ScienceBlogs
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| ScienceBlogs | |
|---|---|
 |
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| URL | scienceblogs.com |
| Commercial? | No |
| Type of site | Virtual community |
| Owner | ScienceBlogs, LLC |
| Created by | Seed Media Group |
| Launched | January, 2006 |
ScienceBlogs is an invitation-only blog network and virtual community. It was created by Seed Media Group in 2006 to enhance the public understanding of science.[1] As of March 2008, ScienceBlogs hosted 70 blogs dedicated to various fields of research. Each blog has its own theme, specialty, and author(s) and is not subject to editorial control. Authors are scientists in industry, college professors, professional writers, graduate students, and post-docs.
According to Technorati, as of 2007-07-07, ScienceBlogs had an "authority" of 9,581 and its number of inbound links ranks it 37th among blogs worldwide.[2] As of 2008-03-14, Quantcast charts it as having over 1.1 million monthly unique visitors, 65% of which are from the United States.[3]
Contents |
[edit] History
ScienceBlogs was launched in January 2006 with 15 blogs on the network. For the launch blogs, Seed invited some of the best-known independent science bloggers and allowed them to blog about whichever subjects they wished.[4] Revenue was generated through advertisements sold to companies who wished to attract "bright, curious consumers who buy products like automobiles, books, cellphones, computers, liquor, music and watches." [5]
As a result of the free rein given to bloggers and the incentive to increase traffic, bloggers on the network often discuss hot topics such as politics and religion in addition to science. These topics frequently incite heated arguments in the comment threads and bloggers on the network sometimes get into arguments with each other over a series of posts.[4]
ScienceBlogs and Seed received some notable awards at the end of their first year of activity, including the 2006 UTNE Independent Press Award for Best Science/Technology Coverage being granted to Seed, in large part due to the success of ScienceBlogs. Additionally, two blogs on the network received Weblog awards: Pharyngula [1] for Best Science Blog and Respectful Insolence for Best Medical/Health Issues Blog.
The creators of ScienceBlogs have expanded their collection of hosted blogs in three major waves, supplemented by individual additions along the way. Some of the most trafficked blogs include Pharyngula [2], Respectful Insolence, Good Math Bad Math, Deltoid, Cognitive Daily, and Living the Scientific Life (Scientist, Interrupted).
In 2008, ScienceBlogs launched ScienceBlogs.de, a German-language edition of the site, in partnership with Hubert Burda Media. As of March 2008, the site hosted 25 blogs.
[edit] Content
ScienceBlogs consists of ten channels, or categories, of blog entries. Each blog author decides what channel his or her individual post belongs in, and each post is indexed accordingly on the main page. The categories are:
- Academia
- Biology
- Brain & Behavior
- Chatter
- Culture Wars
- Medicine
- Philosophy of Science
- Physical Science
- Planet Earth
- Policy & Politics
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ About ScienceBlogs. Retrieved on 2007-07-27.
- ^ ScienceBlogs Technorati Ranking. Technorati, Inc. Retrieved on 2007-07-07.
- ^ ScienceBlogs Quantcast Ranking. Retrieved on 2008-03-14.
- ^ a b Pass the politics, please: Science blogs peppered with commentary
- ^ Science Blogs as a Vehicle for Upscale Ads
