What will ScienceOnline2011 be?

ScienceOnline2011 is the fifth annual international meeting on Science and the Web. On January 13-15th, 2011 the Research Triangle area of North Carolina will once again host scientists, students, educators, physicians, journalists, librarians, bloggers, programmers and others interested in the way the World Wide Web is changing the way science is communicated, taught and done.

2010 has been an exciting year in science, in the developments of the Web, and in the media (including science journalism). The past year’s events, coupled with the growing reputation of our conference around the world, prompted us to make the conference bigger than last year: we expect as many as 500 participants to convene over the three full days of exciting discussions, conversations and events.

One of the most interesting developments in the second half of 2011 is the explosive growth of the science blogosphere, especially formation of new blogging networks (one of which will be developed by one of us). To help you navigate the new science blogging ecosystem, we started developing a website that aggregates it all in one place: Scienceblogging.org.

As in all the previous years, the meeting will be held in an ‘Unconference’ style – the Program is built beforehand with the help of participants on the wiki, and the sessions are designed to foster conversations and discussions rather than a more traditional lecture approach.

You can get prepared ahead of time and help us make the conference great by looking around the site, volunteering to help, or volunteering to lead sessions. You can also follow us on Twitter – either the hashtag #scio11 or our official account @scio11 – or join the discussion in our official FriendFeed room. You can help us get a feel for the number of people intending to attend by indicating your interest on our Facebook event page.