:29:02 +0000

Hear, hear! (And perhaps the reason most of us spend the whole year sitting alone in a silent room is because it takes that long to recover from the utter exhaustion that is ScienceOnline.)