10:58 AM

Are YOU stuck in the echo chamber?

Oh, man, this is a great piece on science blogging, posted over at CJR.    It's called "The Scientific Method for Reaching a Wider Audience," and it's written just for folks like you and me, who are interested not just in blogging for a class, not just in blogging for our friends, but in reaching a wider audience.

The article, which will be required reading for our class, features a bunch of folks who are already writing successful science blogs and who have advice to give.  For example, they talk about the difficulty of being stuck in the media "echo chamber," where you feel like you're writing for the same people (maybe even the same scientists or other experts, who know what you know) and you can't expand your audience.

They also talk about the difficulty with jargon and how to go for depth and thoughtfulness (the strength of the blog) rather than the news blurb (more the strength of traditional journalism, like we might see in some newspapers).

Do check it out, since a lot of you are reflecting on how to widen your own blogging audiences.

Comment (1)

That is a nice link. I like the part about word choice and even some of the more subtle phrases that should be avoided. Jargon is one thing, but unnecessary words or words that seem too formal just bog the reader down and make reading difficult. I actually wrote a comment saying just that on the link. There is a good message there and people should try to utilize the knowledge.