> asking participants to tell us the scientific areas in which they are
> comfortable advising/writing, so let us know which general branches
> (environment, biology, physics, military tech, etc) you have an
> interest in advising our journalists on.

Of these it would certainly be physics. My background as far as it is certified (in terms of peer reviewed publications and/or graduations) is simply high energy physics (black holes, quantum gravity, string theory) and nanotechnology.

However, what I am really interested in is seldom publishable, in fact, my best work rots in my drawer while Publish-Or-Perish (POP) Science makes sure that I can only publishing shit. I just got an article published in the highest impact factor journal in the field of microscopy - it is an article that I wrote up really quickly telling people about a method that has actually no use whatsoever, but some pretty pictures. I just wrote it to make the people in my lab here happy - put their names on there, too. Meanwhile, my original and insightful work - two rejections on my table just this week.

When it comes to science and journalism, what really ticks me off is not that journalism gets the science wrong, but that science becomes journalism. POP undermines science, and I am not sure whether there is any solution to that at all.

Sorry for the rant, had a coffee an hour ago

Happy new year

Sascha

As I mentioned, I'd like to work with you
> myself; I think I noted that I've written on biology and a few other
> subjects although of course I am merely a layman and my knowledge
> comes from
> informal research.
>
> We did have meetings the past few Wednesdays as usual but last
> night we
> merely discussed some operational issues that probably won't
> interest you at
> this point. If you can participate next time, that would be swell,
> but it's
> definitely not necessary. I'm going to look through what info we've
> sent you
> and see what else might be helpful in understanding our
> organization; if you
> have any questions, please let me know. I've also cc'd Seb Gillen,
> whom I've
> just put in charge of administering the sci-fi program, as well as my
> associates Emma Allen and Clark Robinson, who can also provide you

> withadditional information as needed.

