http://www.cocomment.com/comments/AJCann Copyright 2007 coComment.com 2009-11-26T13:35:31.998+01:00 http://www.cocomment.com/images/logo4rss.gif http://www.cocomment.com/sidebar?object=people&context=explore&mode=detail&id=AJCann&conv=1828135&comment_id=31750817 AJ Cann I'm doing precisely this with the undergraduate and postgraduate projects we launched last week at Leicester, Gathering relevant followers is hard, unless you can "enforce" tagging, which (a) you can't, (b) wouldn't be a good idea, so the best method I've found is to have a network of "listeners" who report relevant followers. I wish I could automate the process, but if the data is polluted, it won't be of much value for visualization. 2008-10-06T06:25:48.185+02:00 2008-10-06T06:25:48.185+02:00 http://www.cocomment.com/sidebar?object=people&context=explore&mode=detail&id=AJCann&conv=1802280&comment_id=31464096 AJC1 Please see: http://icanhaz.com/Creative_Commons 2008-09-26T04:36:54.887+02:00 2008-09-26T04:36:54.887+02:00 http://www.cocomment.com/sidebar?object=people&context=explore&mode=detail&id=AJCann&conv=1787269&comment_id=31342752 AJ Cann Yes, scientists are behind the curve as far as social media are concerned. I talk to people from different disciplines and biologists stand out in this respect (chemists and physicists are less paranoid about sharing online). This seems to be mostly due to not wanting to be "scooped" and a culture of "tight lips save ships". Do you need devote large portions of time to maintaining relationships in a network? It depends what you mean by large. Probably no more than the time you spend maintaining relationships with your immediate colleagues or the institution you work for, but yes, it takes time. There are no free lunches. The alternatives, intellectual isolation and falling further and further behind the curve, are worse. And then eventually, you reap the benefits - a filtered online brains trust sharper and more focussed than any wiki, Google or PubMed search. In communities with mutual trust, your network will tell you what to look for before you even know you need it, a kind of hive mind AI. 2008-09-22T07:33:29.987+02:00 2008-09-22T07:33:29.987+02:00 http://www.cocomment.com/sidebar?object=people&context=explore&mode=detail&id=AJCann&conv=1787269&comment_id=31330238 AJ Cann But if you build the right network on Twitter, it will tell you what concentration of KCl to use, and might even suggest cation alternatives to consider. This is precisely my experience of Twitter - you need to look beyond "Had a cup of cofee" and realize that this "presence" is the social glue that is essential to hold a functional network together. At present, it's difficult to build such a network because scientists have not embraced these technologies in numbers. That's what our Small World project at the University of Leicester (http://scienceoftheinvisible.blogspot.com/search/label/SmallWorlds) is seeking to change, by facilitating the early stages of network formation. 2008-09-21T18:55:52.980+02:00 2008-09-21T18:55:52.980+02:00 http://www.cocomment.com/sidebar?object=people&context=explore&mode=detail&id=AJCann&conv=1424932&comment_id=27148870 ajc There was footage on the BBC in the UK recently (Wild China series) of wild T. shanjing emerging from deep moss in response to heavy rain and getting ready to spawn. Most of the streams in the area seemed to be quite fact flowing, so I wouldn't have been surprised if they spawned in the moss or at the waters edge. 2008-06-08T16:42:12.239+02:00 2008-06-08T16:42:12.239+02:00 http://www.cocomment.com/sidebar?object=people&context=explore&mode=detail&id=AJCann&conv=1410402&comment_id=26885739 AJ Cann Also: http://www.3mobilebuzz.com/2008/05/28/the-3-dongle-and-the-asus-eee-pc-2-become-1/ 2008-05-29T09:51:44.453+02:00 2008-05-29T09:51:44.453+02:00 http://www.cocomment.com/sidebar?object=people&context=explore&mode=detail&id=AJCann&conv=1410402&comment_id=26884645 AJ Cann I'm going through exactly the same process Doug, and narrowed it down to the same choices. One thing you didn't discuss is weight - the HP is a lump compared to the eeePC. The other problem is battery life, which frankly, is rubbish. So on balance, I'm waiting to see what Apple announce at WWDC on June 9th, then I'll decide. 