ScienceOnline09 Conference in Raleigh, NC

January 16, 2009

We here at The World's Tech Podcast (WTP) readily admit that it has been with great trepidation that we've waded into hard science topics in the past. Sometimes, though, WTP's gotten lucky, which is always better than being smart, right? Here's the deal -- communicating science coherently and effectively to general audiences is hard. Damn hard, in fact. Maybe even as hard as stuffing a whole human into a small box. WTP hasn't tried that yet, but we may on an upcoming episode. Anyway, the point is that I can use more schoolin'. And that's why I've left behind the frigid temperatures of Boston and headed south to Raleigh, North Carolina, where its actually only a few degrees warmer, for ScienceOnline09. It's billed as an unconference (love that term) bringing together bloggers, journalists, educators, students, and yes -- real scientists! The idea is to figure out how we can better communicate all of the great scientific work being done out there globally. Sigma Xi is graciously hosting the event down here in Research Triangle Park.

Registration is, unfortunately, closed. However, there are numerous ways to feel as if you're here this weekend, especially if you're a social media maven. A number of people here are blogging or live-blogging the event. If you're a Twitter fanatic, just do a hashtags search for #scio09 and you'll find a bunch of us tweeters. My handle for the weekend is @sciblog. For you Facebook folks, try this. And Flickr fans, you can see photos from ScienceOnline09 here.

Or, even better -- try the ScienceOnline09 room in FriendFeed. Teh awesome.

Tonight's fun includes a scientific take on wine-tasting, courtesy of blogger Abel Pharmboy. Call me uncouth, but I really hope I don't have to spit it all out...

(Photo from icanhascheezburger, of course)