Science Online and Google Plus: a plan and a test

At Science Online 2013, Fraser Cain talked about using Google Plus to host virtual star parties. It was an excellent talk that showcased something that Google Plus can do that no other platform does well yet (as far as I know).

The other thing that happened today was that people at the meeting started whinging about not to have to wait until next year. Seelix tweeted:

Would anyone want to #scio13 session Hangouts On Air? Looking at the planning wiki, there are many I don't want to wait for #scio14 to see.

Taking my own advice to be fearless, I’m plowing ahead and I’m inviting you all to a Google Plus hangout this Saturday, 9 February, at 12:00 noon Eastern Time (11:00 am Central Time, where I am). The subject for discussion is to talk about what kinds of research projects social media can help solve. This is inspired by “Social media as a scientific research tool” on the Science Online 2014 planning wiki, suggested by David Shiffman.

If this somehow works, what I would like to see is for later hangouts to move around. No regular time will be good for everyone. And let’s have different people host, and let them pick the topics.

If you have Gmail, you basically have a Google Plus account. You don’t need a camera to participate; you can just use the chat function and type if you want. Or just use audio.

Let’s see what happens.

External links

Converge: ScienceOnline Announcements; Fraser Cain; Baba Brinkman