19 December 2011

Smithsonian's rebrand idea is SO four years ago.

Thea Joselow pointed this out to me.  It's a story in the Washington Post about the Smithsonian Institution's rebranding campaign. LOVE:
The sprawling institution aims to be, in the words of Secretary G. Wayne Clough, a “conversation, not a lecture.”
Thea noted this sounded familiar. So I checked to see how long I've been writing under the "It's Not a Lecture" title - about four and a half years now. For kicks, I decided to post an archive. I'm a huge fan of the Smithsonian Institution. They have some outstanding writers and bloggers (like Thea) working with them. And I'm excited that they want to be more engaging and interactive. Happy to spread the word...

12 December 2011

a snapshot of the evolution discussion


It's been a really busy few weeks since we introduced the video featuring women scientists explaining why evolution should be taught in schools. More than 33,000 views, 492 likes, 19 dislikes, and 238 comments later, this is what the discussion on YouTube looks like - it's the text from the comments (minus names and dates/times) pushed through the word cloud generator at Wordle.  I don't know that we can glean much from a single word cloud, but I like to look at it. 

Further, I don't really think YouTube comments are anything more than, well, YouTube comments.  But I do think the video has had an impact - not necessarily the one I expected or intended, but an impact nonetheless. 

I'll share more thoughts on that soon.  But I really liked Jamie Vernon's presentation at Science Online New York City, and wish to associate myself with the comments of the distinguished gentleman.  I'm looking forward to the next conversation with Jamie and the rest of the team - Matt Shimpan, Andrea Kuszewski, Kevin Zelnio, and our video editor.

06 December 2011

We interrupt this blog for something truly historic

Sorry, flash keeps crashing for this video so I removed it.

Full text here. Background briefing here. Fact sheet here.