by Judith Curry
I’m pondering future blog topics, and I thought I would throw this open for discussion.
Climate Etc. is one of the few climate blogs that discusses a range of topics, beyond climate science (that is what the ‘etc’ implies).
In Week in Review, the topic categories have evolved into:
- policy and politics
- energy, food, water
- science and research (broadly defined to include sociology and philosophy of science)
- climate and science wars
- humor
I think this is a pretty good description of the scope I am targeting. I find it interesting to see what articles in week in review people actually click on:the New Scientist and Salby articles received the most clicks, then energy policy related articles. International politics and climate wars received relatively few clicks.
In recent weeks, posts on climate research have dominated. The actual distribution of topics in any given week depends on newsworthiness (climate wars have been a hot topic the past month), volunteered guest posts, my schedule (in terms of whether or not I can spend 4+ hours on a post with original content), and whim (what I feel like writing about).
So I am seeking feedback from the Denizens on:
- preferred topic areas, or specific topic suggestions
- frequency of posts: are more frequent posts desired (with the understanding that ‘filler’ posts will not be original content from me, e.g. something like the Christopher Essex post)
- Week in Review: is it about right, or too many items? Would you prefer fewer items, with more commentary from me?
- any other suggestions/discussions related to content of the posts
I am developing a weekly schedule of sorts:
- Saturday: Week in Review
- Sunday: Some sort of discussion thread
- Mon or Tues: Main post for the week, original content
- Later in the week: guest posts or newsy items
Comments and moderation
The number of comments has decreased somewhat, which I regard as a good thing; once comment threads get over 400, it is difficult to read. More frequent posts tend to keep the comment threads from getting too long.
As a result of moderation, a few previously prolific commenters have now left; and some new people are commenting. I am continuing to moderate more heavily than previously.
I did turn off the need to register; I became convinced that anonymity and not feeding the ‘big brother’ scrutiny of twitter and Facebook was preferable. I will turn it back on if spammers return.
My schedule
I have a big report due in mid-May; I don’t know how much of my time this will take, but it will probably eat in to the time I have for blogging.
Of note, I have two interviews with Fox News this week (one requiring a trip to New York City); I will keep you posted as to when these will air.
I am traveling to the UK in mid June, I will be giving a public lecture in London (details to follow).Filed under: Uncategorized