Comments for P. S.: Post Scriptum http://blog.pietrosperoni.it Pietro Speroni di Fenizio's web log Sat, 26 Nov 2011 18:15:24 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 Comment on Timesonline censors unconfortable comments by Beginning The Raw Experience | Healthy Men http://blog.pietrosperoni.it/2009/03/22/timesonline-censors-comments/comment-page-1/#comment-878 Beginning The Raw Experience | Healthy Men Sat, 26 Nov 2011 18:15:24 +0000 http://blog.pietrosperoni.it/?p=425#comment-878 [...] Raw Food Blog - AWESOME TO BE RAWSOMEP. S.: Post Scriptum [...] [...] Raw Food Blog – AWESOME TO BE RAWSOMEP. S.: Post Scriptum [...]

]]> Comment on On Tag Clouds, Metric, Tag Sets and Power Laws by Profile: TagCloud | Tech 2 Up http://blog.pietrosperoni.it/2005/05/25/tag-clouds-metric/comment-page-1/#comment-877 Profile: TagCloud | Tech 2 Up Fri, 22 Jul 2011 02:30:44 +0000 http://blog.pietrosperoni.it/2005/05/24/atg-clouds-vs-tag-sets/#comment-877 [...] theory in general: (doesn’t fully apply because PS is based on tagging, not keywords) #1 (good bibliography), #2, #3 TagCloud News About Implementation Guide (to put on your website) [...] [...] theory in general: (doesn’t fully apply because PS is based on tagging, not keywords) #1 (good bibliography), #2, #3 TagCloud News About Implementation Guide (to put on your website) [...]

]]> Comment on No more Ivory Towers by profiles.google.com/alberto.cot… http://blog.pietrosperoni.it/2011/05/05/no-more-ivory-towers/comment-page-1/#comment-876 profiles.google.com/alberto.cot… Fri, 06 May 2011 08:42:52 +0000 http://blog.pietrosperoni.it/?p=439#comment-876 Pietro, I think the risks of you being swamped by weirdos are low. Assuming good faith in social media has generally proven a sound strategy. I predict few calls, however: a once-a-week, point-to-point, synchronous interaction locus has to face a lot of competition from all sorts of communities, online fora, and even "implicit" communities like, for example, my feed reader, where I weave a conversation with several people that are not necessarily aware of each other. Networks, networks everywhere... Pietro, I think the risks of you being swamped by weirdos are low. Assuming good faith in social media has generally proven a sound strategy. I predict few calls, however: a once-a-week, point-to-point, synchronous interaction locus has to face a lot of competition from all sorts of communities, online fora, and even “implicit” communities like, for example, my feed reader, where I weave a conversation with several people that are not necessarily aware of each other. Networks, networks everywhere…

]]> Comment on No more Ivory Towers by Pietro http://blog.pietrosperoni.it/2011/05/05/no-more-ivory-towers/comment-page-1/#comment-875 Pietro Fri, 06 May 2011 08:20:43 +0000 http://blog.pietrosperoni.it/?p=439#comment-875 I personally a scientist cannot be fully a scientist if he is not able to comunicate his findings. Of course communicating them to the colleagues or non scientists is rather different. But really good scientists are able to do them both. And if you think about it you realize that you need to be able to explain your ideas to receive grants. As the people who assign grants are rarely people of the field. So hiding behind "it is a different set of skills" is not a good strategy. Not more than refusing to speak English because that is also a different set of skills. I personally a scientist cannot be fully a scientist if he is not able to comunicate his findings. Of course communicating them to the colleagues or non scientists is rather different. But really good scientists are able to do them both. And if you think about it you realize that you need to be able to explain your ideas to receive grants. As the people who assign grants are rarely people of the field. So hiding behind “it is a different set of skills” is not a good strategy. Not more than refusing to speak English because that is also a different set of skills.

