Lack of enthusiasm for science blogging in India?
Here are some replies on this aspect of science blogging that I have received over the past year from some of my research students, friends and colleagues in my institute. The list comprises of about 50 people including 3 women, all are Indians living in India at present and either have a Ph. D. or are pursuing an engineering or science degree. Almost all of these people have visited this blog at least once and had agreed whole-heartedly with me personally that science blogging is a nice thing to do (there were exceptions for other reasons - see the replies for the second question below).
BTW, if you happen to be one of those who can identify your reply here, be assured that I am merely collecting here the reasons for lack of science blogging in India and if possible, do something about it. If you think your outrageous or reasonable reply has “gone public”, kindly read the rest of the post. You may take solace in the kind of replies given by others. 
1. Why I don’t (science) blog
(trust me that this question is posed to capable people whom I know over interactions to have the potential to share a lot of their expertise)
- Too much time is involved in doing it.
- I am not sure I can do it daily. I can give you some of my stuff. You can use it in your blog.
- It is not my priority in life although I agree I anyway keep doing equally pointless things.
- It is not my priority. Doing research and publishing them in archival journals is my goal.
- It is not my professional activity and I don’t like that as an hobby. Too much work.
- I am not a good writer.
- Actually I would blog, if I could just do copy/paste blogging (meaning, simply linking and/or quoting other websites and blogs). Original writing takes too much time and effort.
- What is the point of writing in the internet. It will give bad publicity.
- I don’t want to write original stuff in the web. It will be copied and abused.
- I am not sure who will read these stuff.
- I think I cannot write for the reader client�le of science blogs.
- I have a question. How will people find my writings in the web? (the conversation with this person DID continue after this; I explained about how a Google search can get blogs also and what feeds are)
- Actually I am a good reader of blogs and sites. Not a writer. And not a commenter either at those blogs (read replies to question 3)
- Too much of my research time is wasted in trying to write popular essays in science (used in blogs).
- At this point of time in my life I think I am not prepared to do something like this (the person who said this is about 40).
- Too much domestic duties. No time to write (this is by a guy, not a gal).
- I am not confident I can write a clear essay on a science topic. I can discuss but am not sure I can write.
- It is just a youthful fad. Young guys like you, who have lot of enthusiasm, should do it.
- I am not good in English. I can talk but fear to write.
- If I am wrong about what I write, I will look like a fool.
- It is cheap popularity.
2. Why I don’t read Blogs
- What are blogs? How are they different from web sites? I do browse a lot and read web sites.
- Too many links. Very distracting. Don’t know what to click and which one to read.
- science blogs? where are they on the web? how to find them?
3. Why I don’t comment (asked to those who know how to read science blogs)
- My name goes public. I don’t like that. My reputation as a scientist may be damaged.
- Too many requirements like name, email and web ID to fill in before commenting.
- I usually don’t want to end up fighting on issues, that too in public.
- I am not good in English. I can talk but fear to write.
- If I am wrong about what I write, I will look like a fool.
- Waste of time.
Thats sums up certain things for me. But, does this allow one to conclude that science blogging in India is yet to have its time? I await my reader’s response, to see their perspective.
Update: Selva and Bora have given their take on this issue in their Science blogs. Thanks guys for spreading this discussion in other parts of the World.
