Notes from the Biomass

Sorry to hear that you're winding down the blog for a while. I've very much enjoyed reading it over the past few months, and it sets a high standard for bioinformatics blogs in general: I think you've done a great job. Hope your blog holiday isn't too long...

In any case, thanks for a year of good reading.

You can't stop really :), who do I link to then ? Its too hard to find people actually blogging on science related topics (intelligent design bashing does not count).

Blogging is an odd activity. I know what you mean by blog weariness, the feeling that you should try to post regularly, wondering whether it's a good use of your time, worrying if you don't feel that you have something to say.

I'm not convinced that a personal blog is the best forum for serious scientific discussion. If you try to "popularise" it in a certain writing style or by adding non-science topics, you're extending the readership to a non-specialist audience. On the other hand if you keep it very serious and focused on research, you'll only have a small audience :). Community blogs work a little better in this regard.

I think everyone has their own personal perception of what a blog is for and why they blog. For me, it's just a place where I can note things of interest that I've seen or read or sometimes just offload some mental baggage at the end of a long day. I'm not trying to be a great communicator and I don't really expect anyone else to read it, but if someone occasionally finds something of interest, well then that's great. In other words, I don't think it's worth getting too serious or concerned if a blog isn't working for you. Take a break, try to figure out what you want from science communication and try it out.

schade, I always liked to read your stuff, old friend. But I can perfetly understand that you want to take a break. Wondering what you are going to do with your spare time now...