The MyScienceWork blog now has one year and a rich selection of science articles under its belt. We’ll continue bringing you news, portraits and opinions, from more and more disciplines. Also, we’ll invite researchers to bring their own work out of the lab and write about their studies for an appreciative, multidisciplinary public. Read on to find out more about the goals and future plans for MyScienceWork’s Blog!
A work platform for researchers, in open access, MyScienceWork is the next generation of social network, encouraging communication and the exchange of knowledge in open access across disciplines. We also provide the tools to do it:
- Hundreds of millions of multidisciplinary research publications, in open access
- Researcher profiles
- Working groups, to ask questions and share expertise
- Event announcements
- Jobs & PhD positions
…the necessary tools for every facet of research life.
On April 26, 2011, the MyScienceWork network launched a blog highlighting and popularizing an array of multidisciplinary research. On the occasion of its first anniversary, we would like to introduce ourselves and our mission, and show you how the MSW blog can work for you.
Towards openness & equality: A blog to accompany the evolution of science
In the spirit of multidisciplinarity, the MSW blog covers 30 disciplines, and treats them from a variety of angles: news reports, opinion and research pieces, researcher portraits, thematic dossiers. Three themes we hold close to our heart are Open Access, because the future of science is in open data and accessible research; Scientific Social Networks, as we participate in the evolution of the way research happens; and Women in Science, in the name of equality and because science should benefit from all the talent that it can.
The past year has allowed us to bring you a rich and diverse selection of scientific research, via the MyScienceWork blog, from space science to political science, mathematics to medicine. Looking at our most popular articles from the past year (Table 1) illustrates the range of fields we cover: 10 different disciplines in the top five articles along. Overall, we have particularly focused on biology this year, through our partnership with the L’Oréal-UNESCO For Women in Science program. The 2011 awards were devoted to honoring researchers in the life sciences.
For this journalist, the For Women in Science program represented a fascinating and rewarding opportunity to exchange with scientists from around the world. Some are already acknowledged as leaders in their fields, others have been recognized for their excellent work and their promise. I particularly appreciated the enormous variety of research I was able to report on for this project. The women awarded with the L’Oréal-UNESCO prize are all genuinely passionate about improving the world around them, although their approaches are very different:
- Brazilian geneticist Mayana Zatz believes in the importance of communicating science on the internet and – why not? – via soap operas.
- New Zealand scientist Zoë Hilton studies the parenting behavior of oysters to improve aquaculture methods, possibly the future of feeding the planet.
- Emna Harigua performs in silico molecular modeling for drug design in the fight against leishmaniasis, a parasitic disease plaguing the third world.
- Ameenah Gurib-Fakim recognizes the importance of documenting the genetic profile of medicinal plants of her native Mauritius, before the species, or the people who know their importance, are gone.
There were far too many stories to list here, but all were a pleasure to hear and to tell. You can find all of the For Women in Science profiles in our dossier on the MyScienceWork blog.
A community of science fans, science institutions and scientists
In addition to the MSW platform itself, you can follow and interact with us on Facebook (approaching 7,000 fans) and on Twitter (@MyScienceWork; more than 1,600 followers).
Institutions, too, can benefit from MyScienceWork. We are experienced in building communities around scientific subjects that make them more visible and bring them to life on the internet. For a conference series, for example, we’ll work with you to promote the upcoming event, provide live tweeting on the day, draft summaries of the scientific content and relay them to our wider community.
Moving Forward with MyScienceWork
Founded and based in France, MyScienceWork is now expanding throughout Europe, with a view as international as the world of global research. The new version of the project will be online in just a few weeks’ time.
Going forward, the MSW blog will offer two ways of popularizing scientific research. Our in-house journalists will be busy explaining new findings; reporting back on events, conferences, lectures; and sharing the most interesting parts with others fascinated by science. Here, you can find out what’s new in other fields, and continue to feed your scientific curiosity.
In addition, MSW will give you the opportunity to write about your own research work. Confirmed scientists and PhD students alike, you are invited to submit your own articles—a great way to share your very specific area of expertise. The MSW blog offers you flexibility in how much or how little you simplify your work. For every article published, the degree of specialization is indicated, from the most popularized for the general public, to the highly technical, aimed at those with experience in the field.
Publishing your science story online, on a well indexed blog like MSW, can be a useful tool. PhD students and post-docs, for example, gain experience explaining their work in different ways. In the end, with the link to the finished piece, you’ll finally be able to share your research with family and friends, include the article on your CV and provide it to potential employers.
Articles are approved for publication by our scientific committee and may be published directly. Or, if you don’t quite feel comfortable explaining your subject in non-specialist terms, our journalists will work with you to create a finished product that gets your message across, while remaining faithful to the science behind it.
Whether you’re writing or reading, engaged in scientific research or simply fascinated in it from afar, this blog is for you. MyScienceWork is about sharing multidisciplinary science and supporting those who do it.
Welcome to the blog of your research network, MyScienceWork!
