Image: wemidji (Jacques Marcoux).
Nam et ipsa scientia potestas est (And thus knowledge itself is power)
-- Sir Francis Bacon.
When you go hiking or sailing or stargazing, why not consider writing about your experience of nature and sharing it with the world? Or maybe you are watching an ant's nest in the crack of a sidewalk, walking down the beach, flipping rocks to see what's underneath, or sitting in your kitchen, watching birds eating seeds at your birdfeeders? Your experiences could be interesting to others if these activities provide you with questions that you decide to investigate through your writing. We are seeking your clear and thoughtful essays, photoessays and poems for inclusion in our blog carnival.
Scientia Pro Publica (Science for the People) is a traveling blog carnival that celebrates the best science, nature and medical writing targeted specifically to the public that has been published in the blogosphere within the past 60 days.
The most recent edition of Scientia Pro Publica (Science for the People) can be read here: Scientia Pro Publica 13: Nobel Prize Edition.
The host for the upcoming 19 October edition will be Luke at Genetic Inference. To send your submissions to Scientia Pro Publica, either use this automated submission form or use the cute little widget on the right (sometimes that widget doesn't upload when the mother site is nonfunctional). Be sure to include the URL or "permalink", the essay title and, to make life easier for the host, please include a 2-3 sentence summary. If you wish to read the archived issues to see those contributions that were included previously, visit the Scientia website for links to archived carnivals. Please note that all essays must be written for the purpose of communicating with the public and non-specialists, and all submissions that qualify as either advertising or pseudoscience will be rejected.
Since this is a traveling blog carnival, it needs host sites to travel to. If you are interested in hosting this carnival on your blog, please contact me as soon as possible or notify the current host (please note that I prefer hosts who have had their writing included in one or more editions of this carnival). Scientia Pro Publica is published on the first and third Monday of each month, so feel free to choose a particular date, or I'll assign you the first available date.
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I'm thinking about participating... I noticed the previous one followed a "Nobel" theme, should the current posts be related to genetics or anything goes?
cheers!
any essay that is clearly written about a topic in science, nature or medicine, that lacks woo or pseudoscience, is acceptable. remember: your target audience is the general public, so you have to be sure to describe the issue you are going to write about, then write about it so your audience can understand what you are saying. and of course, include (and link to whenever possible) your references.
Am I to understand that it has to be published on a URL somewhere (i.e. create one's own blog) or can it be submitted as a "comment" to an existing blog that supports Scientia Pro Publica?
david: the essay has to be published on a blog, not as a comment (although i recognize that reader comments can add much to the essay they are responding to and in some cases, can be more interesting than the essay itself). the main purpose of a blog carnival is two-fold: to recognize excellent blog writing by providing writers with added public exposure and to provide the public with "one stop shopping" for blog writing, where they can enjoy good blog writing and can help these writers improve their skills -- who knows? maybe the next notable science writer of tomorrow will be someone whose work you followed first on a blog?
Thank you