2008-05-29T08:33:19.559+02:00 2008-05-29T08:33:19.559+02:00 http://www.cocomment.com/sidebar?object=people&context=explore&mode=detail&id=AJCann&conv=1407440&comment_id=26837439 ajcann Ah yes, I remember it well! http://scienceoftheinvisible.blogspot.com/2008/05/life-after-mars.html 2008-05-27T07:50:02.295+02:00 2008-05-27T07:50:02.295+02:00 http://www.cocomment.com/sidebar?object=people&context=explore&mode=detail&id=AJCann&conv=1401654&comment_id=26784850 AJ Cann I agree that it's about numbers, not about celebrities. If the A list bloggers leave, it'll just help the bandwidth and it won't bother me at all. All I need to think about is what service my peers use. And if they get split across multiple sites (and although I don't really want to think about this, they will soon unless Twitter shapes up), what aggregator am I going to use to preserve my sanity? FriendFeed or something better? 2008-05-23T07:53:01.109+02:00 2008-05-23T07:53:01.109+02:00 http://www.cocomment.com/sidebar?object=people&context=explore&mode=detail&id=AJCann&conv=1401654&comment_id=26772963 AJ Cann What usually happens to bubbles? 2008-05-22T13:11:01.756+02:00 2008-05-22T13:11:01.756+02:00 http://www.cocomment.com/sidebar?object=people&context=explore&mode=detail&id=AJCann&conv=1373062&comment_id=26269550 ajcann Doug, I wasn't there, so I can't comment. Oh wait, yes I can! Using a combination of Twitter and RSS feeds I followed the conference proceedings yesterday. The whole experience was very valuable - amplified event is right. By liveblogging the conference you and the others who contributed increased the value of the event enormously for people who could not be there - colleagues abroad for example, and took the whole event beyond the borders of the OU. How ironic if this conference had not become an OER through your blogs! 2008-04-30T07:40:50.922+02:00 2008-04-30T07:40:50.922+02:00 http://www.cocomment.com/sidebar?object=people&context=explore&mode=detail&id=AJCann&conv=1359814&comment_id=25471999 AJ Cann It would look like a mess, as you said (having to filter out your tweets). We're waving at each other while traveling in opposite directions, since I'm currently considering abandoning my own servers and putting all my stuff in the cloud. 2008-04-23T21:37:33.022+02:00 2008-04-23T21:37:33.022+02:00 http://www.cocomment.com/sidebar?object=people&context=explore&mode=detail&id=AJCann&conv=1359814&comment_id=25471997 AJ Cann It would look like a mess, as you admitted (having to filter out your tweets). I guess we're waving at each other while traveling in opposite directions, as I'm considering abandoning my own servers and putting all my stuff in the cloud. 2008-04-23T21:35:03.311+02:00 2008-04-23T21:35:03.311+02:00 http://www.cocomment.com/sidebar?object=people&context=explore&mode=detail&id=AJCann&conv=1357421&comment_id=25469130 AJ Cann Well, it didn't take a week, only a day: http://scienceoftheinvisible.blogspot.com/2008/04/social-bookmarking-for-life-scientists.html I agree that there's not much to choose between Connotea and CiteULike. Overall, my personal preference is for CiteULike, but in the above post, I argue that neither site is fit for purpose. But I do have a solution: PubMed needs to add social features. 2008-04-22T11:44:51.179+02:00 2008-04-22T11:44:51.179+02:00 http://www.cocomment.com/sidebar?object=people&context=explore&mode=detail&id=AJCann&conv=1352370&comment_id=25462732 ajc T. vulgaris really needs a terrestrial phase until the adults mature. 2008-04-18T13:11:21.250+02:00 2008-04-18T13:11:21.250+02:00 http://www.cocomment.com/sidebar?object=people&context=explore&mode=detail&id=AJCann&conv=1352369&comment_id=25462731 ajc Warm them up a bit Jen, 20C is ideal. And give them a moisture gradient - they are finicky. 2008-04-18T13:09:54.784+02:00 2008-04-18T13:09:54.784+02:00 http://www.cocomment.com/sidebar?object=people&context=explore&mode=detail&id=AJCann&conv=1347884&comment_id=25398569 ajc Start off with infusoria and follow on with newly hatched brine shrimp and sifted Daphnia. 2008-04-15T10:57:21.815+02:00 2008-04-15T10:57:21.815+02:00