Notes from the biomass

Most of you will have heard of the launch of PLoS ONE, a new publishing platform promising many changes to the way scientific work is communicated. A important aspect distinguishing One from many journals is the strong commitment to increase participation of the readership.
Several bloggers (e.g. Deepak and Pedro) and probably many observers out there are somewhat concerned that the participation of scientists will not be intense, particular in the light of the Nature Peer Review trial that only received few comments.
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Blog carnivals: The innocent’s approach to splogging.

JoVE, a new journal featuring videos of experimental methods, went around in the scientific blogosphere quickly. The first issue is out now for some days now, take another look, there is new material and several enhancements of the site.

Over at Pimm, it was complained that the Nature news coverage mentioned the YouTubish charm of the site - I find the low key approach quite appealing. It is hard to imagine that the journal would work if it would have started with strict regulation for submission or a marketing machine. JoVE is a good example of Web2.0 at work: Use existing technologies creatively, don’t start too high, improve as you go along, don’t be pompous.

The way for JoVE to become a proper journal will be a long one still , and major publishers could offer similar services if the buzz continues and the site is picked up by the broader scientific community. Another good use for video protocols might be for the providers of reagents and scientific devices. Let’s hope that the makers of JoVE use the momentum successfully and that the good idea scales with the expected increased editorial overhead, complexity of keeping the site running and other troubles - unlike several good Web2.0 ideas.

Recording my first screencast for the Online EMBL PhD Symposium was an interesting experience. It pretty much felt like the very first presentation again, particular after I realized that it would not be possible to compile individual pieces in time (thank you Powerbook) and I had to take it in a single attempt. SnapZ Pro is a pretty impressive tool for recording nonetheless.

Preparing a screencast is the best presentation training available I could think of. You are not getting away with so-so this time because you have to listen to yourself. Give it a try the next time you want practice in presenting at a meeting (and remind me…).
I will talk/have talked about open issues in protein-protein interaction networks, particular shared components of complexes, to fuel the online discussion. I have tagged the relevant references in Connotea with ‘1vs‘ if you want to be prepared. Hope to see you during the next week in the IRC.