Re: Project PM

On Fri, Oct 15, 2010 at 8:42 AM, Barrett Brown <barriticus@gmail.com> wrote:

Well, it doesn't matter much as we've gotten about 15 participants today and I expect we'll bring on more over the weekend as the article makes the rounds. Thanks again to all of you for your respective input on this. I'll send along a summary of some of the matched pairs when I start setting them up in case you'd like to take a look. I'm also sharing with you a Google document listing our participants which I'll finish filling in tomorrow.

If any of you want to be involved in such things as editing the work of less experience journalists, providing advice to our participants as needed, suggesting outlets for publication, or designing improvements to this procedure, let me know. Also, if you'd like to have input as our programming team starts on the customized collaboration/information schematic under which Project PM will eventually be operating, tell me and I'll add you to the discussion and open our previous materials to you.

Thanks once again.

On Thu, Oct 14, 2010 at 3:48 PM, Mano Singham <mano.singham@case.edu> wrote:

Biochemistry is not my area so am not in a position to evaluate that. But given that her background in in Earth sciences and not cellular biochemistry, this means that as far as this article goes, she is likely depending on her atsources for the science and so we should be gauging just her journalistic abilities on this one.

It is not a bad article. It gets a little vague and ragged towards the end, as if she had to meet a word quota and ran out of stuff. Also, it was not clear what the main point of the article was: The role of arginine on the immune response system? The role of serendipity in science research? The need for funding agencies to rethink their basis for decision-making?

Just thoughts off the top of my head...

Mano

Mano Singham, Director
University Center for Innovation in Teaching and Education (UCITE)
Allen Building 101, LC 7025
Case Western Reserve
10900 Euclid Avenue
Cleveland, OH 44106
Phone : 216-368-1224
Fax : 216-368-0197
Email : mano.singham@case.edu
Website : http://www.case.edu/provost/UCITE

On Oct 14, 2010, at 3:29 PM, Barrett Brown wrote:

Hi, guys

The announcement article just went up on Skeptical Inquirer and may be found here:

http://www.csicop.org/specialarticles/show/a_modern_solution_to_an_age_old_problem

Also, we've had a couple of responses already, including this one I've forwarded from a grad student in Canada who mentioned that aside from her background in earth science, she's also studying journalism in preparation for a career in science journalism, so she might be able to serve as a writer as well. Attached is an article she wrote which I've looked over; from a writing standpoint, the piece is fairly good and her writing is definitely publishable with a bit of editing for style and grammar, but I wanted to find out how it looks from a scientific standpoint. Would any of you mind looking this over and letting me know if it meets our standards in that regard? I need to figure out if she should be a writer or a scientific advisor or both or neither.

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Hayley Dunning <hdunning@ualberta.ca>
Date: Thu, Oct 14, 2010 at 3:18 PM
Subject: Re: Project PM
To: Barrett Brown <barriticus@gmail.com>, robinsonchicago@gmail.com

Hullo Gentlemen,

Thanks so much for replying with all the information!
I have a couple of special interests in earth science. Volcanology and past environments are the foci of my research, but I spend a lot of time engaging in a very long and ongoing debate with a AGW skeptic (a proper one) so I'm reasonably well versed in that area! I also have an active interest in glaciology; there is a large glaciology contingent at my university (University of Alberta, Canada).

My latest contribution to the student newspaper can be found here: http://thegatewayonline.ca/articles/news/2010/10/14/dopamine-connected-cellular-learning-addiction

However, it's a pretty controlled environment, so I also attached a piece I pitched to the alumni association. They decided to go for a more 'newsy' version of the story that I had written previously for the paper, but said they might pick up some themes of it later.

I will hopefully have the time to read and chat more in the near future and really get involved, but for the immediate future I'm off for a long weekend to the Rocky Mountains!

All the best,
Hayley

On 14 October 2010 11:53, Barrett Brown <barriticus@gmail.com> wrote:

Hi, Hayley-

Thanks for writing. It sounds like you could indeed be of assistance to Project PM in the context of our science journalism program and perhaps other efforts as well. For the science project, I can put you down as a science-oriented participant with expertise in earth science and perhaps as a writer as well; send me along the text of one of the pieces you've written when you get a moment. At some point in the near future we'll introduce you to one of our freelancer participants and the two of you can decide what subject matter would work as an article, and then you'll help the writer find good sources for quotes and ensure that the finished product is accurate and otherwise helpful to layman readers. If we decide to have you serve as a writer as well, we'll hook you up with a scientist specializing in some random field, as your combined background of writer and science grad student should make you a pretty versatile science writer.

I'll have my associate Clark Robinson send you some additional information about Project PM and our fundamental goals, which involve the development and promotion of improved methods of collaboration and information flow. We have a number of documents you might find interesting, and our more active participants tend to congregate in our new IRC channel which itself may be accessed at irc.freenode.net, #projectpm (I recommend Xchat if you're new to IRC, but Clark will send along a short guide including other methods of getting on).

Let me know if you have any questions, and thanks again for participating in this program.

On Thu, Oct 14, 2010 at 1:24 PM, Hayley Dunning <hdunningua@gmail.com> wrote:

Greetings,

I just read about your new project and am very interested in participating on some level. I'm not quite sure where I fit in, but I'm currently an Earth Science grad student hoping to become a journalism grad student in a year's time so that I can pursue a career in science journalism. I'm very excited by the amount of interest science journalism is receiving at the moment and would love more than anything to be a part of its improvement. Although I have written science pieces for the student newspaper and our Alumni Association newsletter, I'm not sure if I qualify as a 'freelance writer', however I would love to be involved.

I would love to hear your thoughts.

Best regards,
Hayley Dunning

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Regards,

Barrett Brown
512-560-2302

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Regards,

Barrett Brown
512-560-2302

<Dr Lamb.docx>

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Regards,

Barrett Brown
512-560-2302