Tags: science blogging, Indian science blogging, academic blogging
Arunn
Lakshmi
gphanikumar
Arunn
venting in Vox is on the offing, I believe). It simply does not make logical sense to have this separate blog site. Any random rambling will continue at Vox, some for the public eye, and some not. But here is the growth part. Arunn and I have been lamenting
science writers are rare in Indian blogsphere despite the fact that we have whole institutions devoted to science communication ? Note : [1] To be fair to Arunn, he has already made it clear that his interest in this particular post is to understand why scientists (or say, Ph. Ds. who have an expertise) in India seems not to have picked blogging yet as a means for communication. And the blog I am now referring to, does not fall under that category. [2] Those familiar with blogsphere would probably remark that it is not a very good blogging practice to bury the About us
Arunn,
I seem to have lost enthusiam for science blogs and have gone back to reading some science magazines and books when I can; I feel that I am getting more out of it for the time spent. I guess that science blogs can work very well depending on the focus and the ability of thye writers; for example blogs by academics meant for their students or by professional writers like Carl Zimmer. This article shows some other ways that science blogs can work:
http://www.the-scientist.com/article/home/52955/
I believe the observation: “If I am wrong about what I write, I will look like a fool.” sums up mostly why we don’t have people blogging on science in India. Lack of confidence with our own knowledge, and lack of enthusiasm to learn what we do not know is the underlying cause for the absence of achievements in India, be it the Nobel prize, or simple science blogs. We do not have the grit and strength to defend our thoughts to detractors, or the courage to accept our mistakes in public.
The most disheartening part is that there are a million blogs authored by competent young Indians, on lighter topics and online communities such as Orkut are over crowded with youth who would rather discuss Aishwarya Rai’s wedding. It is an absolute truth that science blogging demands more time than “other” types of blogs and online chats and we are not passionate enough to invest that kind of time or commitment.
There is no “joy” perceived in science, to a large extent. Science/research remains a job that pays, or an inevitable chore of the day or a precursor to a well-paying job. And therefore there is no inherent incentive to know more than the barest minimum required for survival.
Reading and writing are closely related. My observations above with lack of science blog writing in India holds good to science blog reading as well.
As for more value for time spent, the internet is an ocean of information. So, it is easier for distractions to crop in. But sometimes distractions need not be necessarily bad. We could stumble upon ideas and news that we would have never obtained otherwise.
This is what Lakshmi has to say- “Lack of confidence with our own knowledge, and lack of enthusiasm to learn what we do not know is the underlying cause for the absence of achievements in India…”. I think this is too much of generalization. If you were to conduct a survey, I am sure, every researcher would say that he/she is very confident with his/her own knowledge!
Subrahmanya,
I sort of tend to agree with Lakshmi. I think that exposition involves some simplification and approximation. In my case, the topics in which I have the confidence to make such simplifications are either old and technical or are not of general interest. Even one’s own research, it seems to take a few years to understand. Learning of topics of general interest and writing about them in an understandable way is hard work. For example, I found Bernoulli Paradox interesting and even collected a few URLs with connection from the flying of planes to stability of roof tops. Sometimes one sees differences of opinions in some explanations. I do not have enough knowledge in Physics or the patience to put in the hard work to study and write it up. Easier to think about more fuzzy social topics.
I agree with Lakshmi when she says that there’s no joy perceived in science. This is especially true in most Indian schools. In my opinion, the Indian schooling system isn’t oriented towards teaching science and scientific principles, but rather on memorizing and scoring marks. Professor Balakrishnan’s foreword to the Indian edition of the Feynman Lectures series sums up the situation nicely.
Going back to the original post, I do try to blog on science, because I love it(*), and I want to share the feeling of beauty and wonder that science offers.
(*) science, that is. Not blogs per se.
You are welcome, Arunn. Thanks for the above.
I got into Blog reading only recently and am hooked on to it. almost the way I am hooked on to the BBC science pro gramme ” Horizon” I think the reasons why Indians don’t blog is first of all ones interest is very limited. In the younger group there is this hurry to finish up and get moving and later on there is this inertia and lethargy (also associated with aging as described below) . Lateral thinking is not our forte and doing things together, very difficult. How many really and truly collaborative projects exist in India. We are thought from childhood to be individualists: look at the queue at the petrol pump or at the railway station. We simply cant line up one behind the other because it does not to occur us to think of others involved in the process, the attendant, others who need petrol,tickets etc. That is why we do well with computers as it just one person and a machine!
The second problem is that most science in India is government science. Which means kids, family and job in that order. There are very few scientists that I know who use the internet at home, to read or catch up on science. I think I am the only one in my near vicinity who does so and yet I have not written. Of course those who work in Industry would not dare Blog as they are so protective of their interests (This is just guessing) .
