Marine science bloggers take the helm

Marine sciences were in full effect at the 2008 North Carolina Scienceblogging Conference this past weekend at the Sigma Xi building in Research Triangle Park. Kevin Zelnio of the Other 95% headed up a session on real-time blogging in the marine sciences. The session included Karen James of the Beagle Project; Rick MacPherson of Malaria, Bedbugs, Sea lice, and Sunsets; Jason Robertshaw of Cephalopodcast, and me as Deep Sea News representative. The session was fantastic, very interactive. Most of the audience was well-versed in the subject of blogging the marine sciences, typical of an “un-conference”. Jacqueline Jacquet of Shifting Baselines joined us, for example. The wiki page for the session provides a nice summary, including links to our favorite examples of real-time blogging at sea.

Everyone was asking, “Where’s Craig?”. Is he getting ready to invade the Gulf of Mexico in a swath ship? Or, is he sailing through Camelot Bay in search of the Holy Snail? No, he is here, actually, but in disguise. I can deliver a message. The possibilities are endless, really. Truth is Craig’s blogging from a private island in the Maldives. He’s off the radar, building mystique. Nobody has seen him in years. Sometimes I’ll get a package with cryptic instructions for a new science paper. All kinds of rumors fly around when no one’s there to stop them! ; )

Really, we had great fun, and we got alot done. Malaria, Bedbugs, Sea lice, and Sunsets already has a few very nice write-ups on the copious swag with thoughtful summaries of the event itself. Cephalopodcast was streaming live coverage of the event as it happened. The Beagle Project has something up, too. If you’re interested to learn more about the session those would be the first places to look.

In the meantime, I’ll continue collecting my thoughts on this conference, which was attended by 200 professional and student science bloggers from around the world. It really was amazing. I feel like a veil was lifted from over my eyes as I met these people, heard their histories, and realized the collective gathering will transform the world of broadcast media. There’s no doubt about it.