The stories behind out research are mostly hidden, since they are typically not part of the papers we write.
Could we include these creative background stories in a section of the research paper format, maybe just as online supplements?
What do you think?
[#]science #research #creativity
https://open.substack.com/pub/matthiasrillig/p/the-stories-behind-our-research?r=1yu2t7&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=true
=> More informations about this toot | More toots from mrillig@mastodon.online
@mrillig I would like this very much. I tried to do this with blog posts, but you're right, the paper doesn't link to the blog post. We're already seeing data published along with papers, so it makes sense to include stories, too.
=> More informations about this toot | More toots from benjamingeer@piaille.fr
@benjamingeer @mrillig Loooong time ago, in the context of the preparation of a EU grant proposal (that was not funded in the end), K. Gurney, G. Baldassarre, myself and others were discussing a related idea that, in computational model papers, we would need a "Honesty box" where we would:
=> More informations about this toot | More toots from BenoitGirard@sciences.re
@benjamingeer @mrillig
In summary: providing more context about the process of generating the model, and not only the final result of this process.
=> More informations about this toot | More toots from BenoitGirard@sciences.re
@BenoitGirard @benjamingeer This is also a great idea. I like it!
=> More informations about this toot | More toots from mrillig@mastodon.online
@benjamingeer Yes! I think blog post are a good start though, I agree.
=> More informations about this toot | More toots from mrillig@mastodon.online
@mrillig would people have time to write them? Writing papers takes up enough time as it is...
=> More informations about this toot | More toots from kim_harding@mastodon.scot
@kim_harding Oh this would only be a few sentences, it would be optional, and I think it would be quite fun to write actually.
=> More informations about this toot | More toots from mrillig@mastodon.online
@mrillig fair enough
=> More informations about this toot | More toots from kim_harding@mastodon.scot
@mrillig
Johannes Kepler famously did so in his Astronomia nova (1609)
=> More informations about this toot | More toots from rmathematicus@historians.social
@rmathematicus nice. Is there any source where I could read up on this?
=> More informations about this toot | More toots from mrillig@mastodon.online
@mrillig James R Voelkel The Composition of Kepler’s Astronomia nova (Princeton University Press, 2001)
=> More informations about this toot | More toots from rmathematicus@historians.social
@mrillig
P.S, borrow it from the library the book costs a fucking fortune
=> More informations about this toot | More toots from rmathematicus@historians.social
@rmathematicus thank you!
=> More informations about this toot | More toots from mrillig@mastodon.online
@mrillig It may be that you are giving away great stories because it would only remain in the study-reading bubble.
When working at a daily newspaper, it was a pleasure to lure these stories out of scientists, who often had no idea what could be done with them.
Unforgotten: In the mid-1980s, an AI researcher whose appetite for bratwurst played a major role in finding a solution for a problem. He then had to explain AI to me as if it were a bratwurst. 😁 People loved that! Suddenly, even the 1/2
=> More informations about this toot | More toots from NatureMC@mastodon.online
@mrillig 2/2 "normal" people understood what this man did. When he went to the weekly market, the butcher gave him a hot bratwurst: ‘So that you can find out exciting things again.’
Some scientists know how to find the bratwurst hook and have fascinating blogs.
A book tip: https://arthurimiller.com/books/einstein-picasso/ It's a wild experiment to tell 2 parallel biographies focusing on creativity of an artist/scientist.
=> More informations about this toot | More toots from NatureMC@mastodon.online
@NatureMC Cool, thanks for sharing! But imagine if there was an incentive to share these kinds of stories instead of stumbling across them by chance during an interview....
=> More informations about this toot | More toots from mrillig@mastodon.online
@mrillig Well, that depends on which target audience you wish: only people reading studies (publisher of studies) or people reading stories and perhaps linked studies (blog = reaches scientists and non-scientists).
In short: do you want to tell these stories only to colleagues/scientists or to everyone interested?
=> More informations about this toot | More toots from NatureMC@mastodon.online
@NatureMC That is a very good point. Not sure I have an answer; but papers are actually read by scientists primarily, so they would be the audience, I think.
=> More informations about this toot | More toots from mrillig@mastodon.online
@NatureMC PS: I just ordered the book.
=> More informations about this toot | More toots from mrillig@mastodon.online
@mrillig I'm surprised that it still exists, it's quite old.I am curious to hear what you think. He got a lot of criticism from scientists that it was "too much historical stuff", but he wrote it as a historian of science. I found it fascinating how he shows the eureka effect on both sides.
=> More informations about this toot | More toots from NatureMC@mastodon.online
@NatureMC it was available for kindle, really cheap.
=> More informations about this toot | More toots from mrillig@mastodon.online This content has been proxied by September (ba2dc).Proxy Information
text/gemini