]]> Comment on No more Ivory Towers by profiles.google.com/gewurz/abou… http://blog.pietrosperoni.it/2011/05/05/no-more-ivory-towers/comment-page-1/#comment-874 profiles.google.com/gewurz/abou… Thu, 05 May 2011 12:26:37 +0000 http://blog.pietrosperoni.it/?p=439#comment-874 In principle, I agree with you wholeheartedly, but being a (good) scientist and being a (good) communicator are two very different skill sets, just like being, say, a poet and a language teacher. Terence Tao is both a great mathematician and, with his <a href="http://terrytao.wordpress.com/" rel="nofollow">blog</a> and his <a href="https://profiles.google.com/114134834346472219368/buzz" rel="nofollow">buzz posts</a>, a great communicator who teaches and entertains on his work and on other stimulating topics more or less maths-related. But he is more an exception than a rule. In principle, I agree with you wholeheartedly, but being a (good) scientist and being a (good) communicator are two very different skill sets, just like being, say, a poet and a language teacher.

Terence Tao is both a great mathematician and, with his blog and his buzz posts, a great communicator who teaches and entertains on his work and on other stimulating topics more or less maths-related. But he is more an exception than a rule.

]]> Comment on No more Ivory Towers by Pietro http://blog.pietrosperoni.it/2011/05/05/no-more-ivory-towers/comment-page-1/#comment-873 Pietro Thu, 05 May 2011 10:51:58 +0000 http://blog.pietrosperoni.it/?p=439#comment-873 Ciao Daniele, thanks for the comment. I think that one of the work of a scientist is not to horde all the information for himself but sharing it with the society at large. I don't know how many times I had to explain how does the scientific method works, and how does the peer-review system work. But it's ok. I consider it part of the responsibility of being a scientist. If we all were to do this there would be much less cranks. It is ignorance that is feeding cranks and it is our ivory towers that make the environment that feed those people. We are responsible for them! You say that not all scientists are able to explain their work to a lay man. That is true. But that is a challenge that we need to face. Einstein use to say that you do not understand something unless you can explain it to your grandmother. By learning to explain your own work, you are not only educating others, but also learning about your own work yourself. And it is a work that will become easier with time, and with experience. So I rest my case. Now I have my question for you: will you join me? Ciao, Pietro Ciao Daniele,
thanks for the comment.

I think that one of the work of a scientist is not to horde all the information for himself but sharing it with the society at large. I don’t know how many times I had to explain how does the scientific method works, and how does the peer-review system work. But it’s ok. I consider it part of the responsibility of being a scientist. If we all were to do this there would be much less cranks. It is ignorance that is feeding cranks and it is our ivory towers that make the environment that feed those people. We are responsible for them!

You say that not all scientists are able to explain their work to a lay man. That is true. But that is a challenge that we need to face. Einstein use to say that you do not understand something unless you can explain it to your grandmother. By learning to explain your own work, you are not only educating others, but also learning about your own work yourself. And it is a work that will become easier with time, and with experience.

So I rest my case. Now I have my question for you: will you join me?

Ciao,
Pietro

]]> Comment on No more Ivory Towers by profiles.google.com/gewurz/abou… http://blog.pietrosperoni.it/2011/05/05/no-more-ivory-towers/comment-page-1/#comment-872 profiles.google.com/gewurz/abou… Thu, 05 May 2011 09:36:51 +0000 http://blog.pietrosperoni.it/?p=439#comment-872 While your initiative is praiseworthy and I hope many will follow it, I am sure you will have considered two problems: 1) A scientist available to public will often attract cranks, people who know everything about quantum-imaginary-theognostic properties of their latest invention, circle-squarers and the like. 2) Even more important, not all scientists (and I personally believe a very small percentage) are able to explain their work to the layman, or even to another scholar not expert in the same field. You may be a genius and not be able to explain other people that 2+2=4, even less what you are doing and how. I strongly believe in another professional figure, call it a communicator, who knows enough about (some field of) science to understand even current research in it, and is able to explain it (as much as it can explained without resorting to high maths and the like) to everybody. My two cents, bye, Daniele While your initiative is praiseworthy and I hope many will follow it, I am sure you will have considered two problems:

1) A scientist available to public will often attract cranks, people who know everything about quantum-imaginary-theognostic properties of their latest invention, circle-squarers and the like.