>
> Thanks again for getting involved; your background, as I've noted,
> is very
> impressive and I look forward to working with you as your schedule
> allows.
> On Wed, Dec 22, 2010 at 12:43 AM, sascha vongehr <vongehr@usc.edu>
> wrote:
> > “7:00 EST (NYC) time on IRC.”
> >
> > I have not yet set up the IRC – I am also very busy these two
> days. So you
> > have a weekly meeting on (lets see, when you send this mail – I
> believe this
> > is already today here) Wednesdays 7:00 (am? – wait, that would be
> too early
> > for the west coast) I say Wed 7 pm EST – yes?
> >
> > It would be indeed great if you could send me the transcript and
> I schedule
> > to participate next week. The IRC I think is likely a problem,
> but I will
> > try.
> >
> >
> > “I am also having my associate Clark Robinson get in touch with
> you and
> > share with you some Google Documents for your review.”
> >
> > I got an email a few days ago from him with some blog post
> sniplets of
> > yours etc. Yes, google documents at times do not open – Mao wants
> the stuff
> > routed through google.hk for some reason. ;-)
> >
> >
> > “At any rate, I wanted to see if you would be interested in
> working with me
> > on some articles; I can also share with you our spreadsheet
> detailing the
> > interests and background of our various scientists and
> journalists if you'd
> > like to take a look before deciding.”
> >
> > Yes, if you could give me some more information, that would be
> great. I
> > somehow got the message that you are collating/matching up
> journalists with
> > scientists and thus wanted to send some questionnaire about
> expertise, so
> > that especially the journalists can get an idea of whom to
> contact in case
> > they have questions (i.e. improving science journalism, which
> seems to be at
> > least a side project of the whole project PM if I understood right).
> >
> > Looking forward to hearing from you
> >
> > Sascha
> >
> >
> > -----------------------------------------------------------------
> > Dr. Sascha Vongehr  (风洒沙)
> > Department of Philosophy and
> > National Key Laboratory of Solid-State Microstructures
> > Dept of Materials Science and Engineering
> > Nanjing University, Kexue Jishu Guan 324, Hankou Lu 22,
> > Nanjing, Gulou District, Jiangsu Province 210093, P.R. China
> > http://www.science20.com/alpha_meme
> > Alternate mail: vongehr8@yahoo.com
> > http://cn.LinkedIn.com/in/SaschaVongehr
> >
> > ----- Original Message -----
> > From: Barrett Brown <barriticus@gmail.com>
> > Date: Wednesday, December 22, 2010 11:21 am
> > Subject: Re: Project PM
> > To: sascha vongehr <vongehr@usc.edu>
> >
> > > Hi, Sascha-
> > >
> > > I don't believe I mentioned that we're having our weekly meeting
> > > tomorrow at
> > > 7:00 EST (NYC) time on IRC. If you don't think you can log in from
> > > China(although I think you can) or otherwise won't make it, let me
> > > know and I'll
> > > send you a transcript if it turns out to be something that
> would be
> > > usefulto you at this point. I am also having my associate Clark
> > > Robinson get in
> > > touch with you and share with you some Google Documents for your
> > > review. If
> > > you have any trouble accessing them, let him know and he'll make
> > > sure you
> > > get text copies via e-mail.
> > >
> > > Also, I've decided that I'm going to participate myself in the
> > > project here
> > > and there in order to set an example and also to raise some money
> > > for our
> > > Africa fund, which will be used for applying improved information
> > > dynamicsin the context of Third World health development - we're
> > > working with Dr.
> > > Kenneth Lipp of Cambridge who has recently begun work on First
> > > Praxis, his
> > > own program which I'll tell you more about if that sort of thing
> > > interestsyou (I imagine your background is such that you'll be
> more> > interested in
> > > other aspects of what we'll be doing, but obviously I don't know
> > > the extent
> > > of your interests and expertise). We also have our own Africa
> > > DevelopmentProgram on which we'll be concentrating more very soon
> > > and which for now
> > > will probably hinge on our partnership with Lipp. At any rate, I
> > > wanted to
> > > see if you would be  interested in working with me on some
> > > articles; I can
> > > also share with you our spreadsheet detailing the interests and
> > > backgroundof our various scientists and journalists if you'd like
> > > to take a look
> > > before deciding.
> > >
> > > Again, thanks for your interest and your willingness to
> > > participate. I very
> > > much hope to have you involved with myself and the dozen or so
> > > other people
> > > who are currently running all of this, so to the extent that you
> > > can and
> > > will assist us in making decisions and launching new programs, we
> > > would all
> > > be honored to have you do so.
> > >
> > > On Fri, Dec 17, 2010 at 9:23 PM, sascha vongehr <vongehr@usc.edu>
> > > wrote:
> > > > Dear Barrett,
> > > >
> > > > thank you for your response.
> > > >
> > > > > in this case you fell through the cracks due to all the
> traveling> > >
> > > > understand - that can happen
> > > >
> > > > > As for the crack about my views on valid skepticism
> > > >
> > > > just a crack from somebody who is well aware of what you write
> > > and largely
> > > > is on the same side on most issues - your stuff is visible out
> > > there and I
> > > > like to read up on people before I contact them.
> > > >
> > > > I will look over the other email I just received and see how
> I can
> > > > participate. Sadly there are many issues with not being able to
> > > use many
> > > > resources effectively when in China (censure, proxy server
> > > hassle), so this
> > > > may hamper the communication desirable in something like Project
> > > PM. Instead
> > > > of getting better, currently it is getting worse again with the
> > > nobel peace
> > > > price etc.
> > > >
> > > > Anyways - we are on one side when it comes to wanting to
> actually do
> > > > something about the bad state of science journalism and peer
> > > review/publish> and perish culture that undermines science, rather
> > > then just lamenting it.
> > > > So I am looking forward to hopefully fruitful cooperation.
> > > >
> > > > Thanks again
> > > >
> > > > Sascha
> > > >
> > > >
> > >
> > >
> > > --
> > > Regards,
> > >
> > > Barrett Brown
> > > 512-560-2302
> > >
> >
>
>
>
> --
> Regards,
>
> Barrett Brown
> 512-560-2302
>