Resistance Is Futile: Or How I Learned To Stop Worrying And Love The Network Effect

There’s no getting around it, science is a social enterprise. Go ahead, try and do some by your lonesome. Oh, you may putter and dial-twirl and churn out some damn fine solo research. But you’ll undoubtedly rely upon the prior research of others to get anywhere (that whole “standing on the shoulders of giants” business). And if you have any hope of your research rippling further than your lab, you need to avail yourself of a peer review process that opens-up your work to global scrutiny and verification.

Yup, science is a group effort.

And so, it seems, is science blogging. This IS social media, after all!

I’ve had a pretty solid and satisfying solo run here at Malaria, Bedbugs, Sea Lice, and Sunsets… four years, nearly 1000 substantive posts, hundreds of thousands of visitors from 196 countries. Not too shabby for a mostly coral reef conservation-focused blog written with a decidedly queer agenda. But no man is an island. Not even an ocean blogging man.

I’m pleased as punch to now join the close-knit family of ocean science colleagues over at Deep Sea News. I’ve admired the writing, humor, and camaraderie on display there for years; I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t gushing with pride when Craig invited me to join the crew. And I truly love that the folks behind Deep Sea News know their audience and work hard to maintain a highly social and interactive platform.

Over the years, I’ve come to call Craig, Kevin, and Miriam dear friends. Yet while I’ve had the pleasure of meeting Kevin and Miriam in the flesh (hell, we’ve quaffed a goodly amount of booze and broken bread together on several occasions), I’ve somehow not managed to meet Craig yet. I suspect this will soon change. And I’m thrilled at the prospect of now collaborating with Holly as well. I just hope I do them all proud!

For my part, I’ll continue to provide my particular take on ocean science issues. Expect a heavy focus on coral reefs, marine biodiversity conservation, marine protected area science, and the politics and practicalities of ocean resource management (which is more about managing humans than managing the resource). And I’ll try to keep the snark to a minimum.

But please do your part too! Tell me what you like, don’t like, what piques your interest or spurs your thoughts along the way. This is a two-way conversation.

Enough with the overture. As the plebe around there I’ve got a lot of heads to scrub. Craig said that if I do a good job, I won’t have to use my own toothbrush.