Blogger and the publication of field research

Blog sites are generally thought of as somewhat narcissistic places where people who enjoy communicating with the world (or maybe with a few of their friends) can burble on at length whenever have a minute or two to spare -- sometimes ranting, sometimes sharing something quirky or special, sometimes baring their souls or even seeking advice or consolation.  Each blogger has a tribe or an extra family -- sometimes very small and sometimes enormous, with subscribers numbered in the millions.

Many blogs nowadays have an unabashed commercial objective -- they are marketing sites associated with products or ideas.

But there is a deeper purpose too, if a blogger chooses to take advantage of the fact that Blogger (and the other blogging platforms) offer instant publication without external constraints -- that is, as long as you keep clear of obscene or terror-related content or vile attacks on individuals.

 

And for those of us who consider ourselves serious bloggers, a blog like this one is a fantastic place for passing on news of new research papers or other developments, scrutinizing articles written by others (some of whom you agree with, and others deemed to be unreliable, unscientific and even dangerous), and bouncing around hypotheses of all shapes and sizes.  Over the years since the blog started I have tried to do all of these things, and have enjoyed the other great feature of a blog -- namely the facility that exists for readers to bang in their comments and to participate in debates which can be, as we all know, sometimes long and acrimonious.  Sometimes things get so aggressive or so repetitive that discussions have to be halted -- so the blogger, in those cases, becomes the ultimate arbiter of what is allowed into print.  Sometimes people use somebody else's blog as a platform for their own theories and obsessions -- with those,  I am sometimes tolerant and at other times not.

Thus far, on this blog, there are 1,534,586 page reads, 2,590 posts from me, and goodness knows how many comments.  Google does not appear to count those...... So there is a lot of activity.

But another thing that is very much undervalued in the blogosphere is the ability for the instant publication of field research.  Research outside of academia is not easy, as we all know -- especially since the big journals started to charge authors (sometimes £3,000 or more per illustrated article) for their original peer-reviewed work.  And it is not uncommon for articles to take 18 months to get into print. Even then, there is no guarantee that the expensively-published article has been properly peer-reviewed and is actually worthy of publication.  We have seen plenty of examples on this blog of articles in "learned journals" that should never have seen the light of day.  In my humble opinion.......

Even though I have no research funding available, and no laboratory facilities, I reckon that I am a reasonably competent field scientist who knows a thing or two about glacial geomorphology and glaciology.  I enjoy observing things, describing them in an orderly fashion, and publishing what I have found for the interest (enjoyment?!!) of others.  If I find something interesting in my wanderings across West Wales, it can be in print, in this blog, within a few hours -- available for others to scrutinise and criticise if they wish.  I am not claiming that my observations and conclusions are any more reliable than anybody else's  -- but at least I am prepared to be scrutinized and attacked.  And that is, I think, part of the necessary democratization of science.

Ceibwr -- an exposure of cemented Quaternary deposits never adequately described before

One advantage -- or is it a defect -- of "instant publication" is that it may be a bit garbled, and in need of tighter editing. I would accept that in many cases I might have described things more carefully, and not drawn such hasty conclusions -- but unknown to many readers of the blog, I do go back to old blog posts quite frequently, add new observations, make corrections, add new photos and stick on postscripts.  I doubt that blog followers get notified of those changes, but never mind.  Another problem -- which will be identified immediately by academic geomorphologists -- is that when I describe deposits I tend to say what I think I am looking at -- be it till, glaciofluvial gravel or a  brecciated slope deposit -- instead of describing it simply as a "diamicton"  and then going into a long analytical discourse before eventually coming to a conclusion as to what it is.  With all due respect, a blog post is what it is, and one has space limitations -- and the base knowledge of the reader -- to think about.  So I say to my professional colleagues that I am unrepentant!  In any case, I know a till when I look at one..........

Because of my wanderings and scribblings, there is now a vast amount on this blog, especially relating to Quaternary sites, their deposits and their related landforms, that is not available anywhere else.  Many of my favourite sites have never been described by any other geomorphologist, anywhere in the specialist literature.  So the site is, in its own modest way, a little treasure trove.  That's why I'm pleased that the National Library of Wales is archiving it -- so that it will still be available when I am dead and gone.

Here are just some of my favourite sites which I have studied and described.  Many of them have multiple posts, and they can all be found thanks to the excellent search facility which, as far as I know, works very well indeed.

Abermawr
Black Mixen, Lydstep
Broad Haven
Broad Haven South
Caldey Island
Carningli
Carn Goedog
Ceibwr
Craig Rhosyfelin
Druidston
Freshwater West
Gwbert
Isles of Scilly
Landshipping
Llangolman
Lydstep
Madoc's Haven
Mullock Bridge
Newport Parrog
Picton Point
Poppit
Waun Mawn
Whitesands
West Angle
West Dale
Witches Cauldron

..... and many more