1.
All the Science That’s Fit to Blog
PAIGE BROWN JARREAU
DISSERTATION RESEARCH
#MySciBlog

2.
All the Science That’s Fit to Blog
• Routines, norms, values and content decisions of science bloggers
Qualitative, in-depth Interviews
Summer 2014
Survey of 600 science bloggers,
Fall 2014

3.
In-Depth Interviews
HOUR-LONG, QUALITATIVE INTERVIEWS WITH
51 SCIENCE BLOGGERS
DIGITAL INTERVIEWS
31 WOMEN / 20 MEN
19 INDEPENDENT BLOGGERS
21 NEWS MEDIA NETWORK BLOGGERS
7 NON-NEWS-MEDIA NETWORK BLOGGERS
22 PAID TO BLOG
19 CAREER COMMUNICATORS
29 IN SCIENCE RESEARCH / ACADEMIA
12 CURRENTLY STUDENTS
7 GROUP BLOGGERS
3 PSEUDONYMOUS BLOGGERS
US / UK CENTRIC

4.
Jarreau, Paige B (2015): #MySciBlog Interviewee Motivations to Blog about Science.
figshare. http://dx.doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.1345026

5.
Blogging Practices: Major Themes
(based on qualitative analysis)
• Blogging for Myself…
• Blogworthiness determined by personal interests (“things I find
interesting/cool”) and passions, enjoyment and self-expression
(a creative outlet).
• Using oneself as a proxy for readers: ‘if I’m interested in this,
others will be too.’
• Writing freedom a key characteristic of blogging
• … to Popularize Science
• A translational/explainer role
• Considering reader interests (science of everyday things;
relatable)
• Reaching a broader audience
• Wow factor
• A strong motivation to popularize and explain science to non-
expert audiences characterizes much of science blogging today

6.
Blogging Practices: Major Themes
• Journalistic Routines
• Blogworthiness determined by traditional news factors,
including what is topical and timely, novel, unexpected,
important/relevant to the reader or society, etc.
• Science bloggers may be socialized into journalistic practices
• Outreach, Education and Engagement
• A majority of science bloggers mentioned outreach or
educational approaches to selecting/producing blog content
• Communicating the process and realities of science
• A strong motivation to popularize and explain science to non-
expert audiences characterizes much of science blogging today

7.
Blogging Practices: Major Themes
• As an Expert
• Staying within one’s area of expertise, translating research or
countering misinformation based on one’s own expertise
Comic from xkcd.com

8.
Blogging Practices: Major Themes
• The ECOSYSTEM Approach
• Science bloggers are paying attention to content that their
fellow bloggers and science writers are producing
Phil's 1stPix, Flickr.com

9.
Ecosystem
Approach
Value-Added
Blogging
Finding a
Niche;
Something
Different
Avoiding stories/topics covered
(well) by others
Keeping track of blogs in one’s topic area
Having a unique angle or
something to contribute
Sticking to
core topics
Focusing on exclusive,
unique content
Blogging to fill a
topic/niche gap
Not a slave to
the news cycle I can elaborate on
this, do something
special with this
Blogs as a place for
opinions, interpretation,
personal commentary
Having a creative
spin on a story, a
personal insight, etc.

10.
#MySciBlog Interviewee #3, Female, Scientist, Network Blogger:
I think of it most of the time as kind of part of the bigger blog
ecosystem. […] If there's a paper that's out that is something about
parasite mind control [laughs], even though that's probably something I
could write about, it's my field, but, you know, I know that's probably
something, again, Carl Zimmer or Ed Yong or somebody is going to take
up and do a fabulous post on it. So you know, that's probably a topic
that I wouldn't really cover as much.
I know a lot about kind of who covers what beats, I guess? And what
has kind of evolved over the many years of this blogging ecosystem
[laughs]. That doesn't necessarily mean I wouldn't cover something,
but you know, it does influence my choices a little bit, because if I think
someone else is going to do it, and especially if they're going to do it
better than me, […] I just don't think I'll have anything to add on that
particular point, and so I might choose something else to write about.

11.
Blogging Practices: Major Themes
• Logistics and Editorial Process
• Time and resource constraints
• Editorial oversight at blog networks / news organizations
• Opinion and Interpretation
• The blog as a modern day op-ed column
• What’s Missing from the Media
• The Writer’s Home
• Using one’s blog as a complement to other forms of writing,
freelance work, etc.
• Community Acceptance and Online Vulnerability
• Concerns about sharing personal experiences and blogging on
controversial issues, especially among female science bloggers

12.
What factors
determine science
blog content?
Adaptation of Shoemaker and
Reese’s hierarchy of influence
model, graphic © Paige B. Jarreau

13.
“First and foremost, I need to
be passionate about it. I can't
really write about anything
that I'm not passionate
about.”
Bloggers

14.
Blog Routines
“I think that's one of the
huge benefits of blogging,
is, it's really a reflection of
me. And unlike science,
where the human side, the
"I am a human" scientist
gets left out sometimes,
and newspapers or
magazines where the
magazine has the identity
of the author, like, this is
coming from me.”

