July 2, 2010

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The Magical De-Cloaking Post of 2010

Looks like Drugmonkey has re-instated the who are you and why are you looking at me meme. Having only participated as a reader of Scienceblogs the last few years, I’m excited to be on the other side of the table this time.

By Jason G. Goldman

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This article was published in Scientific American’s former blog network and reflects the views of the author, not necessarily those of Scientific American

Looks like Drugmonkey has re-instated the who are you and why are you looking at me meme. Having only participated as a reader of Scienceblogs the last few years, I'm excited to be on the other side of the table this time.

For some background, Ed Yong initially started this game a few years ago, and it caught on pretty quickly among the other sciblings (and then, other science bloggers as well).

I particularly like the questions that Janet is asking this year, so I'll go ahead and blatantly plagiarize (and modify) some of hers. Please respond to any combination of these questions below in the comments, but at least the first one. If you're a lurker, this is the time to de-cloak, at least until the next time we play this game.

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Who are you? (Scientist, scientist-in-training, other? Student, parent, working stiff, blissful retiree? Thinking about psychology or neuroscience for an undergrad major/graduate program/something else? Wishing you *had* thought about psych/neuro, and regretting that you hadn't?)

Have we met in real life? Before or after you first read the blog? (Are you now regretful of our real-life meeting?)

What brings you to this blog? Have you been reading since the Wordpress days of obscurity, or more recently?

What's likely to bring you back? What would be likely to drive you away? (Not that I want to drive any of you away!)

If you lurk rather than commenting, are you content with that? Are there conditions that you think might suck you into commenting?

What do you like reading around here? Which of my posts angry up the blood? (Are you one of those people who enjoys reading posts that angry up the blood?)

What topics would you like to see more of?

Is my current pace of a few posts (containing actual content as opposed to links and videos) a week adequate for your needs, or would you be happier if I delivered at least one new post every day?

...And as the man said, if you have a science-y or academic-y blog, consider yourself tagged!

Jason G. Goldman is a science journalist based in Los Angeles. He has written about animal behavior, wildlife biology, conservation, and ecology for Scientific American, Los Angeles magazine, the Washington Post, the Guardian, the BBC, Conservation magazine, and elsewhere. He contributes to Scientific American's "60-Second Science" podcast, and is co-editor of Science Blogging: The Essential Guide (Yale University Press). He enjoys sharing his wildlife knowledge on television and on the radio, and often speaks to the public about wildlife and science communication.

More by Jason G. Goldman

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