Tuesday, June 5, 2012

Request To Indiabioscience.org: More Science Please

Why don't Indian scientists working in India write about their research on open platforms? There are scientists who are blogging, but they write about campus life and the sociology of sciences and not about their research. And recently I came across a group blog Indiabioscience.org, which is a platform for biologists to:

The goal of IndianBioscience.org is for Indian biologists (junior and senior, working in India or abroad) to unite as a community- to find and exchange information, to make new contacts and find collaborators, to share perspectives, to attract a new generation of young people to scientific careers, and to welcome back talented Indians who previously might have established their careers abroad.

I went through the collection of posts from the contributors. Most of them are opinions of how to improve science education and the status of science in India, or on their personal experience of setting up research labs in India or negotiating the administrative maze, or advice to young postdocs and PhD candidates. 

All very useful.. but where is the Science? 

One of the stated goals of this initiative is " to attract a new generation of young people to scientific careers". I am not sure that young people will find it engaging to follow this blog and be inspired to take up a career in science if all the scientists on this forum come across as experts in university administration and pedagogy and have little to say about their research.

I find it boring to read post after post on "my views on improving Indian Universities / education / how to deal with various personal problems". 

Instead, why not tell us more about your own work?.. start a conversation with young aspiring students about your day in the lab and the nitty-gritty of science.

2 comments:

  1. http://indiabioscience.org/sites/default/files/who_needs_reply_email.pdf

    This was one post that suggests that few in academia respond to emails. Now to see who responds to blog posts !

    ReplyDelete
  2. Shyamal - thanks for the link. I have gone through the "no response" experience many times :)..

    you have an interesting blog..

    ReplyDelete