2) Even more important, not all scientists (and I personally believe a very small percentage) are able to explain their work to the layman, or even to another scholar not expert in the same field. You may be a genius and not be able to explain other people that 2+2=4, even less what you are doing and how. I strongly believe in another professional figure, call it a communicator, who knows enough about (some field of) science to understand even current research in it, and is able to explain it (as much as it can explained without resorting to high maths and the like) to everybody.

My two cents, bye,
Daniele

]]> Comment on Tagclouds and cultural changes by Twitter Trackbacks for P. S.: Post Scriptum » Tagclouds and cultural changes [pietrosperoni.it] on Topsy.com http://blog.pietrosperoni.it/2005/05/28/tagclouds-and-cultural-changes/comment-page-1/#comment-869 Twitter Trackbacks for P. S.: Post Scriptum » Tagclouds and cultural changes [pietrosperoni.it] on Topsy.com Mon, 31 Aug 2009 03:06:20 +0000 http://blog.pietrosperoni.it/2005/05/28/tagclouds-and-cultural-changes/#comment-869 [...] P. S.: Post Scriptum » Tagclouds and cultural changes blog.pietrosperoni.it/2005/05/28/tagclouds-and-cultural-changes – view page – cached #P. S.: Post Scriptum RSS Feed P. S.: Post Scriptum Atom Feed alive posts by Pietro Speroni digest posts by Pietro Speroni publishable posts by Pietro Speroni root posts by Pietro Speroni Pietro Speroni on Clay Shirky Pietro Speroni on Cloudalicious Pietro Speroni on Contributions Pietro Speroni on — From the page [...] [...] P. S.: Post Scriptum » Tagclouds and cultural changes blog.pietrosperoni.it/2005/05/28/tagclouds-and-cultural-changes – view page – cached #P. S.: Post Scriptum RSS Feed P. S.: Post Scriptum Atom Feed alive posts by Pietro Speroni digest posts by Pietro Speroni publishable posts by Pietro Speroni root posts by Pietro Speroni Pietro Speroni on Clay Shirky Pietro Speroni on Cloudalicious Pietro Speroni on Contributions Pietro Speroni on — From the page [...]

]]> Comment on Tagclouds and cultural changes by User links about "clayshirky" on iLinkShare http://blog.pietrosperoni.it/2005/05/28/tagclouds-and-cultural-changes/comment-page-1/#comment-863 User links about "clayshirky" on iLinkShare Fri, 27 Mar 2009 19:18:08 +0000 http://blog.pietrosperoni.it/2005/05/28/tagclouds-and-cultural-changes/#comment-863 [...] public links | iLinkShare 2 voteslinks for 2008-04-27>> saved by agatacruciani 10 days ago2 votesTagclouds and cultural changes>> saved by raphaplanet 33 days ago1 votesEpisode 372 Linkcap Recap>> saved by paolog666 39 days [...] [...] public links | iLinkShare 2 voteslinks for 2008-04-27>> saved by agatacruciani 10 days ago2 votesTagclouds and cultural changes>> saved by raphaplanet 33 days ago1 votesEpisode 372 Linkcap Recap>> saved by paolog666 39 days [...]

]]> Comment on Google is not a dictionary by launchpad.net/~dmitrij.le… http://blog.pietrosperoni.it/2006/04/19/google-is-not-a-dictionary/comment-page-1/#comment-862 launchpad.net/~dmitrij.le… Sun, 22 Mar 2009 04:00:44 +0000 http://blog.pietrosperoni.it/2006/04/19/google-is-not-a-dictionary/#comment-862 It did became a dictionary in the end. Type "define: word" into the search field and it will bring up various dictionary style definitions of "word" that it can find. It did became a dictionary in the end. Type “define: word” into the search field and it will bring up various dictionary style definitions of “word” that it can find.

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