The BT Catalyst Interview with Anton Zuiker

Anton Zuiker is a journalist. Editor. A former Peace Corps volunteer in the Republic of Vanuatu in the South Pacific.

And since the summer of 2000, he blogs at mistersugar.com.

Zuiker, who is the manager of internal communications at Duke University Health System, is also an organizer of the Jan. 19 North Carolina Science Blogging Conference at the Sigma Xi Center in Research Triangle Park. The second annual conference unites science bloggers from around the world to move away from their computers to explore online communication and personal expression.

In an e-mail interview with Boris Hartl, Zuiker discusses the feasibility of a blogger's code of ethics, the value of blogs to bioscience companies and how North Carolina is branding itself as a virtual center for science.

Theodore Zeldin, who has written a book about conversation, said, "The really big scientific revolutions have been the invention not of some new machine, but of new ways of talking about things." Has blogging amplified good conversation?

At its best, blogging is both self-expression and engaged dialogue. We've certainly seen that individuals can use the tools of blogging to express and explore their scientific interests in ways that tap into online conversations about science and the scientific method, recent discoveries and current trends, as well as government policies that affect science.

The response to the North Carolina Science Blogging Conference shows that there's a common desire among scientists, bloggers, journalists, educators and students to come together to have an off-line conversation about promoting the public understanding of science through online tools.

Blogger Rebecca Blood writes that a "web blog's greatest strength — it's uncensored, uncontrollable voice — is also its greatest weakness." Responsible bloggers recognize their words will be read from anywhere in the world and they have certain ethical obligations to their readers, but should a code of ethics be developed or should bloggers regulate other bloggers?

Science bloggers, for the most part, approach blogging with an understanding of the importance of citing sources and taking responsibility for their arguments. I don't expect a blogger's code of ethics anytime soon. I've written bloggers should follow a golden rule: blog about others as you would like others to blog about you.

In your opinion, should all bioscience companies in North Carolina devote the time and resources into developing blogs? Or should they judiciously use them?

Blogging can be used many ways. Generally, the three types of blogging are: What's New blogs that share the latest info about a topic or industry; a Filter blog that offers recommendations and commentary on the best resources related to a topic or industry; and a Journal blog that is an online diary with personal or professional observations, commentary and views.

As people get their news and information more and more from online sources, it makes sense for bioscience companies to find ways to use blogs, wikis, podcasts, video streams and other streams for their information. But there's no one-size-fits-all solution. I suggest companies spend a few weeks recording all the types of information they share — with the public as well as with internal audiences — and then see how blogs can be used to make that information sharing more efficient.

Here's a blog post with some suggestions.

With the number of science blogs steadily increasing, it must be tough to read all the ones you want. What are three blogs you often read and why?

I read Bora Zivkovic's blog, Blog Around the Clock, because he's a prolific blogger who provides plenty of interesting links worth following. I also read the Knight Science Journalism Tracker, for links to well-written and-reported science stories in the media. And I read MedGadget. By the way, I read all through in my newsreader, making use of RSS newsfeeds to quickly scan many blogs.

Your group, BlogTogether.org, has hosted annual conferences for the last three years. The first two gatherings focused on meeting fellow bloggers and on podcasting respectively. This will be the second straight year that science is the main topic. Has blogging in North Carolina attained a science-based niche?

Well, we hope so — Bora and I have worked hard to bring people together for an event that celebrates the science blogging in this state and that supports other efforts to educate people about the importance of science literacy. As it happens, Bora got a great job as online community manager for Public Library of Science, and he was able to convince them that he should work from the Triangle. Because they know of North Carolina's importance to science and technology, PloS agreed.

In a way, Bora's job and the North Carolina Science Blogging Conference are two examples of ways that this state is making a name for itself as a virtual center for science — 50 years after the state created RTP as a physical center for science and research. And we expect to see more examples of this in the year ahead.