ScienceBlogs has been reduced by yet another blogger, Matthew Nisbet, who has been the author of the Framing Science blog for the past several years. His new blog is called Age of Engagement and is housed on the Big Think site. That site has been called various things, among them "You Tube for smart people," and contains interviews with more than 1500 experts on all manner of things. No cats with cheezburgers here.
Nisbet says he has been rethinking the focus of his blogging. While continuing to write about the public understanding of science, he now expects to write more broadly about issues "at the intersections among communication, culture and public affairs." He says the rigid separation of audience and publishers has collapsed, and this raises some fundamental questions about consumers in our society, "Are they empowered by these changes or are they distracted and more easily controlled? Do we live in an age of engagement or do we live in an age of distraction?"
Nisbet doesn't say whether the flap over a food blog by Pepsi was one of the reasons for moving from ScienceBlogs; Wikipedia reports that about a quarter of the bloggers at ScienceBlogs have departed after that brouhaha. But in any case, the Big Think is an interesting site, an agglomeration of thoughts from interesting people.
Phil Hilts
Comments
In the video interview with Big Think linked below, I discuss the focus for the new blog.
http://bigthink.com/ideas/21829
I especially want to feature guest posts and interviews with many science journalists and writers, calling attention to their initiatives, ideas, and work as the field adapts to new challenges and opportunities.