Editor’s note: For The Lawson Trek, journalist Scott Huler is retracing the journey of discovery undertaken by canoe and on foot in 1700-1701 by John Lawson, the first observer to carefully describe and catalogue the flora, fauna, geography and inhabitants of the Carolinas. Posts from Scott’s trek are appearing at the Scientific American Expeditions blog, Scott’s own Lawson Trek blog, and here at the KSJ blog. For all the posts in the series, click here.
One of my undertakings on the Lawson Trek as a Knight Science Journalism Fellow at MIT is to think about more than just about Lawson and the scientific and cultural observations he made. I’m also trying out current journalistic tools and seeing how they compare to Lawson’s. I’m a science journalism fellow, not just a science fellow.