Wednesday, May 15, 2013

Deric’s MindBlog spends time in the past...in the future?

The past:  I’ve been spending the past two weeks in a former life. I was in Seattle last week to attend the annual meeting of ARVO (Assoc. for Research in Vision and Opthalmology), at which my last postdoc, Vadim Arshavsky, was awarded the Proctor Prize.   The graphic in this post is from a lecture I just gave on Tuesday to the final seminar this term of the McPherson Eye Research Institute here at U.W., describing the contributions of my laboratory (from 1968 to 1998) to understanding how light changes into a nerve signal in our eyes. (The talk is posted here.)

The future:  I’m scratching my head about how (maybe whether?) to continue MindBlog.  It has had a good run since Feb. of 2006, and I'm kind of wondering if I should withdraw - as I did from the vision field - while I’m ahead, or at least cut back to less frequent, more thoughtful, posts…. I’m a bit dissatisfied that many of the posts are essentially expanded tweets, passing on the link and abstract of an article I find interesting.  I think this is lazy, but I do get ‘thank you’ emails for pointing out something that reader X is interested in.  A downside is that the time I take scanning journals and chaining myself to the daily post regime makes it difficult for me to settle into deeper development of a few topics.  It also competes with the increasing amount of time I am spending on classical piano performance. I will be curious to see whether these rambling comments elicit any responses from the current 2,500 subscribers to MindBlog’s RSS feed or ~1,100 twitter followers.     

10 comments:

  1. Your posts have been part of my reading material since I began my recent self-education drive, and though I don't comment often, I do appreciate the time you spend finding the most interesting bits and sharing your take on them.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I've always appreciated your blog. Maybe it would be more valuable if you posted less frequently and with with more of your own content?

    ReplyDelete
  3. I have been RSS-subscribed for a few years now to your blog and have often enjoyed it. I enjoy most your links/excerpts of interesting abstracts. Hope to read you for a while more. Thanking you.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Your blog was one of the first I subscribed via Google Reader some 4 years ago and I always read all your posts with great interest and attention. It doesn't matter if you only post links or short comments - even that can be very interesting.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Deric, it would be unfortunate for the community if MindBlog ended. But, you only live once. Less frequent posts that gave you more time to read, ponder, explore & write would be wonderful. Whatever you decide, thanks for MindBlog.
    Gregg

    ReplyDelete
  6. I want to thank you all who have responded here, as well as in emails and twitter messages. MindBlog as a predictable daily addition to the steam of digital overload that threatens to overwhelm us all is no more. Perhaps there will be less frequent posts that have a bit more Deric in them.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Peter8:14 PM

    Hi Deric, I am just another thankful users of your blog. It actually became one of my tools to stay informed and up to date. I also think that ending the blog would be extremely unfortunate. Your selection of current literature is always interesting and even if you didn't provide extensive comments on the works you pointed out, the selection by itself bares a footprint of your personality. But I think it might be an interesting move for both you and us your readers to make fewer posts with more of your thoughts on the topic. It could also open more space for interesting online discussion. If this is a change that would maintain your interest in continuing your priceless blog, go for it. Just please don't give up!

    ReplyDelete
  8. I too find your pointers to current literature very helpful. I've read a lot of other scientist and science journalist blogs, and still subscribe to a few, and none comes close to being as good a source for interesting neuroscience material.

    That said, I can understand why you might find the work of scanning the literature burdensome.

    As for a daily posting regime, I personally would be just as happy to get your pointers once or twice a week in bigger batches.

    I also value your personal commentary, but if that is a burden I'd let it go and still take the brief notices of current literature.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Hi Deric, I enjoy your posts, I think you need to do what makes you heart sing. IF you finding it pleasurable then carry on and blog everyday if you wish however if it is something you are no longer enjoying then that always comes out in a blog (not yours just speaking generally) So if it makes your heart happy please do so as I enjoy reading them

    ReplyDelete
  10. Most everything I've learnt about oxytocin, and a lot of insight about meditation, comes from your blog. But it's just as much that fuzzy human perspective of yours that makes me read eight out of ten posts here. Of course, if it's a drag for you then stop blogging - but I'd really miss your posts.

    ReplyDelete