One more we all forget : There has been serious lapse of recruitment in CSIR labs and many other government labs for years. In the Universities, appointment is based often, on not one merit So on the hand our population is an aging one and on the other, an uninterested one. The aging population is not interested in Blogging and the other population simply does not care.
I wold prefer for some time to be associated with others blogs and talk about subjects that interest me or which I am passionate about. I am very concerned about the state of Indian Science and have only look into China to see what difference commitment to Science can do.
I think that is necessary to get an online community that can influence the government and those who fund research to help vitalize research in India and this is a very important. This of course in addition to really good discussions on matters scientific.
[...] a reasonably minor flop. But deep in the science backwaters of the Indian Science Blogosphere (er, where is it?), this kind of flops are quite common. We don’t despair. We know we are soaked in perennial [...]
Arunn,
I googled for a few minutes ‘Indian Science blogs’ and noticed:
http://indiascience.blogspot.com/
http://nayagam.wordpress.com/
http://stargazer84.blogspot.com/
http://blogphysica.wordpress.com
The last two are from the classmates of the blogger in the second link. I did not look through the whole list of his classmates or any after the fourth link. May be there are many science bloggersof Indian origin but they do not each other yet.
hi,
I have been trying to get my professors to blog for a very long time. I have also been trying to get my teachers to blog.
One thing that I got a common reply about is:”you have good websites like HowStuffWorks etc. What value are we going to add by blogging about it?”
I replied: personal experience. They generally thought about it and then said no giving no reply for why not.
This is the place where I get stuck. I recently had an email interaction with a scientist who did not want to blog even though he wrote very well and I offered to setup a blog. He did not give any reason.
Therefore, such an exploration is welcome.
I don’t write a purely science blog although I blog about science usually. The funny part is I don’t know why I don’t do a science blog.
Thanks all of you for those wonderful comments.
Selva has made a nice post at his blog (link given in the update at the end of this post) with good imagery, searching for probable reasons, that read well.
Just to clarify a point in general: my want of understanding has to do more with why “scientists” (or say, Ph. Ds. who have an expertise) in India seems not to have picked blogging yet as a means for communication. And that is the question I tried to get an answer from the people I corresponded.
Swarup has an excellent point when he wrties “I do not have enough knowledge in Physics or the patience to put in the hard work to study and write it up. Easier to think about more fuzzy social topics.”
Lakshmi’s views (endorsed by perseval) are exactly the undercurrent I got from some of the Ph. D. holders and Ph. D. students I inquired.
Arun makes a valid point about online science discussions and its reach.
On the other hand, as Bora mentions in his post (linked in the update at the end of this post), even in the USA the percentage of scientists who actually blog is probably very less. So, my concerns could be imagined after all.
@Swarup: Thanks for those links. yes that article link in your first comment is encouraging. But I guess, with or without blogs, one may always keep reading science magazines, articles etc. Three of the links of science bloggers are already in my blogroll. Loganayagam (who has commented in another post recently) maintains physics posts, while Blog Physica, maintianed by a group of Ph. D. studnets deals with physics sites/blogs aggregation. Some of them don’t get updated in a reasonable time-frame.
@ Arun, when you write “That is why we do well with computers as it just one person and a machine!”, I guess science-blogging as well is just a one person-one-computer job…hope we excel in this soon…
and BTW, I don’t maintain a “purely” science blog as well, as you can see…
@Pradeep, perhaps the answer to your question of why you don’t blog on science is already there in those replies in the post…
[...] comment, I also left a comment at that post. As far as India is concerned, in particular after this recent observation, I am tempted to agree but would love to be proved wrong. On the other hand from [...]
Arunn,
Over at my blog, I have attempted a response to this post . I am still (probably incurably) optimistic about science blogging in India. And regarding your comment that most of us don’t update our blogs in any reasonable time-frame, I will try to improve the rate at which I put up new posts from now on.
