Lately, I’ve been feeling really excited about the concept of Science 2.0. I feel that science is at its best when it is discussed and shared with everyone. Because after all, what is science, without a discussion of ideas?
The Nature Network is social networking for scientists, and has a similar look and feel to MySpace. I like the layout of this site, as it is very intuitive to use, and has some useful features such as “most popular tags,” “most commented blog posts” and “recently active people.”
Below, I give an overview of how to get started, and what you will find in some areas of the site.
Simply go to the homepage https://network.nature.com/ and sign up to become a member using the orange Sign Up link a the far right.
Create your profile and add information about your background and current projects.
The site explains that once you are signed up, you can:
- post comments in discussion forums
- list your events
- join groups
- create your profile and personal network
- create your own blog
Tags:
- When creating your profile, you are asked to enter tags (or keywords) describing your interests.
- This is very useful because the Nature Network uses those tags to find like-minded folks that you can connect with (i.e. add to your network).
- You can also check to see if the tags you entered are rising or falling in popularity or staying steady.
- To see if your tags are rising or falling in popularity, click on the Tags tab at the top right.
- There is also a display of popular tags in the forums area
Home Page:
The Home Page is also great, as you can see:
- Most commented blog posts (increase your popularity within the community)
- Most active forums (view and join)
- Recently active people
Network:
- To add people to your network, simply click on the People link and use the search box at the far right, or look at user profiles under the headings “Recently active users,” “Newest members,” or “Similar people”
- The profiles shown under “Similar people” are based on the tags you entered, and helps you to find like-minded people
- You can click on the Network link to see who’s in your network and who has you in their network
- One suggestion I have for this site is to add a “who’s viewed me” link so you can see who has viewed your profile
Hubs:
You can also join a Hub:
- As explained on the site, a hub is an area of the world with a thriving scientific community (so far, NY, Boston, London)
- Special sites are set up for these hubs, which helps to support local collaborations
Forums:
- If you click on the Forums link, you will find some useful headings: popular topics, featured topics, popular tags, and popular forums
Overall, I really like the look and feel of this site. It is very user-friendly and should help to aid communication among scientists and members of the general public who are interested in science. I see this as a very positive thing!