15.
Organization / Blog Community
“I think that we [our
blog network] tend to
gravitate toward, that
blogs should be fun to
read, and, um, they’re
not necessarily where
we put the most, I
would say, hard-hitting
important news?”

16.
Organization / Blog Community
Competition, Comparison to Journalistic Products
Media, Extramedia Forces
“If I was going to write a blog where I
wasn’t going to have all of those crazy
resources to be able to go out and
interview multiple people and spend tons
of time on this, it had to be different. I
was going to look for studies that were
still really interesting, but wouldn’t
necessarily get covered other places.”

17.
Survey of Science Bloggers
ONLINE SURVEY
610 VALID RESPONSES
345 MALES
256 FEMALES
400 INDEPENDENT BLOGGERS
210 NETWORK BLOGGERS
Index of
2,112 Science Blogs

18.
Who are science bloggers? Some survey STATS
• 71% blog independently (Wordpress.com, an independent website,
etc.)
• Network bloggers tend to be occupied in science writing,
communication, etc.; Independent bloggers in science
research/academia
• Average blogging experience: 3 ½ years
• Pay: 14% (N = 86) indicate that they earn money on their main
science blog, 85% (N = 519) do not.
• 46% (N = 283) are 18 to 34 years old, 27% (N =165) are 35 to 44
years old.
• Highly educated – 21% (N = 130) having Master’s degrees and
nearly 48% (N = 290) having doctorate degrees. Less than 5% of
#MySciBlog respondents have less than a Bachelor’s degree.
Majority have a degree in a life science (39%, N = 235) and/or
physical science field (28%, N = 170)

19.
Jarreau, Paige B (2015): #MySciBlog Science Bloggers' Target Audiences.
figshare. http://dx.doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.1285634

20.
Survey question based on
Fahy, D., & Nisbet, M. C. (2011).
The science journalist online: Shifting
roles and emerging practices.
Science bloggers self-perceived roles

21.
How often do you
engage in the
following roles in
your blogging?

22.
Perceived Blogging Roles depend on…
• Occupation
• (research/academia vs. writing/journalism)
• Science Communication Training
• Those with scicomm training engage in the role of advocate significantly
more often than those without such training even when controlling for
other factors
• Gender
• Male science bloggers report engaging in the roles of watchdog and media
critic more often than do female science bloggers. Female science bloggers
report engaging in the role of explainer more often.
• Blog Location
• Network bloggers engage more often as public intellectuals and
investigative reporters

23.
Blogging Content Idea Sources

24.
BLOGWORTHINESS
Passionate about
Can add context to
Fits my blog theme/topic well
Relevance to my readers
Within my area of expertise
Deserves more media attn.
Can add new angle, spin
Strong opinions
Known for
Personal
experience
Useful for my work, Visuals, Topical, Simple,
Before others (timely)
Jarreau, Paige B (2015): Blogworthiness Factors. figshare.
http://dx.doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.1302547

25.
Blogging Approach
• Journalistic approach to blogging
• ++ timeliness
• - - reliance on one’s own passions and scientific expertise
• Editorial approach
• ++ strong opinions toward the topic and being able to
provide a new angle or context
• Translational/explainer approach
• ++ gauging the blogworthiness by the presence of strong
visuals (image, video, etc.)

26.
Social Network Analysis
SURVEY PARTICIPANTS ASKED TO LIST
UP TO THE TOP 3 SCIENCE BLOGS
THEY READ ON A REGULAR BASIS.
DATA MAPPED IN GEPHI
COMMUNITY DETECTION BY
MODULARITY CLASS

27.
Interactive Data!
http://bit.ly/MySciBlogREAD
Jarreau, Paige B (2014): MySciBlog Survey -
Top Read SciBlogs by SciBloggers. figshare.
http://dx.doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.1278974

28.
Detecting Communities of Practice
Jarreau, Paige (2014): MySciBlog Survey - Top Read SciBlogs by SciBloggers.
Figshare http://dx.doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.1278974
Andrew Hinton, “What Communities of Practice can
mean for Information Architecture”

29.
Summary
• Large majority of science bloggers blog for themselves and to popularize
science.
• Many science bloggers adopt scientific community values including
concern for education and outreach in the production of their blogs.
• Growth and professionalization of the science blogosphere has had an
impact on approaches, values and routines.
• Ecosystem Approach
• Community-level factors shape science blog content
• Other bloggers; Online vulnerability and community acceptance
• Mix of traditional journalistic routines and emergent science blogging
routines
• Logistics and editorial processes can strongly guide network and group
blogging content routines, and even “independent” bloggers’ decisions

30.
QUESTIONS?
EMAIL PBROW11@TIGERS.LSU.EDU
Thank You