Recently, Cold Springs Harbor Laboratory said it would require bloggers to ask permission before blogging about a presentation, just like reporters. A surprising editorial in Nature says “not only is that a bad idea, but it should just be disregarded.”
Nature has made the case that blogging by researchers is good. Critical discussion of worthy results should not in principle be restricted to walls of a conference hall or even the pages of a journal. Any meeting to which anyone can register is fair game for all available communications technologies — and any rules that cannot be policed will be ignored anyway.
Of course, I have my own opinions on this but what what do our readers, often scientists and bloggers, think?
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An Open Letter To Brian Switek
I read (and occasionally write for) science blogs. My feelings are along the lines of Dr. Isis’ post (quoted below) except that I think a blog-safe icon would be a good idea:
http://scienceblogs.com/isisthescientist/2009/06/all_the_conference_stuff_thats.php
“I want to see journalists and bloggers at conferences talking about all the science that is ready to talk about. But, if it’s that much a non-issue then bloggers can ask for permission too. I like to talk about my science. I like to see my science discussed. But, as the architect of my science, I need to have the discretion to decide the venue in which my science appears.
The answer isn’t to ask participants to put a blog-safe icon on posters so that you don’t have to interact with the scientists and can crank out as many tweets and posts as fast as possible. It’s to talk to the scientists, ask them about their work, and learn the reasonable interpretation of their findings.
Otherwise, I’m not gonna lie, I’m gonna start clamming up.”
Meetings have always been public venues. A competitor has always been able to walk up to your poster, look at it, and tell anyone they want. I don’t get why people think the rules have changed.
Science blogging is an opportunity for important research to be more easily accessible. This especially holds true for people who don’t peruse thousands of peer-reviewed journals night and day, and are just looking for an interesting, researched story.
I support the “Nature” editorial comment.