[Taxacom] The bloggification of science (was: Why Taxonomy does NOT matter)

[Doug Yanega]

Dick Jensen wrote:

>You might argue that the translators need open access.  My guess is that
>the translators are, in perhaps most cases, the very people who read the
>technical literature.  They already have the motivation and access
>necessary to make information more accessible to the rest of us, whether
>in a "Dummies" book or on a web site or blog.

The need for - as Dick put it - "translators", who actually 
understand the technical literature and can present it to the public 
in a more palatable form, is a genuine one, but the question as to 
how our community can best accomplish this is a very challenging 
matter. After all, who is going to pay the bloggers to blog? Without 
support, not many scientists can *afford* to be bloggers.

This relates to an aspect of our collective enterprise that has 
increasingly troubled me. For most of our lifetimes, the 
communication of science (including biology) to the masses was the 
province of a select few people who could write books specifically 
for that purpose, from the relatively unknown authors of field 
guides, to high-profile celebrities like Jacques-Yves Cousteau, who 
had an unprecedented mass media forum to reach the public (a 
prime-time TV show!). The advent of the web has, in nearly the blink 
of an eye, changed things so nearly *anyone* on earth (not just some 
select few) can potentially communicate with virtually everyone ELSE 
on earth, and not only is this is a double-edged sword, but not 
everyone is equally well-equipped to wield it. There are certainly 
many excellent scientists capable of being eloquent, informative, and 
inspiring, but whose primary concern is their next paycheck, their 
next publication, their next grant application, etc. - and will never 
be in a position to realize their potential, to reach out to that 
wider audience. Conversely, there are many folks who are not 
qualified to clean test tubes, and yet make a living by treating 
science as a political football, spreading virulent anti-science or 
pseudo-science memes across the planet, forever contaminating the 
public perception OF science.

I doubt there is much of anything we can do about this, and that's 
really, really tragic. Lighting candles to fight the darkness is 
great, but not if there are people who keep blowing them out.

Be that as it may, the status quo is that we have some bloggers who 
DO know what science is, and DO communicate about it well and 
honestly, but they are not unopposed - the forces of ignorance and 
deceit have their spokespeople, too, who either do NOT know what 
science is, or lie about it to suit their own ends. And, naturally, 
there are a vast array of people in between those two extremes. 
Ultimately, then, it comes down to this: how is the public supposed 
to be able to tell the difference between one blogger and another? 
Whose blog to trust? Given the demonstrable gullibility of a *major* 
portion of the general public, which manifests in new and appalling 
ways every day, it's hard not to despair for our future. Even if we 
could find ways to support and promote more high-quality blogs, is 
there any hope of keeping them from being drowned out amidst the 
babble of nonsense? My feeling is that given so many choices, people 
will only read blogs that suit their personal ideology, and ignore 
the rest. Accordingly, despite how powerful a tool we have at our 
disposal, we can ultimately expect little more than preaching to the 
proverbial choir; i.e., that (*at best*) the audience scientists can 
expect to reach is composed of the kind of people who already are 
well-educated in science, open-minded and curious - rather than 
winning any converts. To that small audience of open minds, science 
(including taxonomy) is understandable, and therefore does matter, 
but that's a pretty tiny minority. That just isn't enough. As much as 
I wish otherwise, I doubt we can blog our way out of this mess.

Sincerely,
-- 

Doug Yanega        Dept. of Entomology         Entomology Research Museum
Univ. of California, Riverside, CA 92521-0314        skype: dyanega
phone: (951) 827-4315 (standard disclaimer: opinions are mine, not UCR's)
              http://cache.ucr.edu/~heraty/yanega.html
   "There are some enterprises in which a careful disorderliness
         is the true method" - Herman Melville, Moby Dick, Chap. 82