Loganayagam: Thanks for affording your reading time and the effort to reply with a post. I have read it and have commented. A solution from our personal sides is of course to continue blogging on science. Of course, this means, it will take your time off from something else you were doing earlier. One has to choose and it probably is a tough choice for scientists whose day job is also doing science. Anyway, I shall keep my end up as I don’t seem to have a capricious social life
The two blogs you mention in your post seems to be interesting ventures. Hope they could be sustained.
General public in India is not interested in Science (that also includes technology). Films and cricket (in that order) are the staple on which they live. Gadgets do interest them - not the technology behind them. I think if “scientific temper” is nurtured the way it was supposed to be (there were some DD programs like the Turning Point) probably science blogs would also becomes popular and worth while for those who write these. Anyway scientists are up to their neck in their work and would rather publish a paper that their peers will read than write blogs for the general reader.
Of course there must be exceptions!
I apologize for too many comments on this topic and it is possible that we may be talking of slightly different purposes. I thinking that there are science topics useful and interesting to the general public but it is a lot of hard work to select such topics and make them accessible to the public. For example, the introduction of genetic technolgy in agriculture and the fast changes are both skilling and deskilling farmers (See Glenn Davis Stone’s papers). Topics like water conservation, construction of houses to suit local conditions etc can be taken up. Or discussion of harmful superstitions.I think that there are some groups already working on some of the problems and some of the posts in this blog are of that form. As Arunn says there seems to be dearth of bloggers at the moment. May be if the number of bloggers increase, some group blogs can be formed to discuss problems of interest to the common man. To start of, it would be useful to have a list of science blgs, science groups (Jana Vignana Kenrdam? ..) and resources (Arvindguptatoys..). Just some vague thoughts.
@ Swarup : You might be interested in the page titled “Scientific India” in my blog. It is a attempt at putting together a list of various Science-related organisations(atleast the most visible ones). To put together a list of organisations involved in People Science Movements(PSM) is a more difficult task, but we can probably start off with the website of Bharat Gyan Vigyan Samithi (BGVS).
A very good overview of such movements appears in a paper by Marzia Mazzonetto titled “Science communication in India: current situation, history and future developments” and in a paper by Ashok Jain titled “Networks of Science and Technology in India: The Elite and the Subaltern Streams”
A major problem we face is that many of the groups(including Jana Vigyana Kendram) don’t seem to have an on-line presence yet. So if you know of some link that I had left out, please do mention it so that I can include it in my list.
In a similar vein, a list of India/science-related blogs that I sporadically keep track of, appear in my blog-roll under the heading India/Science. I hope you find the list of blogs that appear under that title useful.
P.S : I should have said this the last time I commented - Thank you for mentioning our blogs in the comment #9.
Loganayagam,
Thanks for the links. I will look through the links and check my computer for any other sources ( I was collecting information about two years ago) and write to you after some time. I am in Ann Arbor until June 19th and if there is anybody nearby interested in ’science for the commoner’ and such topics I will be happy to meet (phone number 734 677 9127). There is a mainly Tamil site http://forumhub.mayyam.com/hub/ which has two sections ’science news for the commoner’ and ‘interesting websites’; you may find some enthusiasts there. One Aravindhan used to write in some other sections there; I found his writings impressive. He seems to have got fed up with some of the discussions and not writing in the Hub now.
Scince blogs usually deal with very difficult questions and come out with simplistic answers. I have always found that the simple “why so” are the most difficult ones to answer. The answers usually are “some where” close to reality but not really complete. In scientific work we tend to look at all the different parameters before coming out with a suitable model to explain things. Such a facility is not available for some one who is trying to explain a complex science question with simple explanations. I would hesitate to write a blog under these circumstances!
Also when some body gives a simple answer to a complex question I can easily find out all the “holes” in the explanation!
[...] comment, I also left a comment at that post. As far as India is concerned, in particular after this recent observation, I am tempted to agree with Carl but would love to be proved wrong. On the other [...]