Motivations to Blog

Over the last few weeks, I've been transcribing my research interviews with over 50 science bloggers. As I have, I've been tweeting out some of my favorite quotes, and some of the quotes that represent larger themes or trends I'm seeing, using the hashtag #MySciBlog. 

Immersing myself into this interview data is helping me better frame my questions for my survey of science bloggers, to get more informed answers about science bloggers' motivations to blog and their blogging practices.

Last night, I was struck by this interview quote, from a science blogger with a background in academic science: 

Me: And then, are there ever stories that, just, really excite you, or really, you know it would make a good blog post? You said if you know you could explain it easily... but is there anything else?

Science Blogger: I think anything that I didn't have time to dive into, in university, but I found cool? Are sort of topics I really like, because I get to learn from them as well? So, like, because in University, everyone's so busy, you only study for things you actually have to study for, and, you don't have the time to explore anything else, right? That you find cool. So now it's sort of like, you're a kid in a candy store, and you can pretty much research anything you want, and learn about anything you want.

I love that last sentence. I think it represents the way many scientists and grad students feel when they start blogging for the first time: freedom to research any idea or topic they want, and talk about the science behind it in a format that is equally freeing. The chance to learn something new is also important to many science bloggers, as opposed to only blogging about what they already know for the benefit of their readers. Many science bloggers start at this metaphorical place, and gradually modify their blogging content and strategies to better fit the time they have to blog, their (perceived) readers' interests, the niche they feel they can fill in the larger science blogging community, their career goals, etc.

I was interested in when and why other science bloggers started their science blogs. In my interviews, many science bloggers seemed to have started their blogs during a "transition" period in their lives, or for the purposes of some new project or career direction they were taking on, etc. So I tweeted out, 'why and when did you start your science blog?' I've include some of the responses in the Storify below!

Storify Link: https://storify.com/fromthelabbench/why-and-when-did-you-start-your-science-blog