Category Archives: Science at Risk

Amazing and historic artifacts of science

This is sorely due and highly outdated (for internet standards), but I wanted to share this with the world anyway. Back in June I attended the Science at Risk workshop at the Library of Congress. The workshop brought to light the different aspects of how science is achieved via the internet and I was asked to speak on behalf of open notebook science.

On day 1 of the Workshop, we were provided a special manuscript viewing of some of the most historic and treasured scientific documents that is in possession of the Library of Congress. Check it out below, and feel free to ask me questions about the images in the comment section!

Presentation for “Science at Risk” meeting


Create your own mind maps at MindMeister

I’m supposed to present for 20 minutes about ONS and its various intricacies. I’ve made this mindmap that I will present from. It encompasses way more than I can show in 20 minutes but I wanted it to be thorough enough that the people at the meeting can come back to it whenever they want.

The section on various open notebooks is excellent. It has inspired me to collect all the open notebooks on the web and categorize them in exactly this fashion, and it would be a singular place on the web where all notebooks would be accessible. I’ll make the mindmap open to edits so that others can just come in and add their notebook to the list.

The Library of Congress: Science at Risk meeting

Back at the end of March, I was invited to a special meeting hosted by the Library of Congress. The meeting is entitled “Science at Risk: Toward a National Strategy for Preserving Online Science.” The meeting commences next week on June 26 and 27, and I am excited!

There are little details that I know about the event, but here is some info that I was forwarded:

Scholarly discourse, including interaction between scientists and the public, is rapidly changing and the ephemeral nature of this discussion on the web leaves it at substantial risk of being lost. Science blogs, the work of citizen scientists, and novel online publications like video journals are becoming the primary sources for understanding science in our times. These resources are almost exclusively online and increasingly at risk. The goal of this meeting is to begin identifying content that is valuable and at risk and to articulate next steps to ensure that this content is not lost.

In the face of this challenge, the Library of Congress, with generous support from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, wishes to join with other organizations to develop a national strategy for collecting and preserving science and science discourse which exists only in digital form on the open web.  The Library would welcome your participation in the invitation-only workshop “Science at Risk: Toward a National Strategy for Preserving Online Science” to be held over one and a half days on June 26-27, 2012.  The event will bring together scientists and representatives from online science projects, archivists, and the historians and other scholars who will increasingly depend upon the historical record.

From what I’ve seen the guest list is full of impressive people, and for me to be included among them is a huge honor.

I’m going to be speaking on behalf of open notebook science and scientists. I’ll present various open notebooks, including my own, and current methods for successful and useful open notebook science. As the week goes on I’ll have more details about this and I’ll be notebooking my preparations. Next week I’ll do my best to document the meeting.

If you are an open notebook scientist and would like your notebook mentioned/featured then feel free to contact me on twitter (@thescienceofant), email (anthonysalvagnoatgmaildotcom), in the comments below, regular mail, on facebook, or smoke signals (but please be in the ABQ area otherwise I may not see it).